Summary: Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Councillor standards complaint against Mrs X. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council mishandled the complaints against her. She says the Council failed to follow its procedures properly, there were delays and bias. Mrs X says these failures caused her distress, reputational harm, and disadvantage in her role.

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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 the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council has procedures for handling complaints against Councillors. These include consideration by Monitoring Officer, consultation with Independent Person, and referral to a Standards Panel where appropriate.
6. In this case, the evidence shows: an independent person was appointed, draft report prepared and shared for comment, and the matter progressed to a Standards panel which reached a decision after considering the evidence.
7. The evidence shows the panel were aware of Mrs X’s concerns about the investigation, but despite this made a finding.
8. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether the complainant disagrees with the decision the Council made.
9. In this case, the evidence shows the Council considered a standards complaint against Mrs X’s in line with its published policy and explained its decision. I have not seen the evidence of fault in how the Council reached its decision therefore will not be investigating.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman