The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about standard committees because the substance of the complaint is better dealt with by the police.
The complaint
Miss Y has made a complaint that the Council failed to investigate criminal allegations made about one of its councillors, causing her upset and distress.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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, or there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information Miss Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The allegations made by Miss Y are of a criminal and personal nature and appear to have happened when the accused person was not acting in their role relating to the Council.
Due to the potential for crimes to have been committed, it is important that the Council allows the police to investigate the complaint independently. Through this system, which Miss Y has approached, she may be able to obtain justice through the courts and the criminal justice system.
In this case, we would consider it more appropriate for the police to consider the complaint overall, rather than us as we are not part of the criminal justice system. In the same manner, we would not expect the Council’s monitoring officer to investigate such complaints as these are matters for the police and would be unlikely to consider any failure to investigate potential crimes such as this as fault. Consequently, we will not investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss Y’s complaint because the substance of the complaint is better dealt with by the police.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman