The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a Code of Conduct complaint made by a councillor about another councillor. This is because we cannot accept complaints from councillors complaining on behalf of their council when they are not doing so as a member of the public.
The complaint
Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of the complaint he made about a councillor who sits on the same council as he does.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We can only accept complaints from members of the public who claim to have suffered injustice, or from their authorised representative. This means we cannot accept complaints from councillors complaining on behalf of their council because they are not doing so as a member of the public. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A, as amended) 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 fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X is a councillor and complains about the Council’s handling of a complaint he made about another councillor who sits on the same council as he does.
The restriction highlighted at paragraph 3 applies to Mr X’s complaint. He is not complaining as a member of the public but as a councillor and so the complaint falls outside our jurisdiction and cannot be investigated.
Even if Mr X made his complaint as a member of the public, we will not investigate it because there is insufficient injustice caused to him to warrant an investigation.
Final decision
We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot accept complaints from councillors complaining on behalf of their council when they are not doing so as a member of the public.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman