PSOW Individual Decisions

Ms D complained that Buckley Town Council did not follow a fair recruitment process when carrying out 2 recruitment campaigns for the post of Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer. Ms D had applied on both occasions and not been shortlisted. Ms D also complained about a new Recruitment Policy the Council subsequently put in place which prevented her from making a further application when the post was re-advertised. The assessment of Ms D’s complaint did not identify any concerns with the recruitment process carried out when Ms D submitted her first application. However, it was identified that Ms D had not received a response to her second complaint, which related to the second application she made. The Ombudsman sought and gained the Council’s agreement to issue a response to Ms D’s complaint, about her second application not being shortlisted, within 4 weeks. The Ombudsman considered the action agreed was reasonable to resolve the complaint and it was settled on this basis. It was determined that Ms D should complain to the Council about its new Recruitment Policy, in the first instance, to provide it with an opportunity to investigate and respond, before bringing any complaint about that issue to the Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman received a complaint from the Former Clerk of Buckley Town Council (“the Council”) that a Member (“the Member”) of the Council had breached the Code of Conduct. It was alleged that the Member had called for the Former Clerk’s resignation at a Council meeting which was attended by Councillors, staff and members of the public. Our finding, under section 69 of the Local Government Act 2000, was that our report on our investigation be referred to the Monitoring Officer of Flintshire County Council for consideration by its Standards Committee. The Standards Committee found that the Member had failed to comply with the Code of Conduct.  Its sanction was to suspend the Member from the Relevant Authority, as set out in the Local Government Act 2000, for 6 months.  The Standards Committee also made 4 recommendations for Town and Community Councils in Flintshire. The Standards Committee decision is available here . The Member did not appeal the decision.