How to deal with complaint
4. Informal resolution or investigation an/or no action
The Monitoring Officer may at any stage seek to resolve the complaint informally in accordance with section 6. Where the Subject Member or the Monitoring Officer or the Borough or Parish Councillor make a reasonable offer of informal resolution, but the Complainant is not willing to accept this offer, the Monitoring Officer will take account of this in deciding whether the complaint merits formal investigation.
The Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Independent Person may refer the complaint for investigation when:
- It is serious enough, if proven, to justify the range of sanctions available to the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee (see paragraph 4 of Annex 4 to these Arrangements);
- The Subject Member’s behaviour is part of a continuing pattern of less serious misconduct that is unreasonably disrupting the business of the Borough or Parish Council and there is no other avenue left to deal with it short of investigation. In considering this, the Monitoring Officer may take into account the time that has passed since the alleged conduct occurred.
Where the complaint is referred for investigation, the Monitoring Officer will appoint an Investigating Officer who will conduct the investigation in accordance with the procedure at Annex 3 to these Arrangements.
If the complaint identifies potential criminal conduct or a potential breach of other regulations by the Subject Member or any other person, the Complainant will be advised by the Monitoring Officer to report the complaint to the police or other prosecuting or regulatory authority. In such cases, the complaints process under these Arrangements will be suspended, pending a decision/action by the police or other prosecuting or regulatory authority. Where the police or other prosecuting or regulatory authority decide to take no action on the complaint, the Monitoring Officer will lift the suspension and, in consultation with the Independent Person, will apply the local assessment criteria test.
The Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Independent Person, will take no action on the complaint when one or more of the following apply:
- Ongoing criminal proceedings or a police investigation into the Subject Member’s conduct or where the complaint is suspended in accordance with the paragraph above within this section;
- Investigation cannot be proceeded with, without investigating similar alleged conduct or needing to come to conclusions of fact about events which are also the subject of some other investigation or court proceedings;
- The investigation might prejudice another investigation or court proceedings;
- Ongoing investigation by another prosecuting or regulatory authority;
- Genuine long term (3 months or more) unavailability of a key party;
- Serious illness of a key party.
Within 20 working days of receipt of the complaint, the Monitoring Officer will notify the Complainant, Subject Member and, if applicable, the Parish Clerk of their decision and reasons for applying one of the following processes in the format of the Decision Notice template:
- Not to refer the complaint for investigation; or
- To refer the complaint for investigation; or
- To apply the informal resolution process either before or after an investigation; or
- Following investigation, to refer the complaint to the Hearing Panel; or
- To take no action and close the matter; or
- To refer the complaint to the relevant political group leader for action.
The decision notice will be published on our website. There is no right of appeal against the Monitoring Officer’s decision. However, in the event that the Complainant submits additional relevant information, the Monitoring Officer will consider and decide if the matter warrants further consideration under these Arrangements, in which case it shall be treated as a fresh complaint.