The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mr X’s Code of Conduct complaint. 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 handling of the complaint he made against a local councillor.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’ which we call ‘fault’. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended) 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, or there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complained to the Council about the actions of a local councillor.
In accordance with normal procedures the Monitoring Officer and the Independent Person considered the complaint. Having done so, the Council decided a Code of Conduct investigation was not warranted for the reasons explained to Mr X.
We do not offer a right of appeal against a council’s decision on member Code of Conduct complaints. While we can consider if there was fault in the way the Council considered the complaint, there is no evidence to suggest fault affected the Council’s 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