The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a complaint made against a local councillor. This is because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, complains about the Council’s decision to take no further action in connection with a Code of Conduct complaint he made against a local councillor.
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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X, including the Council’s response to his complaint.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complained to the Council about language used by a local councillor.
The Council’s Monitoring Officer discussed the complaint with the Independent Person but decided to take no further action being of the view that a formal investigation would not be proportionate and necessary in the public interest as there was insufficient evidence to support Mr X’s complaint.
We do not offer a right of appeal against a council’s decision on member conduct complaints and while we can consider whether there was fault in the way the Council considered the complaint, there is no evidence to suggest fault affected its decision here.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman