Devon County Council

Making a Complaint: Complaining about the behaviour of a Devon County Councillor - Guidance note

How do I make a complaint?

If you want to make a complaint about the conduct of a Devon County Councillor or if you think that a County Councillor may have breached the Code of Conduct for Members you may complain to the County Council’s Standards Committee.  From 8 May 2008, responsibility for considering complaints about Councillors and alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct for Members was moved from the Standards Board of England to the Standards Committee of the Council concerned.

The Code of Conduct for Members is set out in the County Council’s Constitution.

Any complaints about the conduct of County Councillors should normally be submitted, in writing, to:

Roger Gash
County Solicitor
Devon County Council
County Hall
Topsham Road
Exeter
EX2 4QD

who will arrange for it to be considered by the Council’s Standards Committee or for any other course of action to be taken, as appropriate.   You may use the official Complaint Form (53KB - pdf help) referred to below or simply set out your complaint in a letter.  Complaints may be sent in by post to the above address,  by fax (01392 382286) or by email (centre@devon.gov.uk).

If your complaint is about a District, Unitary or Town or Parish Councillor then you should send it to the relevant District or Unitary Council  – in other words, the Council that collects your council tax.

What is a Standards Committee?

The County Council’s Standards Committee is a group of people appointed by the Council to help it maintain and promote high ethical standards. The Committee is made up of Councillors and Independent people (who are not councillors or employees of the council or authority). The Committee is chaired by one of the Independent  Members.  

What complaints does the Standards Committee deal with?

The Standards Committee can only deal with complaints about the behaviour of a County Councillor.  It will not deal with complaints about things that are not covered by the Members’ Code of Conduct. If you make a complaint to the Standards Committee it must be in writing. You should say who it is about and why you think they have not followed the Code of Conduct.  The Committee cannot look at complaints that are about:

• incidents that happened before the Councillor was elected or chosen to serve;
• incidents that happened either before the Council adopted the Code of Conduct or before 5 May 2002, whichever is earlier;
• the way the Council conducts or records its meetings;

Complaints about:

• the actions of the Council’s employees;
• the way the Council has or has not done something; or
• decisions of the Council or one of the services it provides;

are the subject of a separate complaints system which can be accessed on the County Council’s Feedback/Complaints system at the link shown below.  

Ultimately, if you think the Council has not dealt with the matter properly and has failed to resolve a complaint locally, you can ask the Local Government Ombudsman to investigate.

How should I set out my complaint?

It is very important that you set your complaint out fully and clearly and provide all the information at the outset. You should also provide any documents or other material that you wish the Committee to consider, wherever possible.

We recommend that you use our complaint form or provide a covering note summarising what you are complaining about, especially if your complaint includes a lot of supporting documentation. In the summary you should tell us exactly what each person you are complaining about said or did that has caused you to complain. If you are sending supporting documentation please cross-reference it against the summary of your complaint.

You should be as detailed as possible and substantiate your complaint where you can, to demonstrate why you believe that the Councillor(s) complained about has breached the Code of Conduct.

What happens to my complaint?

Once you have made a complaint, you will be told in writing what will happen to it. It is likely that the Standards Committee will set up a meeting of three members of the Committee – known as an Assessment Sub-Committee - to decide what should happen next. That meeting will be chaired by one of the Independent Members of the Standards Committee. This meeting will normally take place within 20 working days.

Meetings of the Assessment subcommittee are ‘closed’, which means that you will not be able to attend. It is therefore very important that you set your complaint out clearly and provide at the outset all the information you wish the Assessment SubCommittee to consider.  We may of course need to contact you to seek clarification of your complaint but this will not, hopefully, delay consideration of your complaint.

The Sub-Committee can decide to:

• investigate your complaint.
• take some other action.
• send it to the Standards Board for England to investigate.
• send it to the Standards Committee of another Council if the Councillor belongs to that Council, or one of the Parish/Town Councils that come under it.
• take no further action.

When the Assessment Sub-committee has reached its decision we will notify you in writing whether your complaint has been referred for investigation or other action.  If the Assessment Sub-Committee decide that your complaint should be investigated you will also be told who will be responsible for conducting that investigation and the likely timetable.

At the same time we write to you, we will also write to the Councillor(s) you have complained about.  

We will send these letters within five working days of the Assessment Sub-committee reaching its decision. The decision of the Sub-Committee will be available for public inspection once the Councillor complained about has been given a summary of the complaint.

What is “other action”?

“Other action” is usually some form of conflict resolution, mediation or training. This decision is reached where the Standards Committee decides that this is likely to resolve the situation more effectively than an investigation and possible sanction.

What if the Standards Committee decides to take no further action .... and I don’t agree?

The law says that the Standards Committee should take reasonable steps to explain the reason for its decision. You may not agree with the reasons or think that it did not make the decision properly or you may have new information that you think might affect its decision. If so, you can ask the Committee to review its decision. You have to ask it to do this, in writing, within 30 calendar days of receiving its decision.

The Standards Committee must consider that request within three months ... but, again, we would normally try and hear it within 20 working days.  

The original decision will be reviewed by at least three members of the Standards Committee – by a Review Sub-Committee. None of the people who made the original decision is allowed to take part in that Review. This meeting will be chaired by another Independent Member of the Standards Committee. The Review Committee can uphold the original decision or overturn it, and will tell you in writing what it has decided.

Who is the Standards Board for England’s and what do they do?

The Standards Board provides the national, independent oversight that is needed for there to be confidence in this locally based system.  You can find about more about the work of the Standards Board and the Code of Conduct by visiting its website or by calling its enquiries line on 0845 078 8181 or  sending an email to enquiries@standardsboard.gov.uk.