Council puts brakes on decision to refer former monitoring officer to SRA as it mulls legal advice
A council that passed a resolution to refer its former monitoring officer to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has now confirmed that it is reviewing legal advice before making any referral.
Teignbridge District Council initially moved to refer its former monitoring officer, Karen Trickey, to the SRA during an extraordinary meeting as part of its response to a Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman report which found fault with how the council had investigated a Code of Conduct complaint against a councillor.
It also resolved to write to the Government and the Local Government Association as it believed the Ombudsman's interpretation of the Localism Act "may have an impact for all other local authorities".
The Ombudsman launched an investigation into the council after Cllr Richard Daws complained that a Code of Conduct investigation he was subject to failed to follow due process and led to him being "unfairly sanctioned", damaging his personal and professional reputation.
In the course of the Ombudsman's investigation, it was revealed that the council said that "no formal complaint was received with regards to the conduct of Councillor Daws" but that its monitoring officer did receive "written complaints/concerns/allegations" about Cllr Daws, which she "considered were written allegations".
At the time, the council suggested that it would be "perverse" if its monitoring officer had to require a "written complaint" if aware of inappropriate conduct. It also claimed that the "full records of the complaints received by the monitoring officer may have been lost due to the passage of time".
Despite Teignbridge's response, the Ombudsman concluded that the council initiated an investigation without a complaint in writing.
The Ombudsman's report said: "We can understand the council may want some procedure to address conduct if aware of a potential breach by a councillor that has not resulted in a written allegation. But the wording of the law is clear.
"The Localism Act 2011 says to trigger any investigation of an alleged breach the Council must receive details of that allegation in writing."
The Ombudsman recommended that Teignbridge apologise to Cllr Daws and rescind its decision notice upholding the complaint against him.
Last month (14 February), an extraordinary council meeting was convened to discuss the council's response to the report.
Teignbridge’s head of legal services and monitoring officer, Paul Woodhead, submitted an officer's report ahead of the extraordinary council meeting that made only three recommendations, namely that the local authority:
- apologise to Cllr Daws;
- rescind its decision notice; and
- refer the report to the council's Standards Committee for further consideration.
Councillors agreed on these three recommendations but made further decisions, including a resolution that: "[The] Council refers its former Solicitor & Monitoring Officer and the Ombudsman Report to the Solicitors Regulation Authority for consideration."
The reasons for the proposed referral are currently unknown. The recording of the meeting has been taken down from the council's website.
Local Government Lawyer has been seeking to contact Karen Trickey but without success.
At the meeting, the council also agreed that it believed the "Ombudsman Service's interpretation of the Localism Act may have an impact for all other local authorities and is, therefore, a matter of wider local government interest".
Under this decision, the council resolved to ask its Head of Legal Services to write to the Secretary of State and the Local Government Association seeking further clarity – amongst other things – with regard to:
- Whether the Ombudsman has effectively created a new appeal process and suggested process changes above that required by legislation;
- the role of the Ombudsman Service which has, previous to Cllr Daws’ complaint and subsequently, declined to consider councillors complaints about Standards.
Teignbridge has since confirmed in a statement issued last week (9 March) that it has not yet made a referral to the SRA, and the decision is subject to legal advice, which it is reviewing.
It also confirmed that it is holding fire on its letter to the Secretary of State and the Local Government Association in order to review legal advice.
Adam Carey
