Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about how the Council considered a councillor complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council’s handling of a complaint that councillor A was rude to a third party on social media, blocked Ms X when she raised concerns and was rude to her in emails following the incident. Ms X said she was distressed the Council had disregarded her valid concerns.

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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.

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

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My assessment

5. The Council’s Monitoring Officer is responsible for considering complaints that an elected member has breached the Members’ Code 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 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 disagrees with it.
7. An officer, on behalf of the Council’s Monitoring Officer, considered the information Ms X provided and discussed the complaint with councillor A. They decided the complaint did not indicate a breach of the Code of Conduct for councillors and that no further investigation or action was needed. The Council wrote to Ms X with the outcome. It considered her further comments, but this did not change the outcome. It explained there was no right of appeal against decisions at this stage of its process and signposted Ms X to us.
8. The Council followed the Council’s procedure for considering Code of Conduct complaints and provided clear reasons for its decision in writing. There is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our involvement so we will not consider the complaint further.

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Final decision

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

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman