London Borough of Croydon (21 007 855)
Category : Other Categories > Councillor conduct and standards
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 18 Oct 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about councillors who failed to respond to Mr X’s attempts to contact them. This is because there is no evidence of fault by the Council in its handling of this matter.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, says he tried to make contact with three councillors on various occasions and never received a response. He says he wants local councillors to engage better with their local community.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X, including the Council’s response to his complaint about the councillors.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complained to the Council about the failure of three councillors who did not respond to his attempts to contact them with his views about a traffic scheme.
- In accordance with normal procedures, the Council’s Monitoring Officer assessed the complaint made against the councillors. However, he decided the matter would not be referred for investigation because it was not sufficiently serious and he explained to Mr X that councillors do not breach the Code of Conduct by not responding to communication from constituents.
- We do not offer a right of appeal against a council’s decision on member conduct complaints and while we can consider if there was fault in the way the Council considered the complaint, we will only investigate if there is sufficient injustice to warrant our involvement or we consider it in the public interest to do so.
- As there is no evidence to suggest there was fault in the way the Council dealt with the matter, and there is insufficient injustice to warrant our involvement, we will not investigate the complaint.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council in its handling of this matter.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman