The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to investigate a complaint about the conduct of a councillor. The Council is at fault for the delay in responding to Mr X’s complaint. However, we will not consider the complaint further as it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures as we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.
The complaint
The complainant, I shall call Mr X, says the Council failed to investigate his complaint that a councillor has breached the code of conduct.
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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the Mr X including the Council’s correspondence with him.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complained to the Council that a councillor had breached the code of conduct by making false allegations to the police against a third party during a criminal investigation.
The Council’s arrangements for dealing with complaints against councillors says the Deputy Monitoring Officer will make a decision whether a complaint will be treated as valid or not within seven days of receipt.
In this case the Council decided Mr X’s concerns were outside the scope of the complaints procedure. It advised he should raise any concerns about the councillor’s evidence in the criminal case with the police.
The Ombudsman does not offer a right of appeal against a council’s decision on member conduct complaints, but we can consider if there was fault in the way the council considered the complaint.
The Council did not make its decision within seven days, as required by the published complaint procedure. This is fault.
However, the Council is entitled to decide Mr X’s complaint is a police matter and outside the scope of the complaint procedure.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. The Council is at fault for the delay in responding to Mr X’s complaint. However, we will not consider the complaint further as it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman