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 parish councillors. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. We have not seen any evidence of fault in the way the Council considered the complaint. Also, further investigation is unlikely to lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
The complainant, who I shall call Mrs B, complains about the Council’s decision not to investigate her complaint about the conduct of two parish councillors.
She says the impact of the Councillors’ actions forced her to resign from her position on the parish council.
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: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating further investigation would not lead to a different outcome (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) We cannot question whether an organisation’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mrs B and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Complaints about the conduct of parish and town councillors are handled by the Principal Authority, which may be a county, district, unitary or borough council.
We may also be able to investigate complaints about the way the Principal Authority has investigated a complaint about parish or town councillors. But we would need to consider what we could ultimately achieve as we could not investigate the actions of the town or parish council itself.
Complaints about the conduct of parish and town councillors are handled by the Principal Authority, which may be a county, district, unitary or borough council.
We may also be able to investigate complaints about the way the Principal Authority has investigated a complaint about parish or town councillors. But we would need to consider what we could ultimately achieve as we could not investigate the actions of the town or parish council itself.
The Monitoring Officer has followed the correct procedure. She considered the complaint and evidence before deciding they believed it was not in the interest of the local community to refer the complaint for formal investigation.
The Ombudsman cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong because the complainant disagrees with it. He must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint because we have not seen evidence of fault in the process the Council followed when it considered his complaint about parish councillors.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman