Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council handled his Code of Conduct complaint. This is because any injustice is not significant enough to justify an investigation by the Ombudsman.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about a councillor’s behaviour and the Council’s refusal to undertake a Code of Conduct complaint investigation.

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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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), 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. Mr X complained to the Council that a councillor made offensive comments on her personal social media page.
6. The Council said it would not consider the complaint under its Code of Conduct process because the councillor had made the comments on her own personal page and therefore the Code of Conduct did not apply. It said it had advised the councillor to consider what she posted and that she had removed the post.
7. I will not investigate this complaint. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman