Complaints Against Councillors

More than 100,000 people give their time as members (councillors) of authorities. The majority do so with the very best motives, and they conduct themselves in a way that is beyond reproach. However, public perception tends to focus on a minority who in some way abuse their positions or behave badly.

Anyone who considers that a County Councillor may have breached the Code of Conduct [PDF 1MB] may make a complaint to the County Council’s Standards Committee.

Each complaint must then be assessed to see if it falls within the County Council’s legal jurisdiction. A decision must then be made on whether some action should be taken, either as an investigation or some other form of action.

The Standards Committee can only deal with complaints about the behaviour of a 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 about why you think a Councillor has not followed the Code of Conduct.

This procedure does not apply to complaints about dissatisfaction with a decision or action of the Council, a service provided, or the Council’s procedures. Our How to Complain page contains more information about other types of complaints.

For all complaints against Councillors first please read our guidance [PDF 65KB] and then contact us by either:

• Completing our complaints form [PDF 414KB] and sending it to us
• Phoning us on tel: 08449 808080
• Writing to us at:
         The Standards Committee
         c/o the Monitoring Officer
         Chief Executive's Department
         County Hall
         West Bridgford
         Nottingham
         NG2 7QP

More Information

Find out more about the complaints procedure [PDF 57KB] .

Decisions

Following initial assessment of a complaint, a written summary is produced which sets out the main points that were considered, the conclusions on the complaint and the reasons for the conclusion.

Written summaries are available for inspection at our offices for six years following the date of the decision.

If you would like to inspect a written summary please contact us in advance of your visit to let us know. Please call tel: 08449 808080 and ask for the Monitoring Officer.

Where a complaint leads to an investigation and a determination hearing to decide whether a County Councillor has breached the Code of Conduct, a summary of the decision will normally be published on our Determinations page. If the finding is that the Councillor did not fail to follow the Code of Conduct, the Councillor is entitled to decide that no summary should be published.

Reports and minutes, relating to parts of determination hearings that were held in public, will be available for inspection at our offices for six years following the date of the decision.

If you would like to inspect public reports and minutes please contact us in advance of your visit to let us know. Please call tel: 08449 808080 and ask for the Monitoring Officer.

Standards Board for England

The Standards Board for England provides an independent, national overview of how local authorities such as Nottinghamshire County Council promote and improve the ethical behaviour of their members (Councillors).

They investigate cases which it is inappropriate for authorities to deal with themselves. They cannot accept complaints direct, but by referral through local authorities.

Please visit the Standards Board’s website at www.standardsboard.gov.uk for further information.