Summary: We will not investigate how the Council dealt with a councillor conduct complaint as it is unlikely we will find fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council failed to properly investigate his complaint about a councillor’s involvement in certain town council’s decisions and thier conduct when fulfilling their role. Mr X says he is concerned about the impact of the former on the public purse.

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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))
3. 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 will not usually investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34B(8))
5. We cannot investigate something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), as amended)
6. The courts have said we can decide not to investigate a complaint about any action by an organisation concerning a matter which the law says we cannot investigate. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code and the Council’s councillor conduct complaint procedure.

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My assessment

9. The Council’s complaint response to Mr X indicated that it had considered his complaint, in conjunction with the ‘Independent Person’ (IP), and having reference to its policy for dealing with councillor conduct complaints. The Council explained why the first part of Mr X’s complaint did not fall to be examined under the standards regime as it considered the conduct complained about related to governance of the town council itself.
10. In respect of the councillor’s conduct in fulfilling their representative role, the Council and the IP decided Mr X’s complaint did not provide sufficient evidence of a potential breach of the code of conduct for councillors. The complaint was therefore not progressed.
11. I recognise Mr X remains unhappy, but we will not investigate as I consider it is unlikely we will find fault. The Council considered the complaint, in conjunction with its IP and having regard to its complaint procedure. We could only question the decision if there was evidence of fault in the way it was made. Mr X disputes the decision, but his complaint does not provide evidence of such fault. The Council is not empowered to investigate town council governance complaints under its standards regime.
12. We can decide not to investigate any action concerning a matter not within our remit; we cannot investigate the decisions of a town council, nor can we investigate a matter which impacts all or most of the people in that area. Mr X’s complaint concerns such matters, and this is an additional reason why we will not investigate as it is unlikely we can achieve a meaningful outcome or make findings on the substantive matter that lies outside our jurisdiction.
13. Finally, Mr X’s other complaint about the councillor’s conduct did not cause him significant personal injustice and so as per paragraph four, we will not investigate the Council’s handling of his complaint about the conduct.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is unlikely we will find fault by the Council. Additionally, the substantive issues are in part not within our remit and do not cause Mr X a significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman