Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a complaint made about the conduct of a councillor. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about how the council dealt with a complaint he made about the conduct of a councillor. Mr X says the councillor wrongly accused Mr X of bullying.

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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 consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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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 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. We can consider the Council’s administration of a code of conduct complaint. However, 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 I have seen no evidence of fault with how the Council dealt with Mr X’s complaint. The Monitoring Officer considered Mr X’s complaint, consulted with the Independent Person, spoke with the councillor in question and considered relevant information prior to making a decision to take informal action in the form of training for councillors rather than formally investigate the complaint.
8. I understand Mr X may disagree with the Monitoring Officer’s assessment of his complaint, but they were entitled to use their judgement to decide not to carry out a formal investigation. As the Monitoring Officer dealt with Mr X’s concerns in line with the Council’s criteria for code of conduct complaints, it is unlikely I could find fault.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman