More complaints made against South Tyneside councillors as formal investigations launched

As part of a report to South Tyneside Council’s standards committee earlier this week it was revealed complaints under the elected members’ code of conduct are still being received.

Since the committee’s last meeting in December 2024 a total of 18 new complaints had been submitted, with 14 complaints being closed during this time.

This means, as of the meeting on Monday, March 17, there are currently 40 open complaints, four more than in December, with 13 of these currently being at the “formal investigation” stage.

Meanwhile it takes the overall number of complaints to 277 since recording started in January 2020.

Of this total, 147 complaints against councillors were from members of the public, 115 were councillors complaining about other councillors, seven were from officers and eight were from other individuals.

Of the 237 cases which have been closed since 2020, a total of 156 were rejected by the monitoring officer, for reasons such as insufficient evidence, 21 were resolved informally and 53 were withdrawn by the complainant.

This left seven which were closed following a hearing held by the local authority’s standards committee.

Recorded council data on complaints is anonymised unless the complaint is escalated to this formal hearing stage, where an investigating officer’s report outlines the context of the complaint, findings and recommended sanctions.

Council officers have previously admitted South Tyneside sees a “very, very high” number of complaints compared to neighbouring councils, as well as noting the resource implications of investigating such complaints.

When complaints are submitted they go through a ‘triage’ process and even if the complaint does proceed, informal resolution is always considered.

Councillors had previously heard there had been “stricter time frames” introduced to help the council tackle its complaints backlog.

A report to the most recent meeting of the standards committee stated “every effort is being made to process complaints quickly, and specifically to conclude formal investigations.”

It added: “There are many factors that can affect the time it takes to complete both informal and formal investigations – this can include capacity, responsiveness of those involved and complexity.

“Nevertheless, it is important that there are realistic targets from the outset for the completion of a formal investigation, if required.”

The report from officers noted “external solicitors” have been appointed to carry out independent investigations against a number of complaints that have been referred for formal investigation.

Council chiefs added it is hoped draft reports will be provided shortly on these matters.

The documents to councillors also warned “public money must be used economically, efficiently, and effectively.”

It noted where external investigators have been or are being used and appointed to conduct and report on formal investigations, “the costs of such appointments are in the region of £20,000 per investigation.”

The report stressed council officers continue to work with those involved with the standards committee to take “opportunities for learning” from the complaints process to “further improve and develop” the procedure.