Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a complaint about the conduct of a councillor. This is because the complainant has not suffered significant injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X has complained about how the Council dealt with his complaint about the conduct of a councillor.

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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 decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(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 Mr X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Local Authorities have a duty to designate a Monitoring Officer to ensure the lawfulness and fairness of authority decision making. The Monitoring Officer must ensure that the authority, its officers and members maintain the highest standards of conduct. Each council has different rules for dealing with complaints about code of conduct breaches.
6. The Ombudsman does not provide an appeal against the Monitoring Officer’s decisions. We are also unable to investigate or comment on the actions of the councillor complained about. Where a decision has been made in line with the correct procedure, taking account of the relevant evidence, the Ombudsman will generally not criticise the decision, even if the complainant does not agree with it.
7. In this case, the Monitoring Officer considered Mr X’s concerns and consulted the Independent Person. The Monitoring Officer decided not to take further action as they considered the councillor was not acting in their capacity as a councillor at the time of the incident complained about. I understand Mr X may disagree, but the Monitoring Officer was entitled to use their professional judgement to decide the complaint should not be formally investigated and the reason for the decision was in line with the Council’s criteria for dealing with code of conduct complaints.
8. There was a delay before the Council responded to Mr X’s complaint. But the Council has apologised for the delay, and I do not consider any injustice suffered by Mr X as a result, significant enough to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has not suffered any significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman