Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of councillor conduct complaints as we cannot achieve the outcome the complainant seeks.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about how the Council has investigated complaints about councillor conduct since its inception. Mr X says that all complaints were dismissed at the first stage with none being passed to the Standards and Governance Committee (SGC). Mr X considers this is indicative of maladministration. Mr X wants the Council to acknowledge that its complaint regime is not fit for purpose; for it to forward the greater majority of such cases to its SGC and to appoint new independent persons (IPs).

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Local authorities, under the Localism Act 2011, must have in place arrangements under which allegations of councillor misconduct will be considered and decided upon. It is for the authority to decide the details of those arrangements. We cannot impose rules on the Council about how it deals with such complaints, nor can we recommend that it replaces its IPs.
6. Since 2023, we have received four complaints about the Council’s handling of councillor conduct complaints. We found insufficient evidence of fault by the Council in three of those and the other case was outside our legal remit. This data would not seem to suggest any systemic problem at the Council in this regard, from our perspective.
7. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot achieve the outcome he seeks.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman