Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council dealt with a complaint that a councillor breached the code of conduct. We have not seen enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council mishandled his complaint that a councillor breached the code of conduct.

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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.

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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. The system of regulation of standards of councillor conduct in England is governed by the Localism Act 2011 (the Act). Under the Act, local authorities have a duty to assess complaints that a councillor may have breached its code of conduct, having reference to their own published procedure for dealing with such complaints.
6. The Council considered Mr X’s complaint but decided to take no further action as in its view, the code of conduct was not engaged. The Council explained why it had reached this view.
7. As noted in paragraph five, it is for the Council to determine whether a councillor has breached its code of conduct. We could only challenge such a decision if there was evidence of fault in the way it was made. I recognise Mr X is dissatisfied with the Council’s decision and he believes it has not applied the correct tests to his complaint. However, this does not mean the Council is at fault. The Council had full details of Mr X’s complaint, assessed it and made a decision it is entitled to under its councillor conduct complaint procedure.
8. I have also reviewed the Council’s scheme of delegation and am satisfied the Monitoring Officer is entitled to delegate the assessment of code of conduct complaints to other officers.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council considered his complaint that a council breached the code of conduct.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman