Complain about a councillor

Complain about a councillor

All councillors, including city, town and parish, must follow a code of conduct. You can submit a complaint or concern about a councillor if you think they are not following their code of conduct.

You cannot use the codes to complain about what a councillor does as a private individual. If you want to complain about the decisions or actions we have taken, you need to complain about the Council.

To submit a complaint about a councillor, you will need:

• details about the councillor, including name and council they sit on

• to have read the Code of Conduct and be able to tell us which part of the code the councillor has breached
    
• to provide a detailed explanation about the breach, including:

• specific examples of what happened

• dates the alleged incidents took place

• if there were any witnesses of the breach

• any background information that could be relevant (such as letters or emails)

• to give an explanation of why we should withhold your details, if you want your complaint to be anonymous

Once we receive your complaint, we will:

• acknowledge your complaint
  We will acknowledge your complaint within five working days of receiving it.
    

• assess your complaint
  We will assess your complaint within five days, and decide what actions we need to take to deal with it. We can:

• take no action, if we find that the councillor has not breached the code

• resolve your concerns without an investigation

• ask an investigator to formally investigate your complaint

• refer your complaint to the Governance Committee

• refer your complaint to the police, if it is a criminal matter

• inform you of our next steps
  Once we have assessed your complaint, we will keep you informed of any steps we intend to take including the timescales.
    

• inform you of the outcome if we investigate your complaint
  If an investigator finds that the councillor has breached the code or if we refer your complaint to the Governance Committee, the Governance Committee will: 

• hold a hearing

• review your complaint and decide if they agree that the councillor has breached the code

• decide on any penalties

You can also view information about previous complaints.

We do not deal with complaints about Essex County Councillors. You need to submit your complaint to Essex County Council.