Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council responded to a complaint about a parish councillor. This is because there is no evidence of fault in how the Council considered the complaint.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Miss X, complains that the Council did not properly deal with a complaint she made about the conduct of a parish councillor.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. The Council’s published procedures explain that complaints about code of conduct complaints must be made within six months of what happened.
6. In November 2021, Miss X complained to the Council that a Parish Councillor had breached the Code of Conduct by abusing their position. The events Miss X complains about occurred in July 2020 and December 2020.
7. The Council’s Monitoring Officer responded to Miss X’s complaint. They said they had considered the complaint but concluded that the complaint was made late. Furthermore, the Monitoring Officer said that West Northamptonshire Council had become a unitary authority in April 2021, and it was unable to now investigate the actions of a councillor of a predecessor council. For these reasons, the Monitoring Officer concluded that no further action would be taken regarding Miss X’s complaint.
8. It is not our role to investigate or comment on the actions of the Parish Councillor. We can only consider if there was fault in the way the Council considered the complaint.
9. Whilst Miss X is dissatisfied with the response, in this case, the Council followed the process set out in its procedure for dealing with complaints about Councillors, and its conclusion that the complaint is late was made in accordance with its published guidance. There is therefore no evidence of fault in the way it considered the complaint. That being the case, the Ombudsman will not consider the merits of the decision it made.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman