Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council’s Monitoring Officer dealt with a complaint about the conduct of a councillor. This is because we are unlikely to find fault and the complainant has not suffered significant injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X has complained about how the Council dealt with a member’s code of conduct complaint against him. Mr X says the correct process was not followed.

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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, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(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 Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. The Council received a complaint about the conduct of Mr X during a council meeting. The Monitoring Officer carried out an initial assessment of the complaint and decided Mr X had breached the member’s code of conduct. The Monitoring Officer issued a formal warning to remind Mr X of the requirement to comply with the Council’s standing orders.
5. Mr X says the Monitoring Officer failed to follow the correct process and he was not informed a complaint had been made and given an opportunity to respond. Mr X also says there is no provision in the code for the Monitoring Officer to issue a formal warning to councillors.
6. However, the Council’s criteria for dealing with code of conduct complaints say the Monitoring Officer can make recommendations for action if a breach is found. The arrangements also say the Monitoring Officer can decide the code of conduct has been breached without carrying out an investigation if it is clear from the information a breach has occurred or if it is unlikely an investigation would establish any further independent evidence.
7. I understand Mr X disagrees with the Monitoring Officer’s decision, but I am satisfied the Monitoring Officer has properly explained why they considered the code of conduct had been breached.
8. Mr X says he was not contacted about the complaint and given the opportunity to comment before a decision was reached. However, even if there was fault by the Council in this regard, I do not consider Mr X has suffered any significant injustice. The Monitoring Officer has explained why they did not need further information from Mr X. Mr X also sent his comments to the Monitoring Officer in response to their decision and the Officer explained why these did not impact their findings. Therefore, I consider it more likely than not the Monitoring Officer’s decision would be the same had Mr X known about the complaint sooner and commented on the concerns raised.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find fault and he has not suffered significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman