Council tax complaint

AN Annan woman is fighting back against Dumfries and Galloway Council for “aggressively pursuing” her for a council tax debt of £308.

Karen Jones this week insisted that the local authority messed up by cancelling the direct debit without informing her.

This led to a missed payment in February this year, which Karen claims was out of her control, and council tax enforcement procedures kicking in.

The angry resident has now lodged a formal complaint over the council’s tax collection process – and is preparing to take the issue to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

She said: “I have serious concerns about the way Dumfries and Galloway Council is handling council tax collection — concerns that go far beyond my own case and suggest deeply flawed, possibly exploitative, internal procedures.

“Despite the council admitting in writing that a missed direct debit payment on my account was not my fault — attributing it to external banking outages — they are still aggressively pursuing me for £308.74.

“I was not given the opportunity to reinstate the payment, no reminder was issued, and enforcement was initiated without any meaningful dialogue or warning.

“Let me be clear: the payment failure was acknowledged as outside my control. Yet the council’s systems automatically cancelled the direct debit mandate without notifying me, then fast-tracked the outstanding balance into collection.

“This cannot possibly align with the principles of fair administration, the direct debit guarantee, or the council’s own stated policies.

“The more I investigate, the worse it looks.”

This complaint comes shortly after it was revealed that Dumfries and Galloway Council recently wrote off £423,257 in unpaid council tax debts.

Nearly 2000 council tax dodgers got away without paying their dues either because they had left the address without a trace, or the council concluded there were “no realistic prospects of recovery”.

Karen said: “Yet here I am being pursued relentlessly over a fraction of that sum, in a situation they themselves admit stemmed from factors beyond my control.

“Are individual residents being disproportionately penalised to compensate for wider revenue losses? Are automated systems being allowed to dictate enforcement without human oversight or fairness?

“This isn’t just about me anymore. It’s about whether Dumfries and Galloway Council is acting lawfully, ethically, and in line with its public duty. The signs suggest it is not.”

A senior revenues officer at the council investigated Karen’s complaint at the stage one level and sent a letter to her a couple of months ago.

It stated: “It is clear that the level of service you experienced when corresponding with our department has not been of the standard you expected. Please accept my apologies on behalf of Dumfries and Galloway Council for any anxiety and distress this has caused.”

A council spokesman said this week: “We’re aware of the concerns raised and are currently reviewing the case through our formal complaints process.

“While we cannot comment on the details of individual cases, we take all complaints seriously and are committed to handling them fairly, transparently and in line with our policies and the direct debit guarantee.

“Our priority is always to work with individuals to reach a constructive outcome.”