Complaints Against Councillors
This page gives information about making a complaint about an elected member of North East Derbyshire District Council.
All North East Derbyshire councillors carry out their role in accordance with our Councillor Code of Conduct. If you feel that a Councillor has acted in a way that breaches the Code of Conduct you may wish to make a complaint.
How do I make a complaint?
Please print the form attached to this page and send it in to us at the address shown below; all complaints must be made in writing (this includes fax and electronic submissions). However, we can make reasonable adjustments to assist you if you have a disability that prevents you from making your complaint in writing. We can also help if English is not your first language. Full details of what to include in your complaint are given on the form.
What can I complain about?
We can only consider complaints that are about individual Councillors (or members) and not the authority as a whole or authority employees. Only matters where you believe a member has breached the authority's Code of Conduct can be investigated including the following:
- Unlawfully discriminating against someone
- Failing to treat people with respect
- Doing something to prevent those who work for the authority from being unbiased
- Revealing information that was given to them in confidence, or stopping someone getting information they are entitled to by law
- Damaging the reputation of their office or authority
- Using their position improperly, to their own or someone else's advantage or disadvantage
- Misusing the authority's resources
- Allowing the authority's resources to be misused for the activities of a registered political party
- Failing to report another member's misconduct to us
- Failing to register financial or other interests
- Failing to reveal a personal interest at a meeting
- Taking part in a meeting or making a decision where the member had an interest that is so significant that it is likely to affect his or her judgement
- Failing to register any gifts or hospitality they have received in their role as a member that is worth over £25
What will happen to my complaint?
We will tell the following people that you have made a complaint:
- The Member(s) you are complaining about
- The Parish or Town Clerk (if applicable)
We will tell them your name and give them a summary of your complaint. We will give them full details of your complaint where necessary or appropriate to be able to deal with it. If you have serious concerns about your name and a summary, or details of your complaint being released, you should explain this on the form.
Each complaint will be assessed to see if it falls within the authority's legal jurisdiction. A decision will then be taken on whether some action should be taken, either as an investigation or some other form of action. This will be undertaken by an Assessment Sub-Committee, comprising 3 members of the Council's Standards Committee.
How long will it take for my complaint to be resolved?
The Assessment Sub-Committee should complete its initial assessment of an allegation within an average of 20 working days, and reach a decision on what should happen next.
When a hearing by the Standards Committee is considered necessary this will be held within a period of 3 months either from the date that the Monitoring Officer received a report from an ethical standards officer or in the case of a report prepared by the Monitoring Officer within 3 months of the date on which the report was completed.
(The rules and procedures regarding the above are contained within the Local Government, England and Wales Standards Committee (England) Regulations 2008).
If you wish to discuss the complaints process in more detail or follow up a complaint that you have made, please contact the Monitoring Officer, details below.
Downloads
Use this form to make a complaint about a North East Derbyshire councillor. (370 KB)
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