Summary: We will not investigate how the Council dealt with Ms X’s complaint about a councillor. There is not enough evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council mishandled their complaint about a councillor. She says the decision not to investigate was flawed and the Council should have appointed a Monitoring Officer from another Council to ensure independence.

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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))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X complained about a councillor, alleging amongst other things, they misused their position, brought the Council into disrepute, failed to declare a conflict of interest and bullied and intimidated her at a meeting.
6. Ms X wanted a Monitoring Officer (MO) from another Council to investigate because she said this Council’s MO was not independent.
7. The Council declined to appoint a different MO.
8. The Council’s MO investigated and after consulting with the Independent Person decided to take no further action.
9. We will not investigate. The MO considered each of Ms X’s allegations and provided a reasoned response based on the application of the Code of Conduct. In line with its procedures, the MO consulted with the Independent Person before concluding the threshold for an investigation was not warranted. There is no evidence of fault in how the MO reached their decision. Therefore, we will not investigate.
10. In relation to the Council’s refusal to appoint another MO, it is for the Council, not us, to decide what arrangements to make for dealing with complaints against councillors. But in any case, the MO provided an unbiased, fair response to each of Ms X’s allegations and consulted with the Independent Person before issuing their response. We will not investigate this matter further.

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Final decision

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

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman