Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate how the Council dealt with Mr X’s complaint about the conduct of one of its councillors. This is because it is unlikely he will find fault causing injustice to Mr X.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall call Mr X, complains about how the Council dealt with his complaint about the conduct of one of its councillors.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault, or the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered what Mr X said in his complaint. I have written to Ms X with my draft decision and given him an opportunity to comment.

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What I found

4. Mr X is involved in a local charity which has a city councillor as one of its trustees. Mr X complained to the Council about several aspects of the conduct of the councillor, relating to his position as a trustee. These include that the councillor: failed to declare his interests to the charity; was involved in granting unlawful tenancies; deceived the charitable trust and purchased large items and reclaimed them from the trust.
5. The Council responded to Mr X’s complaint advising that much of it should be made to the Charities Commission. It explained it would not investigate the councillor’s actions related to the charity and its functions as they would fall outside of his role as a city councillor.
6. The Council confirmed it would consider any further complaint provided it related to the councillor’s conduct as a city councillor.

Assessment

7. The Council has provided its position in terms of the issues Mr X has raised and offered to consider any complaint relating to the conduct of the councillor acting from his city councillor role.
8. Mr X clearly has concerns but he is not caused a significant personal injustice from them or from how the Council has dealt with his complaint.
9. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

10. My decision is that the Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because Mr X is not caused significant injustice from any alleged fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman