Complaining about a Councillor or Parish Councillor

All Councils must demonstrate high standards of conduct by Members and Officers.

The Localism Act 2011 requires "arrangements" to be put in place under which allegations that a member or co-opted member of the Authority (or of a Parish Councillor), has failed to comply with that Authority's Code of Conduct, and for complaints to be dealt with and decisions made about them.

The Council's Monitoring Officer who is a senior officer of the authority has statutory responsibility for maintaining the register of Members' interests and responsibility for dealing with complaints of member conduct.

The Monitoring Officer considers every complaint taking into account the views of the Independent Person to consider if it should be investigated. In cases where the Monitoring Officer refers a complaint for a hearing, this will be dealt with by a panel of no more than seven members of the Council’s Audit and Governance Committee.

Code of Conduct

Councillors must comply with the Code of Conduct for Elected Members and Co-opted Members.

The current version of the Code of Conduct [pdf document] was adopted by the Council with effect from 30 September 2021 and is based on the Local Government Association Model Councillor Code of Conduct.

How to Make a Complaint

Member Interests

The Monitoring Officer

The Monitoring Officer can be contacted as follows:

Hayley Martin
Civic Centre
Victoria Road
Hartlepool 
TS24 8AY

Telephone: 01429 523002

Email: hayley.martin@hartlepool.gov.uk

The Independent Person

In accordance with the Localism Act 2011, the Council has appointed Tracy Squires and Martin Slimmings to carry out the role of Independent Persons - both are co-opted Members of the Audit and Governance Committee.

The views of the Independent Person are taken into account by the Monitoring Officer when carrying out an assessment of a complaint.

The Independent Person is invited to attend meetings of the Committee and his/her views are sought and taken into consideration by the Committee.

Audit and Governance Committee

The Audit and Governance Committee is responsible for promoting and maintaining high standards of Member conduct. The Committee will consider complaints referred to it by the Monitoring Officer. After a full hearing, considering all of the evidence and advice from the Independent Person and Monitoring Officer the Committee decides whether or not a Councillor has failed to comply with the Code of Conduct.

If the Committee decide there was no failure the complaint will be dismissed.

If the Committee decide that the councillor failed to comply with the Code of Conduct they will then decide what action should be taken. This can include:

  • Publish its findings in respect of the member’s conduct; 
  • Report its findings to the Authority [or to the Parish Council] for information; 
  • Recommend to the member’s Group Leader (or in the case of ungrouped members, recommend to the Authority or to Committees) that he/she be removed from any or all Committees or Sub-Committees of the Council; 
  • Instruct the Monitoring Officer to [or recommend that the Parish Council] arrange training for the member; 
  • Remove [or recommend to the Parish Council that the member be removed] from all outside appointments to which he/she has been appointed or nominated by the authority [or by the Parish Council];
  • Withdraw [or recommend to the Parish Council that it withdraws] facilities provided to the member by the Council, such as a computer, website and/or email and Internet access; or 
  • Exclude [or recommend that the Parish Council exclude] the member from the Council’s offices or other premises, with the exception of meeting rooms as necessary for attending Authority, Committee and Sub-Committee meetings.