Complaints about council members

The Code of Conduct

Members of the Council (both elected and appointed) must abide by a Code of Conduct which governs their behaviour and actions when carrying out their roles and duties as members of the local authority. 

If you have a complaint about a Member, and you consider that he or she has breached this code, you should write to the Council's Monitoring Officer:

Mr Martin Walker

Email: mwalker@wandsworth.gov.uk

Download a complaint form and guidance.

The way in which the Council must deal with such complaints is set out in legislation and is overseen by the Standards Board for England. 

Initial assessment

An initial assessment is undertaken within 20 working days of receipt of the complaint by five members of the Council's Standards Committee (the Assessment Sub-Committee) chaired by an independent member (someone who is not a councillor). 

The complainant will receive a summary of their decision. If no action is to be taken in response to the complaint, the complainant may then request a review of the decision. 

Review of decision

The review will be considered by five different members of the Standards Committee (the Review Sub-Committee) chaired by an independent member. The complainant is again given a summary of the review decision.

If the initial assessment, or a subsequent review, concludes that the complaint merits further investigation or other action, the Monitoring Officer will arrange for this to be carried out. Where an investigation is carried out, the Council's full Standards Committee, also chaired by an independent member, will consider the investigator's report and decide whether a formal hearing should be held. If, as a result of that hearing, it is concluded that a Member has breached the Code of Conduct, a sanction may be imposed ranging from, say, requiring the Member to attend appropriate training to suspending the Member for up to six months.

Right of appeal

The Member has a right of appeal to the Adjudication Panel for England. The Monitoring Officer will keep the complainant informed about the progress of their complaint.

Serious allegations

More serious allegations will be referred at an early stage to the Standards Board for England - if these cases are formally investigated, breaches of the Code of Conduct would then be presented in hearings before a tribunal drawn from the Adjudication Panel for England which has powers to disqualify Members for up to five years.