If anybody wants to make an allegation of misconduct or a complaint about a Councillor, or a co-optee of South Gloucestershire Council or a Parish or Town Councillor serving on a parish or Town Council within the area of South Gloucestershire Council they must submit a complaint, in writing, to:-
The Monitoring Officer
South Gloucestershire Council
The Council Offices
Castle Street
Thornbury
South Gloucestershire
BS35 1HF
A complainant should complete the necessary complaint form and provide relevant information to substantiate the allegation(s). The complaint form is available on this web site in the Do it now box, from the Monitoring Officer at the above address or by telephone 01454 865980. This guidance is intended to help you make your complaint.
THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE
The Standards Committee is made up of 15 Members, made up as follows 5 District Councillors (2 Conservative, 2 Liberal Democrat and 1 Labour), 5 Independent Members and 5 Parish and Town Council Members. The Committee meets approximately once a month and the meetings are open to the public, unless there is a matter on the agenda which requires a closed session to be held. If the session is closed, the public and the press are excluded from the meeting for that agenda item.
The Articles of the Committee, which outlines what the Committee can do, are found in the Council's Constitution - Part 2. There is a link to this document in the 'Read more' box on this page.
WHAT COMPLAINTS DOES A STANDARDS COMMITTEE DEAL WITH?
The Standards Committee can only deal with complaints about the behaviour of a Members of its Council (or co-optee’s ) or member of its Town and Parish Councils. 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.
A copy of the Code of Conduct is available via the 'Read More' box on the right of this page.
The Standards Committee 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 the earlier.
- The way an Authority conducts or records its meetings.
- The way an Authority has or has not done something. This might 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 use the Council’s own complaints procedure.
WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR COMPLAINT
Once you have made a complaint, you will be told, in writing, what will happen to it. In brief, providing the complaint falls within the jurisdiction of the Standards Committee, it will set up a meeting of no less than three Members of the Committee to decide what should happen next. This is the Assessment Sub Committee.
Once a complaint is received by the Monitoring Officer, the matter will be reported to the Assessment Sub-Committee of the Council’s Standards Committee who will, initially, assess the allegation against the elected or co-opted Member(s) for breach of the Code of Conduct for Members. To help them do this, they will use assessment criteria and supporting information and evidence.
The Assessment Sub-Committee will decide whether there is an apparent breach of the Code of Conduct and, if so, whether the matter warrants investigation and hearing or other action.
If the Assessment Sub-Committee determines that there is no breach of the Code of Conduct, there is an appeal process for the complainant (see “What if the Standards Committee decides to take no further action and you don’t agree?” below)
If the Assessment Sub-Committee refers the matter for investigation, then following the completion of an investigation, a hearing will be set up at which the question of whether there has been a breach of the Code of Conduct will be decided and if so what if any penalty is appropriate.
That Assessment Sub Committee must be chaired by one of the Independent Members of the Standards Committee. We will aim to ensure that that meeting takes place within 20 days of the date of your complaint being received by the Monitoring Officer.
The Committee can decide to:-
Investigate your complaint
- Take some other action
- Send it to the Standards Committee of another Authority, if the Member belongs to that Authority, or one of the Town or Parish Councils that come under the other Authority
- Take no further action
What is ‘other action’?
Other action is usually some form of conflict resolution, mediation or training. The Assessment Sub-Committee can decide that some other form of action is more 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 Assessment Sub-Committee will tell you the reasons for its decisions when it has made them. You may not agree with the reasons or think that it did not take the decision properly or you have new information that you think might affect its decision. If so, you can ask for a review of the Assessment Sub-Committee’s decision. You must make this request in writing to the Monitoring Officer within 30 calendar days of receiving the initial decision of the Assessment Sub-Committee.
Your request for a review will be considered by a Review Sub-Committee within three months of the receipt of your request. The Review Sub-Committee will be made up of at least three Members of the Standards Committee, none of whom will have taken part in the Assessment Sub-Committee at which your original complaint was considered. The Review Sub-Committee will be chaired by an Independent Member of the Standards Committee. The Review Sub-Committee can uphold the original decision or overturn it and will tell you, in writing, what they have decided.
The terms of reference for the Assessment and Review Sub-Committees are available to via the 'Read More' box on the right of this page.