Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision on a code of conduct complaint against a councillor. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the way the Council handled the matter.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council decided it could not consider his code of conduct complaint about a councillor’s social media post.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We can 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. So, we do not start 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 Mr X and the Council, which included Mr X’s code of conduct complaint and the Council’s responses.
• the Council’s “Councillor complaint process”, available on its website.
• the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. Mr X submitted a code of conduct complaint to the Council about social media comments posted by a councillor. The Council said it could not consider the complaint, as the posts were made by the councillor acting as a private citizen/individual, rather than in their role as a councillor.
5. I appreciate Mr X might disagree with this decision, but 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 made.
6. The Council followed its code of conduct complaint process when determining Mr X’s complaint, and reached a decision it was entitled to make. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the way the Council considered the matter, so we will not start an investigation.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault in the way the Council considered the code of conduct complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman