Tees Valley Combined Authority (25 023 558)
Category : Other Categories > Councillor conduct and standards
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 26 Jul 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Authority’s failure to follow its complaint process. We do not consider this caused Mrs X a significant personal injustice. Also, we do not consider it a good use of public funds to investigate a complaint about the complaint process alone, when we are not considering the substantive issue.
The complaint
- Mrs X says there were systemic failures in the way the Authority handled her code of conduct complaint including:
- A missed deadline.
- A failure to escalate her complaint.
- Conflation of procedures; and
- Delay in providing a final response.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Authority.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mrs X has made it clear that her complaint is about a failure in the complaint process. We do not consider that a possible failing in the way the Council deals with a complaint causes a significant injustice to the complainant. Nor is it a good use of public funds to consider a complaint about the complaint procedure alone.
- Mrs X says the Authority has defamed her. However, defamation is a civil matter between Mrs X and the Authority; and she should seek her own legal advice on this point.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we do not consider she has suffered a personal injustice which is so significant that it warrants an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman