Complaints about councillors

Complaints should be in writing and explain why you think that the Councillor has not followed the Code of Conduct. Once you have made a complaint we will contact you outlining the investigation process.

Your complaint should be addressed to the Standards Committee who can decide to:

• Investigate your complaint
• Ask the Standards Board for England to investigate your complaint
• Require action to resolve the complaint, such as conflict resolution, mediation or training
• Take no further action

Meetings are chaired by one an independent member of the Standards Committee and will, if possible, take place within 20 days of you making your complaint. You will be informed of the outcome of the Standards Committee meeting and of the Committee’s reasons for its decision.

If you do not agree with the committee's decision you can ask them to review it but you must do this in writing within 30 days of receiving the decision.

If you ask the Standards Committee to review their decision they will do this within three months of you making your request. The committee members who made the original decision will not take part in the review and the review meeting will be chaired by one of the independent members of the committee.

Having considered the original decision, the committee can decide to uphold it or overturn it and will inform you in writing what they have decided.

Councillor complaints form [66.4KB]

Assessment and review criteria [48KB]