Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council considered councillor conduct complaints. There is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council made its decision to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about how the Council handled his complaint about councillor 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Local Authorities have a duty to appoint a Monitoring Officer to ensure the lawfulness and fairness of authority decision making. The Monitoring Officer must ensure the authority, its officers and members uphold the highest standards of conduct. Each council has different rules for dealing with complaints about Code of Conduct breaches.
7. The Ombudsman does not provide an appeal against the Monitoring Officer’s decisions. We are unable to investigate or comment on the actions of the parish council or the councillor complained about. The Ombudsman will not generally criticise decision making if it has taken account of relevant evidence, in line with the correct procedure, even if the complainant does not agree with the decision made.
8. The Monitoring Officer was entitled to use professional judgement to decide not to investigate Mr X’s complaint. As the Monitoring Officer properly considered Mr X’s concerns, in line with the Council’s criteria for Code of Conduct complaints, it is unlikely I could find fault.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman