The points listed below will help you decide whether this is the correct procedure for your complaint. You should speak to the contact name listed at the end of this guidance if you are not clear if the Standards Committee can consider your complaint. The Assessment Sub-Committee of the Standards Committee will make the decision about what action, if any, to take on your complaint.
It is important to note that 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 whether this is appropriate. It will make this decision using local assessment criteria that can be accessed on the Standards Committee. 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.
When you submit your complaint we will write to you to let you know we have received it. We will also tell the Councillor that you are complaining about that we have received your complaint, who made the complaint and the relevant paragraphs of the Code of Conduct that it is alleged may have been breached.
The Assessment Sub-Committee will then meet to consider your complaint and decide whether it 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. Meetings of the Assessment Sub-Committee are ‘closed’, which means that you will not be able to attend. It is therefore very important that you set your complaint out clearly and provide at the outset all the information you wish the Assessment Sub-Committee to consider.
The criteria that will be used to assess your complaint and decide whether it should be investigated can be accessed on the Standards Committee page.
When the Assessment Sub-Committee has reached its decision we will notify you in writing whether your complaint has been referred for investigation or other action. At the same time we write to you, we will also write to the Councillor(s) you have complained about . We will send these letters within five working days of the Assessment Sub-Committee reaching its decision. 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 Councillor does get the summary.
The Assessment Sub-Committee may decide to refer your complaint for ‘other action’ instead of referring it for investigation. Other action is a deliberately broad term that may include options 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.
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. Unless the authority advises you otherwise, you will not be able to attend the meeting of the Assessment Sub-Committee.
We recommend that you use our complaint form or 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 substantiate 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.
Contact names:
Monitoring Officer: Mrs Jo Barden-Hernandez tel. 023 92446212
Paul.griffith@havant.gov.uk
Deputy Monitoring Officer: Mrs Shirley Shaw tel. 023 9244 6674
Shirley.shaw@havant.gov.uk
Democratic Services Team Leader : Mr Lee Abraham tel. 023 9244 6230
Lee.abraham@havant.gov.uk
Postal address for submission of Complaint Forms
Monitoring Officer
Havant Borough Council
Public Service Plaza
Civic Centre Road
Havant
PO9 2AX
Email address for Submission of Complaint Forms