Complaining about a County Councillor

Complaining about the conduct of a County Councillor

If you are unhappy about the way a Member of the County Council has behaved you may complain to the Standards Committee of Staffordshire County Council. Complaints can be submitted in writing to:-

Chair of the Standards Committee
Staffordshire County Council
16 Martin Street
Stafford
ST16 2LG

or by filling in our complaints from available on this page.

Your complaint should include all of the points below:-

Details of who you are and how to contact you
The name of the County Councillor(s) your are complaining about
Details of what your complaint is about
Details (copies if available) of any supporting documents or evidence

You can find a list of your county councillors by clicking here|||.

If you make a complaint, you should be aware that we are unlikely to be able to keep your identity confidential.

If you would like to discuss this before making a complaint, please contact Staffordshire County Council's Monitoring Officer, John Tradewell, Director of Law and Democracy.

Before you complain

Before you make a complaint you should consider the type of misconduct that are covered by this process, namely that a member of the county council has:-

Unlawfully discriminated against someone, failed to treat people with respect or done something to prevent those who work for the Authority from being effective
Revealed information that was given in confidence, or stopped someone from having information they are entitled to by law
Damaged the reputation of their office or authority
Used their position improperly, to their own or someone elses advantage/disadvantage
Misused the authority's resources
Allowed the authority's resources to be misused for the activities of a political party
Failed to register their interests
Failed to reveal a personal interest at a meeting
Taken part in a meeting or made a decision where they have an interest so significant that it is likely to affect their judgement
Failed to tell the authority's Monitoring Officer about any gifts or hospitality received in their role as a Member, worth over £25.00

This process can only be used for complaints about individual members, not as a whole.

What happens to my complaint?

Once you have made a complaint, the Standards Committee will set up a Sub-Committee to decide how to deal with your complaint. The Sub-Committee will meet in private and decide whether to:-

investigate your complaint
take some other action
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
send it to the Standards Board for England to investigate
take no further action

When the Assessment Sub-Committee has reached its decision we will notify you in writing of their decision and advise you as to what happened next

At the same time we write to you, we will also write to the Councillor(s) you 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 inspection once the councillor complained about what has been given a summary of the complaint.

What if the Standards Committee takes no further ... and you disagree?

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

The Standards Committee must consider that request within three months but 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 decision is allowed to take part in that review. This meeting will be chaired by an Independent Member of the Standards Committee. The Review Committee can agree with the original decision or overturn it, and tell you in writing what it has decided.

If you need additional support in relation to this or future contact with the Committee, please contact Staffordshire County Council's Monitoring Officer, John Tradewell, Director of Law and Governance on 01785 276102 or by e-mailing john.tradewell@staffordshire.gov.uk|||

Complaints form|||