21 June 2017

Complaint reference:
17 003 081

Complaint against:
North East Lincolnshire Council

The Ombudsmans draft decision

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about a
liability order from 2015. This is because there is insufficient evidence
of fault by the Council.

The complaint
1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains that the Council will not
apply to the court to quash a liability order from 2015.

The Ombudsmans role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about maladministration and service failure. In this
statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider
whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the
complaint. I refer to this as injustice. We provide a free service, but must use
public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if we believe it
is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal or a
government minister or started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act
1974, section 26(6), as amended)

How I considered this complaint

4. I read the complaint and documents provided by Mr X. I considered Mr Xs
previous complaints to the Ombudsman. I invited Mr X to comment on a draft of
this decision.

What I found
Previous complaints to the Ombudsman
5. In 2013 and 2016 Mr X complained about court costs, of 60, that he incurred in
2012. The Ombudsman decided not to investigate the complaints because Mr X
had started legal action about the court costs. The Ombudsman cannot
investigate any complaint about something which has been the subject of legal
proceedings.
Council tax payments
6. People should pay their council tax as billed. If they do not pay the exact amount
which is stated on the bill the system allocates the payment to any debts that may
exist. If the person does not keep their council tax payments up to date then the

1
 Council can apply to the court for a liability order. A liability order is a court order
confirming the person must pay the council tax and the costs.
What happened current complaint
7. In 2015/16 Mr X had a debt of 60 from 2012. The debt arose from court costs
which he had disputed and started legal action about in the High Court. In
2015/16 Mr X was required to make monthly instalments of 91 a month. In May
2015 he paid 85. The system allocated most of the payment to the 60 debt.
8. Mr X continued to make regular council tax payments but he did not pay enough
to cover the 60. The Council issued a reminder and a summons asking him to
pay 424 for 2015/16. Mr X did not do so. There was a liability hearing. Mr X
attended the hearing and raised a defence before a district judge. Mr X argued
that he did not have arrears because the Council had allocated the payment to
the wrong account/year. Mr X also argued that the Council should not have used
the payment for the 2012 debt because it was subject to a court case. The
Council told the judge that Mr X had withdrawn the court case. The court issued
the liability order in 2015.
9. In 2017 the court service upheld a complaint Mr X had made about the handling
of his application to the High Court. Mr X says this proves he did not withdraw the
court case in 2013. Mr X asked the Council to apply to the court to cancel the
2015 liability order. He wants the 60 transferred to his account for 2015/16 and
the costs from the 2015 court action cancelled. The Council declined to apply to
quash the liability order.
Assessment
10. I cannot investigate any matter linked to the 60 costs from 2012 because Mr X
started legal action. I have not seen any document which states Mr X is not liable
to pay the 2012 costs.
11. I will not investigate the Councils decision not to ask the court to quash the 2015
liability order. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
The Council applied for a liability order because Mr X had not paid his council tax.
If Mr X had paid the amount stated on the bill then his payments would have been
allocated to 2015/16.
12. The Council applied for a liability order, which the court issued, after considering
the points raised by Mr X. The court was satisfied the arrears were due. The
recent decision from the court service does not affect the issue of liability in 2015.
In addition, the summons was for 424. The dispute about the 60 costs does not
cover the full amount of the arrears and the judge was not persuaded by Mr Xs
argument about the allocation of payments. There is no suggestion of fault in the
Councils decision not to apply to quash the liability order or cancel the costs.

Draft decision
13. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the
Council.

Investigators draft decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Draft decision for your comments 2