Pendle Borough Council (21 009 353)
Category : Other Categories > Councillor conduct and standards
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 08 Nov 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision on a Code of Conduct complaint. This is because there is no evidence fault affected the Council’s decision.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I refer to as Ms X, complains about the Council’s decision not to take further the complaint she made about a councillor.
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 Ms X, including the Council’s response to her complaint.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- In accordance with normal procedures, the Council’s Monitoring Officer and the Independent Person considered the complaint Ms X made against a councillor. Having done so, the Council decided the behaviour complained about was not caught by the Code of Conduct and would not be pursued.
- 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 complaints if there is sufficient injustice to warrant our involvement or we consider it in the public interest to do so.
- In this case, the Council considered Ms X’s complaint and while she is dissatisfied with the outcome, there is no evidence to suggest fault affected the Council’s decision.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is no evidence fault affected the Council’s decision.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman