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COMPLAINT FORM – ALLEGATIONS OF BREACH OF MEMBER CODE OF CONDUCT
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Your details
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1. Are you using the correct form? |
| The points listed below will help you decide whether this is the correct form to use when making your complaint. You should speak to Paul Fisher, the Council’s Monitoring Officer on 01622 602006 if you are not clear if the Standards Assessment Sub-Committee can consider your complaint. This Sub-Committee will make the decision about what action, if any, to take on your complaint. |
- Your complaint must be about conduct that occurred while the member(s) complained about were in office. Conduct of an individual before they were elected, co-opted or appointed to the authority, or after they have resigned or otherwise ceased to be a member, cannot be considered by the assessment Sub-Committee.
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- The Code of Conduct came into effect on 5 May 2002, (and was amended in 2007) although some authorities adopted the Code of Conduct earlier. If your complaint concerns matters that occurred before 5 May 2002 you should contact Paul Fisher before making your complaint to check whether it is within the jurisdiction of the assessment Sub-Committee to consider.
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- Your complaint must be about one or more named members of the following authorities: Maidstone Borough Council, Barming Parish Council, Bearsted Parish Council, Boughton Monchelsea Parish Council, Boxley Parish Council, Bredhurst Parish Council, Broomfield and Kingswood Parish Council, Chart Sutton Parish Council, Collier Street Parish Council, Coxheath Parish Council, Detling Parish Council, Downswood Parish Council, East Farleigh Parish Council, East Sutton Parish Council, Harrietsham Parish Council, Headcorn Parish Council, Hollingbourne Parish Council, Hunton Parish Council, Langley Parish Council, Leeds Parish Council, Lenham Parish Council, Linton Parish Council, Loose Parish Council, Marden Parish Council, Nettlestead Parish Council, Otham Parish Council, Staplehurst Parish Council, Stockbury Parish Council, Sutton Valence Parish Council, Teston Parish Council, Thurnham Parish Council, Tovil Parish Council, Ulcombe Parish Council, West Farleigh Parish Council, Yalding Parish Council.
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- Your complaint must be that the member(s) has, or may have, breached the Code of Conduct. A copy of the Code of Conduct and frequently asked questions about the Code of Conduct are available at www.standardsboard.gov.uk . You may also contact Paul Fisher if you require further information.
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- Complaints about dissatisfaction with a decision or action of the authority or one of its committees, a service provided by the authority or the authority’s procedures do not fall within the jurisdiction of the standards committee. Complaints about the actions of people employed by the authority also do not fall within the jurisdiction of the standards committee.
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- Your complaint must be in writing. If a disability prevents you from making your complaint in writing you may contact Paul Fisher for assistance.
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| 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 referral criteria. 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. |
2. What happens once you submit your complaint? |
When you submit your complaint we will write to you to let you know we have received it. We will also tell the member 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 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 Sub-Committee are usually ‘closed’, which means that you will not be able to attend. It is therefore very important that you set your complaint our clearly and provide at the outset all the information you wish the Sub-Committee to consider. |
3. Informal Resolution |
It is often possible to resolve complaints without recourse to formal investigation and hearing. In such cases it is important that appropriate action to seek to achieve resolution of the matter is undertaken without delay.
Please advise if you are NOT willing for attempts to be made to seek early informal resolution of your complaint. If you do not so indicate, we will endeavour to seek resolution of your complaint prior to it being submitted to the assessment sub-committee of the Standards Committee.
To assist us in doing this it would be helpful if you could describe what remedy you are seeking/ what action you think would be appropriate to resolve your complaint.
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4. What is meant by ‘other action’? |
The 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 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. |
5. How should I set out my complaint? |
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 Sub-Committee to consider, where possible. Unless the authority advises you otherwise, you will not be able to attend the meeting of the Sub-Committee.
We recommend that you use our complaint form. 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 member(s) complained about has breached the Code of Conduct. |
6. Your details |
| Please provide your name and contact details |
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Your address and contact details will not usually be released unless necessary or to deal with your complaint. |
However, we will tell the following people that you have made this complaint: |
- The member(s) you are complaining about
- The monitoring officer of the authority
- The parish clerk (if applicable)
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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 a serious concerns about your name and a summary, or details of your complaint being released, please complete section 10 of this form. |
7. Please tell us which complainant type best describes you: |
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Making your complaint
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9. Please explain in this section what the member has done that you believe breaches the Code of Conduct. |
If you are complaining about more than one member you should clearly explain what each individual person has done that you believe breaches the Code of Conduct.
It is important that you provide all the information you wish to have taken into account by the Sub-Committee when it decides whether to take any action on your complaint. For example: |
- You should be specific, wherever possible, about exactly what you are alleging the member said or did. For instance, instead of writing that the member insulted you, you should state what it was they said.
- You should provide the dates of the alleged incidents wherever possible. If you cannot provide exact dates it is important to give a general timeframe.
- You should specify what sections of the Code has been breached.
- You should confirm whether there are any witnesses to the alleged conduct and provide their names and contact details if possible.
- You should provide any relevant background information.
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10. Only complete this next section if you are requesting that your identity is kept confidential |
In the interests of fairness and natural justice, we believe members who are complained about have a right to know who has made the complaint. We also believe they have a right to be provided with a summary of the complaint.
We are unlikely to withhold your identity or the details of your complaint unless the Monitoring Officer is of the opinion that it is in the public interest to do so.
Please note that requests for confidentiality or requests for suppression of complaint details will not automatically be granted. The Monitoring Officer will consider the request.
We will then contact you with a decision. If your request for confidentiality is not granted, we will usually allow you the option of withdrawing your complaint.
However, it is important to understand that in certain exceptional circumstances where the matter complained about is very serious, we can proceed with an investigation or other action and disclose your name even if you have expressly asked us not to.
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| Maidstone Borough Council takes its obligations under the Data Protection Legislation very seriously and will not disclose information to any unauthorised person. Information may be shared with other services within the Council or disclosed to other Local and Public Authorities or Government agencies that have a legitimate reason to request the disclosure. The Council is under a duty to protect the public funds that it administers and to this end, it may use the information that you have provided for the prevention and detection of crime and / or fraud. It may also share this information with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds for these purposes. If you wish to know more about the uses to which the information may be put by the Council, please contact the Head of Service for this Department. |
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