The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council investigated a complaint about a parish councillor because the matter did not cause Mr X enough injustice to warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council failed to properly investigate a complaint made against him as a parish councillor. He says this resulted in the incorrect conclusion being reached, has damaged his reputation and has caused him distress.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Ombudsman cannot investigate parish councillors or their conduct, and we do not offer a right of appeal against a decision on code of conduct complaints against parish councillors. We can investigate how the Council handled a complaint about a parish councillor, if we believe there is good reason to investigate. As paragraph 2 explained, that includes considering whether there is sufficient injustice to warrant the Ombudsman devoting time and public money to pursuing the complaint.
I appreciate Mr X feels the process has been unfair and is upset by the allegations made. Having a complaint made against you and being investigated is bound to be upsetting. Mr X may have experienced additional distress as a result of any alleged fault in the Council’s handling of the matter. However, I do not consider any such separate, additional fault is significant enough to warrant investigation by the Ombudsman. I note that at the time of the investigation he informed the monitoring officer he had apologised and was willing to do so again. The Council also recommended an apology at the conclusion of its investigation, in line with what Mr X was willing to do anyway.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient additional injustice caused by the monitoring officer’s investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman