Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s response to a code of conduct complaint he made against a councillor. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, I shall call Mrs X, complains about the Council’s decision not to investigate her complaint that 2 councillors breached the code of conduct.
2. She wants a full investigation of her concerns.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
4. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mrs X including the Council’s response to her.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mrs X complained to the Council under its Standards Arrangements that 2 councillors had breached the code of conduct. She said they had failed to acknowledge or respond to her concerns about alleged failures in the Council’s Special Educational Needs (SEND) department.
8. The Councill’s Monitoring Officer wrote to Mrs X. They explained that concerns about the Council’s SEND department was a matter which it should consider under its corporate complaint procedure. They acknowledged that Mrs X had already made a separate complaint to the Council under the corporate complaint procedure.
9. The Officer explained the Standards process should not be used to punish councillors for a possible technical breach of the code of conduct when there is little or no public interest to do so. This is a decision the Council is entitled to take.
10. We do not offer a right of appeal against a council’s decision on a complaint about the conduct of a councillor. In this case the Council followed the process set out in its procedure for dealing with complaints about councillors. It has explained its decision to Mrs X. I consider the Monitoring Officer’s response to Mrs X gives a reasoned explanation of the decision reached. Without evidence of fault in the process the Council followed we have no powers to question the merits of the decision reached.

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Final decision

11. I will not investigate this complaint. We are unlikely to find fault in the way the Council considered Mrs X’s complaint about the councillors conduct.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman