Chief Executive

The Chief Executive (or person with the statutory function of Head of Paid Service) plays a pivotal role in setting the cultural standards within the council.

A positive approach to complaints is a key part of creating organisational accountability for administrative practices and service delivery within an organisation. This supports a positive organisational culture that aligns with the Nolan Seven Principles of Public Life.

Complaints data and the outcome of individual complaints can provide the Chief Executive with intelligence about the culture within individual departments and services and whether these align with the values and desired behaviours of the organisation as a whole.

Complaints also provide the Chief Executive with key data on performance and quality assurance within an organisation that can be shared as part of regular reporting to Members on organisational risks. The Chief Executive should ensure departments and services are using complaints to understand factors that led to any failings and not routinely attributing any failings to individual error.

Monitoring Officer

The Monitoring Officer is responsible for ensuring lawfulness and fairness in the operation of the council’s decision-making process. This applies not only to strategic decisions but also delegated decisions made under the council’s constitution.

The Monitoring Officer also has an important legal duty to formally report Ombudsman findings of maladministration or service failure to elected officials. We set out our recommended approach to fulfilling this duty in our Manual for Councils.

The Monitoring Officer also has a duty to report any “proposal, decision or omission” by the council that could has “given rise” or is “likely to or would give rise” to a “contravention” of “any enactment or rule of law”.

Information about individual complaints and wider complaint data is an important source of information about lawfulness of the council’s actions in the day to day delivery of its administrative functions and service delivery.

Chief Finance Officer/ Section 151 officer

The Chief Finance Officer (CFO) (also referred to as the ‘Section 151 Officer’ by a council or ‘Section 73 Officer’ by some combined authorities) is responsible for the proper administration of the council’s financial affairs.

The CFO therefore has an important role to play in managing the budget and highlighting where it appears the authority’s expenditure is likely to exceed available resources.. Where the outcome of an individual complaint or number of complaints highlights that the council is unable to meet its obligations, the CFO will play a key role in advising what financial resources, if any, are available to support any improvements in service delivery and what impact making resources available will have on funding for other services.

‘The Golden Triangle’

The three statutory officers each have key roles to play in supporting effective complaints systems within organisations. Effective complaint systems support each to carry out their legal obligations and so it is important that information about complaints forms part of any regular discussions between them. It is also important that each officer understands their individual responsibilities in relation to any action the council is required to take in response to a complaint or complaints is taken by the appropriate person in a timely manner.