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 determined the complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has indirectly and covertly supported vandalism, anti‑social behaviour and hate crimes, by refusing his code of conduct complaint against a councillor who made comments in a newspaper in support of the erection of unauthorised flags on lamp-posts.

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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))
3. We can 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 Mr X and the Council, which included their complaint correspondence.
• information about the Council’s code of conduct complaint process, as available on its website.
• the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. I appreciate Mr X is very unhappy the Council decided his code of conduct complaint did not meet the threshold for formal investigation, so no further action would be taken.
6. 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 you disagree with the decision the organisation made.
7. The Monitoring Officer consulted with the Independent Person, and has explained why the complaint was not deemed to amount to a breach of the code of conduct. This is a judgement it was entitled to reach. The Ombudsman cannot question that decision where the code of conduct complaint process has been properly followed.

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Final decision

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

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman