Standards Complaint Form

1Using this form

2Your details

3Type of complainant

4Name of Member(s)

5Details of complaint

6Identity of complainant

7Equality monitoring questions

8Ethnic Group

9Religion/Belief

10Sexual Orientation

11Declaration

Personal information we collect about you

Your name, address, contact details, the details of your complaint against the councillor and any further information you provide to us or an investigating officer appointed on our behalf during the course of the investigation or if the matter is referred for investigation or for other action.

Lawful basis for processing data

In accordance with the GDPR, Article 6(1)(c) - processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation - The Localism Act 2011 requires the council to have an arrangement in place under which allegations of a failure to comply with a relevant authority’s code of conduct can be investigated and decisions made on those allegations.

Who will we share that data with?

When you submit a standards complaint a report will be prepared for the standards assessment sub-committee. The report will contain your name and the details of your complaint against the councillor. The report will be shared with the members of the standards assessment sub-committee and the officers assisting the sub-committee.

Following the decision of the sub-committee a decision notice will be produced. This will (unless your identity is withheld) contain your name and details of your complaint against the councillor. A copy of the decision notice is sent to the councillor you have made a complaint about and their political group leader if they have one. If the complaint is regarding a town or parish councillor a copy will be sent to the clerk to that council. The decision notice is a public document and a copy of it will be published to the Council’s website.

If the matter is referred for investigation your name, address and contact details and the details of your complaint against the councillor will be shared with the person investigating the complaint (the investigator).

Once the investigator has completed his investigation they will produce a draft report. This will (unless your identity is withheld) contain your name and details of your complaint against the councillor and any of your personal data that you or others have provided to the investigator that is necessary for the complaint to be considered. The draft report will be shared with you and the councillor against whom you made the complaint for your comments.

Once you and the councillor against whom you made the complaint have made any comments, a further draft is then produced which incorporates those comments. The draft report and a copy of all information received in the course of the investigation is then shared with the independent person for their comments.

Once the Independent Person has commented on the report a final copy of the report is produced. This will (unless your identity is withheld) contain your name and the details of your complaint against the councillor and any of your personal data that you or others have provided that is necessary for the complaint to be considered. This report will then be shared with the members of the hearings sub-committee and the officers assisting the sub-committee.

How will we use the information about you?

We will use this data to assist in investigating allegations of failure to comply with a relevant authority’s code of conduct as per the Localism Act 2011.

Storing your personal information

Standards Complaints are stored securely within our electronic committee administration system and in locked filing cabinets with Democratic Services. These are destroyed at the end of each Council term in accordance with the Democratic Services retention schedule.

Please provide us with your name and contact details

Name(Required)

Title First Last

Postcode

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Addresses

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address

Address(Required)

House name/House No./Flat no Address line 1 Address line 2 City Postcode

Daytime contact number(Required)

Mobile number(Required)

Email address(Required)

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Type of complainant

Please tell us which complainant type best describes you:(Required)

Member of the public

An elected or co-opted member of an authority

An independent member of the standards committee

Member of Parliament

Local authority monitoring officer

Other council officer or authority employee

Other

You have selected 'other'. Please can you give us some details as to what type of complainant best describes you(Required)

Name of Member(s)

Please provide us with the name of the member(s) you believe have breached the Code of Conduct and the name of their authority

Name of Member(s)(Required)

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Title (for example Mr, Mrs, Miss etc)

First name

Last name

Council or authority name

Details of complaint

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 assessment sub-committee when it considers your complaint in order to make recommendations to the Monitoring Officer on what action to take. 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 where possible. If you cannot provide exact dates it is important to give a general timeframe.
You should provide any relevant background information.

Please provide us with the details of your complaint(Required)

Please upload any supporting evidence that you think is relevant to your complaint

Please upload any documents or photographs you feel are relevant to your complaint

Drop files here or

Max. file size: 50 MB.

The code of conduct can be viewed here on page 21 on Part 5 of the Constitution, Part 5 Codes and Protocols: Part 5, Codes and Protocols.

Please specify in which respect the subject of the complaint has breached the code of conduct.

(a) bullying any person or carrying out any act of harassment. For the purposes of this paragraph bullying and harassment shall be construed as follows:- (i) the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) characterises bullying as offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, an abuse or misuse of power through means that undermine, humiliate, denigrate or injure the recipient. Their website contains examples; (ii) harassment will have the meaning set out in The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and other relevant legislation.

(b) You must promote equalities and must not unlawfully discriminate against any person.

(c) intimidate or attempt to intimidate any person who is or is likely to be a complainant, a witness, or involved in the administration of any investigation or proceedings, in relation to an allegation that a Member has failed to comply with this Code;

(d) do anything that compromises, or is likely to compromise, the impartiality or integrity of those who work for, or on behalf of, the Authority;

(e) disclose information given to you in confidence by anyone, or information acquired by you which you believe, or ought reasonably to be aware, is of a confidential nature, except where: (i) you have the written consent of a person authorised to give it; or (ii) you are required by law to do so; or (iii) the disclosure is made to a third party for the purpose of obtaining professional advice provided that the third party agrees not to disclose the information to any other person; or (iv) the disclosure is: 1. reasonable and in the public interest; and 2. made in good faith and in compliance with the reasonable requirements of the Authority;

(f) disclose information which is exempt information within the meaning of Part VA Local Government Act 1972 or The Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012;

(g) prevent another person from gaining access to information to which that person is entitled by law;

(h) conduct yourself in a manner which could reasonably be regarded as bringing your office or the Authority into disrepute;

(i) use or attempt to use your position as a Member improperly to confer on or secure for yourself or any other person, an advantage or disadvantage.

Identity of complainant

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 details of the complaint unless you have good reason.

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 alongside the substance of your complaint. We will then contact you with the 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.

Finally, even if the Monitoring Officer agrees to withhold your name or the details of your complaint, that information will be disclosed to the subject Member no later than the date of the decision on how the Council intends to deal with your complaint.

Please select one of the answers below(Required)

I have read the above and want my identity to remain anonymous

I have read the above and I am happy for my identity to be shared

Please note: The Monitoring Officer will consider the request alongside the substance of your complaint. We will then contact you with the decision. If your request for confidentiality is not granted, we will usually allow you the option of withdrawing your complaint.

Please provide us with details of why you believe we should withhold your name and/or the details of your complaint:(Required)

Equality monitoring questions

Thanet District Council operates an equal opportunities policy to ensure that its services are delivered in a fair and non discriminatory way. To help the Council monitor the effectiveness of this policy we need to ask you for information about your personal background. This information will only be used for statistical monitoring and not for any other purpose.

All information will be treated as confidential.

Age - please select appropriate range(Required)

18-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

55-64

65+

Decline to state

Please indicate the gender which best describes you:(Required)

Male

Female

Transgender

Decline to state

Do you consider yourself to have a disability?(Required)

Yes

Decline to state

Please tick appropriate boxes - this list is not meant to be exclusive and is given as a guide only; it is provided as it may help you to answer this question.

Which of the following does your illness or disability affect?(Required)

Please select all options that apply

Your hearing or vision - (If you wear glasses or contact lenses this is not usually considered to be a disability)

Your co-ordination, dexterity or mobility - (e.g. polio, spinal cord injury, back problems, repetitive strain injury)

Your mental health - (e.g. schizophrenia, depression, severe phobias)

Your speech - (e.g. stammering)

Your learning ability - (e.g. dyslexia)

Other physical or mental conditions - (e.g. diabetes, epilepsy, arthritis, cardiovascular conditions, asthma, cancer)

What do you consider to be the level of disability?(Required)

Minor

Moderate

Severe

Ethnic Group

What is your ethnic group?

Choose one option that best describes your ethnic group or background

White - English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British

White - Irish

White - Gypsy or Irish Traveller

Mixed - White and Black Caribbean

Mixed - White and Black African

Mixed - White and Asian

Asian/Asian British - Indian

Asian/Asian British - Pakistani

Asian/Asian British - Bangladeshi

Asian/Asian British - Chinese

Black - African

Black - Caribbean

Arab

Other not listed

Decline to state

Please state your ethnicity

Religion/Belief

Please indicate your religion/belief:(Required)

Buddhist

Christian

Hindu

Jewish

Muslim

Sikh

None

Other

Decline to state

Sexual Orientation

How would you best describe your sexual orientation?(Required)

Bisexual

Gay

Hetrosexual

Lesbian

Decline to state

Declaration

Consent(Required)

Please check the box below to confirm that you have read, understand and agree to the following statements:

As far as possible, I confirm that the information given on this form is correct.

I understand my data may be shared with other departments as permitted by law.

I understand and accept the above declaration

Date(Required)

DD slash MM slash YYYY

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Staff ID

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