Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the actions of a Councillor. There is no significant injustice and, in any case, the Council have already considered Mr X’s complaint and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr X was unhappy with how a Councillor referred to Mr X's involvement at a meeting and attributed words to describe Mr X’s input at that meeting. Mr X said the Councillor behaved in a way he felt was disrespectful.

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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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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

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My assessment

5. Mr X wrote to the Council to complain about they way a Councillor referred to comments he had made at a meeting. Mr X believed these comments were incorrect and that amounted to disrespect.
6. The Council replied to Mr X’s complaint and explained it did not believe the Councillor had breached the Councillor’s code of conduct and would not therefore treat his complaint as a Councillor complaint.
7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint, because there is no significant injustice. In any case, the Council considered hiss complaint and explained why it believed the Councillor was not in breach of the relevant code of conduct. Any further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no significant injustice and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman