Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council handled Mr X’s complaint about a councillor. There is insufficient evidence of fault in how the Council made its decision not to investigate.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to properly investigate his complaint about the actions of a councillor.
2. He says this has left him feeling dismissed and undermined.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. 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)
4. 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)).

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Councils have a duty to designate a Monitoring Officer to ensure the lawfulness and fairness of authority decision making. The Monitoring Officer must ensure the council, its officers and members maintain the highest standards of conduct. Each council has different rules for dealing with complaints about code of conduct breaches.
8. 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.
9. I am satisfied the Monitoring Officer dealt with Mr X’s complaint in line with its arrangements for code of conduct complaints before deciding the complaint should not be investigated further.
10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaints. There is not enough evidence of fault in how the Monitoring Officer carried out their investigation and reached their conclusions to justify our involvement.

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Final decision

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

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman