The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council’s Monitoring Officer dealt with a complaint about the conduct of a councillor. This is because we are unlikely to find fault.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, has complained about the behaviour of a local councillor. He says the Monitoring Officer took too long to deal with his complaint and is unhappy with their decision not to take any further action in relation to his concerns.
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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Local Authorities have a duty to designate a Monitoring Officer to ensure the lawfulness and fairness of authority decision making. The Monitoring Officer must ensure that the authority, its officers and members maintain the highest standards of conduct. Each council has different rules for dealing with complaints about code of conduct breaches.
The Ombudsman does not provide an appeal against the Monitoring Officer’s decision. We can only look at how the complaint was considered. We are also unable to investigate or comment on the actions of the councillor complained about.
In this case, the Monitoring Officer decided not to take any further action as they did not consider the councillor had breached the member’s code of conduct. I understand Mr X may disagree, but this was a decision the Monitoring Officer was entitled to make. As the Monitoring Officer dealt with Mr X’s concerns in line with the Council’s criteria for code of conduct complaints, it is unlikely I could find fault.
Mr X says the Council took too long to respond to his complaint. The Council’s rules for code of conduct complaints says the Monitoring Officer will acknowledge complaints within 15 working days and send a decision on whether the case should be investigated within 30 days of acknowledging the complaint. I am satisfied the Monitoring Officer responded in line with these timescales.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman