Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a complaint about the conduct of a councillor. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained to the Council about a councillor’s conduct in relation to her informing him of her service failure complaint. Miss X says the councillor said he would get back to her, but he did not.

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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
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

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My assessment

5. Local Authorities have a duty to designate a Monitoring Officer to ensure the lawfulness and fairness of authority decision making. The Monitoring Officer must ensure that the authority, its officers and members maintain the highest standards 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 the 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 does not agree with it.
7. The Council considered the complaint and explained in its complaint response to Miss X that it was invalid. This is because the councillor has no role in relation to investigating complaints relating to service failure, and complaints concerning a failure to respond to a request are not considered as valid complaints under the Procedure.
8. In this case, I am satisfied the Monitoring Officer dealt with the matter in line with the Council’s rules for code of conduct complaints before deciding not to take further action. The Monitoring Officer considered Miss X’s concerns and the evidence available and explained why they did not consider the complaint should be investigated.
9. We will not investigate this complaint as we cannot achieve the outcome Miss X would like, and it is unlikely we could find fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman