Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to uphold a complaint alleging a Councillor had breached the Code of Conduct. There is no evidence of fault in the process leading to the Council’s decision.

The complaint

1. The complainant, I shall call Mrs B complains the Council refuses to investigate or uphold her complaint that a Councillor breached the Code of Conduct.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mrs B, including the Council’s response to her complaint.
4. I considered the Council’s procedure for dealing with complaints about Councillors, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Localism Act 2011 places a duty on relevant authorities (Councils) to handle cases about member conduct and standards.
6. Under sections 28(6) and (7) of the Act, Councils must have in place “arrangements” for investigating allegations a council member or co-opted member has failed to follow its code of conduct. It is for the Council to decide the details of its code of conduct and the arrangements for dealing with complaints about member conduct.
7. Complaints that a Member has failed to follow the Code of Conduct should be dealt with under the Council’s agreed procedure. The Monitoring Officer (MO) will usually carry out an initial assessment of complaints and decide whether it merits formal investigation.

8. The Council’s procedures for considering complaints alleging a failure to follow the Members’ Code of Conduct says:

“When a complaint is received, the Monitoring Officer will carry out a public interest test against which complaints will be filtered to determine whether the allegation is within these procedures and, if so, whether it should be rejected or proceed to formal assessment. This will normally be done within 10 working days.”

“3.2 Complaints will be rejected if they do not satisfy the following three initial tests:”

“(i) Is the complaint about one or more named members of a relevant authority? (ii) Was the Subject Member in office at the time of the alleged conduct? (iii) If proven, would the complaint disclose a breach of the Code of Conduct?”

The procedure also says:

“3.4 Complaints that satisfy the initial test will then be considered further and will usually be rejected at this stage if, in the opinion of the Monitoring Officer, any of the following applies:”

“(iii) it is over 6 months since the alleged behaviour occurred and it would be unfair, unreasonable or otherwise not in the public interest to pursue unless there are, in the Monitoring Officer’s opinion, exceptional circumstances, such as there has been a failure to declare a disclosable pecuniary interest, which would warrant the complaint being progressed”

9. In the response to Mrs B, the MO considered the complaint. As Mrs B complained that her concerns go back to 2019, it is more than 6 months since the alleged behaviour occurred and he considers section 3.4(iii) above applies. And the allegations do not amount to a breach of the Code of Conduct.
10. We do not provide an appeal against the MO’s decision; we can only consider how they considered Mrs B’s complaint. Further, it is not our role to investigate or comment on the actions of the councillor Mrs B complained about.
11. Having reviewed the information provided, I am satisfied the MO considered Mrs B’s complaint, and the information she provided according to the Councils procedures. And made a decision based on his professional judgement. I am also satisfied Mrs B received an explanation of the decision. Therefore, I have found no evidence of fault in the Council’s actions.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint as I have seen no evidence of fault in the way the Council considered it.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman