Complaints about a councillor
You may make a complaint about a councillor or co-opted member from:
- Kirklees Council
- Denby Dale Parish Council
- Holme Valley Parish Council
- Kirkburton Parish Council
- Meltham Town Council
- Mirfield Town Council
Contact the relevent parish and town council for a copy of their code of conduct:
Who should deal with your complaint
To work out who should consider your complaint, please follow these steps in order.
- Consider what type of complaint you have and whether it may be dealt with by the Leader of the Party/ Corporate Complaints Service or the Service.
- If it can be dealt with by one of the Council Services, please contact the relevant area.
- If the complaint relates to a councillor's behaviour, consider the Code of Conduct for Members and make a complaint.
Types of Councillor complaints and who to contact
Your concerns about a councillor might be considered in one of a number of ways. If your concerns actually relate to the provision of a particular council service then the individual service should respond to your concerns.
Complaint | Information | Who to contact |
---|---|---|
You haven't got a reply to your query about a service. | Councillors are not employees but elected representatives.
They may not reply due to illness or holiday or if they have to concentrate on other issues. Councillors do not make decisions on specific cases |
To get a response to your service enquiry contact the relevant Service. |
You haven't got a reply to your contact to a councillor (which isn't about a service enquiry) | Contact the Group Business Manager or Leader of the Party.
If you remain dissatisfied after this contact then you may discuss your concerns with the monitoring officer. |
|
The councillor doesn't support my concern | Councillors may form their own views and in doing so their view may not agree with yours. | If you wish to express an opinion rather than a complaint you can attend a District Committee or respond to consultation
where your views will be considered.
Committees |
A councillor appeared to be rude to other councillors at a meeting | Councillors are political and there can be strong disagreement at Council meetings. Other members may choose to complain about behaviour if they so choose | No contact necessary. |
A councillor broke the code of conduct | You need to ensure you can clearly demonstrate that the code of conduct was broken. | The Monitoring Officer |
Councillor's behaviour | The councillor has behaved inappropriately or unreasonably and the behaviour has been directed at you. | The Monitoring Officer - Please consider the Member Code of Conduct and include which principle you believed the Councillor may have breached. |
Councillor's financial impropriety | You have evidence that a councillor has misused funds or behaved financially inappropriately. | The Monitoring Officer - Alternatively, you may contact customer.standards@kirklees.gov.uk or contact the Police on 101 for this type of complaint. |
Complaints process
Make a complaint about a councillor or co-opted member
Fill in our simple online form.
Clock Completing this form takes around 10 minutes
Make a complaintAfter you have submitted a complaint
Once a complaint relating to an alleged breach of the applicable Code of Conduct has been received by the Monitoring Officer, she and the Independent Person will then decide the next step for dealing with the alleged breach. This may involve taking the matter to consultation with Group Business Managers. A decision may be made by the Monitoring Officer, the Independent Person and the Chair of Standards about appropriate next steps.
You will be notified once a decision has been made as to how your complaint is to be progressed or provided with an explanation if no further action is to be taken.
Other ways to complain
Download the Councillor complaints form print version if the complainant is unable to fill in the online form.
Recorded councillor complaints
Complaints made and decisions about those complaints. Following the decision of the Annual Council 2019, all decision notices are now to be published on the Kirklees website.
Contacting the Monitoring Officer
- Kirklees Council
- Address Monitoring Officer, PO Box 1720, Huddersfield, HD1 9EL
- Phone 01484 221000
- Email monitoring.officer@kirklees.gov.uk