Changes to the complaints procedure
From 8 May 2008 the responsibility for considering complaints that a member may have breached the Code of Conduct has moved to the Standards Committees of local authorities.
What is a standards committee?
A standards committee is a group of people appointed by an authority to help maintain and promote high ethical standards. Standards committees are made up of councillors, or members of the authority, independent people (who are not councillors or employees of the council or authority), and parish councillors.
What complaints does a standards committee deal with?
The standards committee can only deal with complaints about the behaviour of a member of its council or authority. 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.
Standards committees will not look at complaints that are about:
- People employed by the council or authority.
- Incidents that happened before a member was elected or chosen to serve.
- Incidents that happened either before the authority adopted the Code of Conduct or before 5 May 2002, whichever is earlier.
- The way an authority conducts or records its meetings.
- The way an authority has or has not done something. This may be a matter for the Local Government Ombudsman if the authority has not dealt with the matter properly and it has not been resolved locally.
- Decisions of the authority or one of the services it provides. In this case, you should ask how to complain using the authority’s own complaints system.
What is the Code of Conduct?
A Code of Conduct is something that is required by all authorities and sets out rules that govern the behaviour of its members. All elected, co-opted and independent members of an authority, including parish councils, fire, police and national park authorities are covered by the Code.
The Code of Conduct covers areas of individual behaviour and rules that govern disclosure of interest and withdrawal from meetings where members have relevant interests.
What this means to you
If you want to complain about the conduct of a member of Warrington Borough Council or a member of one of our parish councils, you must submit your complaint to:
Chair of the Assessment Sub-Committee, Warrington Borough Council, Warrington Town Hall, West Annexe, Sankey Street, Warrington. WA1 1UH
The Assessment Sub-Committee can only deal with complaints about the behaviour of a member. 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 Assessment Sub-Committee it must be about why you think a member has not followed the Code of Conduct.
Please find below links to the council's complaint form and guidance on how to complete the form
What will happen to your complaint?
Once you have made a complaint, you will be told in writing what will happen to it. If the authority decides that the Standards Committee will deal with your complaint, it will set up a meeting of no less than three members of the committee to decide what should happen next.
The meeting will be chaired by one of the independent people on the standards committee. This should happen within 20 days. The 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 authority if the member belongs to that authority, or one of the parish or town councils that come under it.
- Take no further action.
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 it 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 you don’t agree?
The law says that the standards committee should take reasonable steps to tell you 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.
Complaint_form.pdf
Guidance_for_completing_the_complaint_form.pdf