The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an ex-councillor’s conduct. The Council has said it cannot investigate the actions of an ex-councillor. There is not enough evidence of fault in how it made that decision to justify our involvement.
The complaint
Mr X complained about the actions of a former councillor and chairman of a community centre. He believes their actions are affecting the integrity of the Council. He wants their behaviour investigated.
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.
(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
The Ombudsman is not responsible for investigating complaints about councillors. If Mr X has concerns about councillor conduct, he would need to report these to the Council’s Monitoring Officer.
In response to my enquiries, the Council confirmed the councillor Mr X complains about is no-longer in post. Therefore, it cannot investigate their behaviour. It can only investigate the actions of existing councillors. The Council cannot investigate the actions of private citizens.
There is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council reached that decision therefore we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman