If you wish to make a complaint that a councillor (elected member) of the city council has not followed the council's code of conduct, you can make a complaint to our standards committee.
The committee is chaired by an independent member of the public and is made up of members of the public and councillors.
Please note that the committee can only consider complaints that a councillor has breached our code of conduct for councillors. If you are not happy with a decision or action of the council or one of our committees, or with the services we provide we would still like to receive your complaint, but this should be done by following the instructions on our how to make a complaint, compliment or suggestion page.
If you want to complain to the standards committee please put your complaint in writing to:
Antoinette Jackson
The Monitoring Officer
Cambridge City Council
The Guildhall
Cambridge CB2
3QJ
What you can complain about
Your complaint must be about one or more named Cambridge city councillors. If
you wish to complain about a Cambridgeshire county councillor or a councillor from another district council you need to complain
directly to the appropriate council.
Your complaint must be about conduct that occurred when the councillor complained
about was in office. The committee cannot consider complaints about someone's behaviour before they were elected, co-opted
or appointed to the authority, or after they have resigned or stopped being a member.
Your complaint must be about
breach of the code of conduct for councillors.
A copy of this is also available at The Guildhall reception or at our customer service centre at Mandela House on Regent Street.
Your
complaint must be in writing. If you are unable to put your complaint in writing because you have a disability or for some
other reason please contact Antoinette Jackson, the council's monitoring officer for help.
If you are not sure
whether the standards committee can consider your complaint, speak to Antoinette Jackson, the council's monitoring officer
who can give you some advice.
She can be contacted at antointette.jackson@cambridge.gov.uk
or by telephone on 01223 457004.
What happens once you submit a complaint
The complaint will be referred to the assessment sub-committee of the standards committee for them to consider.
If it is clear that the complaint is not within the remit of the committee, the monitoring officer will advise you what other routes may be available to you in pursuing your complaint.
How you should set out your complaint
It is very important that you set your complaint out
fully and clearly, and provide all the information at the outset. You should also provide any documents or other material
that you wish the assessment sub-committee to consider, where possible.
We recommend that you provide a covering
note summarising what you are complaining about, especially if your complaint includes a lot of supporting documentation.
In the summary you should tell us exactly what each person you are complaining about said or did that has caused you to complain.
If
you are sending supporting documentation please cross-reference it against the summary of your complaint.
You
should be as detailed as possible and provide evidence to support your complaint where you can. Although you are not required
to prove your complaint at this stage of proceedings, you do have to demonstrate that you have reasonable grounds for believing
that the councillor(s) complained about has breached the code of conduct.
Informing the councillor of the complaint
When a complaint is received, the monitoring officer will usually tell the councillor concerned that you have made a complaint about them. They will be told that a complaint has been made, your name and the relevant paragraphs of the code of conduct that may have been breached.
Withholding your name
If you have asked for your name to be withheld, the monitoring officer will ask the assessment sub-committee to consider whether they agree that, given the nature of the complaint and your personal circumstances, your identity should be withheld.
Reasons why it may be appropriate for your identity to be withheld could include, among other things, you being at risk of physical harm if your identity is disclosed or negative impacts on your health.
What the assessment sub-committee does
The assessment sub-committee will decide whether your
complaint should be referred for investigation or other action. This will happen within an average of 20 working days of the
date we receive your complaint.
Not every complaint that falls within the jurisdiction of the standards committee
will be referred for investigation or other action. The assessment sub-committee of the standards committee must decide what
is appropriate in each individual case.
The sub-committee will ask the following questions when considering your
complaint:
- has enough information been provided to make a decision?
- is the complaint serious enough to warrant further action?
- has the complaint already been investigated or other action taken?
- if the answer to the above question is yes, is there anything to be gained by taking further action?
- does the matter appear to be malicious, politically motivated or tit-for-tat, or not very serious?
- should the complaint be referred to another council to consider because the councillor concerned is no longer a member of this council, but is still a member of another council?
When
the assessment sub-committee has reached its decision we will tell you in writing whether your complaint has been referred
for investigation or other action. At the same time as we write to you, we will also write to the councillor you have complained
about. We will send these letters within five working days of the assessment sub-committee reaching its decision.
If the assessment sub-committee decides not to refer your complaint for investigation or other action it will give you the
reasons for this decision. It will also explain any right that you may have to ask for the decision to be reviewed
Making the assessment sub-committee's decision public
The decision of the assessment sub-committee is made available for public inspection once the councillor the complaint is about has been given a summary of the complaint. In very limited situations the councillor may not be given this summary immediately and if so any public inspection will not happen until the member does get the summary.
What decisions the assessment sub-committee can make
Instead of referring a complaint
for investigation, the assessment sub-committee may decide to recommend 'other action' such as requiring the person you have
complained about to apologise or undergo training or mediation.
The assessment sub-committee will carefully consider
the circumstances surrounding your complaint when deciding whether other action is appropriate. If the assessment sub-committee
decides to refer your complaint for other action we will explain what this involves.
What happens if the assessment sub-committee decides the complaint should be investigated
The monitoring officer will appoint someone to investigate
the complaint. This will usually involve interviewing the complainant and the councillor who has been complained about. It
will also involve interviews with any witnesses and consideration of any supporting documents.
The investigation
will be presented to a hearing sub-committee of the standards committee who will consider the findings from the investigation.
If they find that the complaint is justified and conclude that the councillor has failed to follow the code of
conduct, they will consider whether to set a penalty; and what form any penalty should take.
If they do not uphold
the complaint they may still decide to make some recommendations to the council.
When the hearing sub-committee
have reached their decision we will tell you in writing what the sub-committee has decided and why they have made that decision.
Making the decision of the hearing panel public
The monitoring officer will arrange for the findings to be made public. If the complaint against a councillor is not upheld the councillor can request there is no publicity.