Complaints against Councillors

You can complain about a councillor breaking any part of their authority’s Code of Conduct when they are acting (or giving the impression they are acting) as a representative of their Council or doing Council business.  

This includes:

• Treating others with respect.
• Bullying.
• Intimidating a complainant or witness.
• Compromising the impartiality of officers.
• Bringing their Council/office as councillor or executive member into disrepute.
• Disclosing information given in confidence/confidential information unless:

  • They have consent; or
  • Are required to do so by law; or
  • Disclosure to obtain professional advice; or
  • Disclosure is reasonable, in the public interest, in good faith and in compliance with reasonable requirements of the council.Using their position improperly to obtain advantage or disadvantage for anyone.
• Using Council resources for political purposes.
• Preventing anyone accessing information they have a legal right to.
• Failing to register financial or other interests.
• Failing to reveal a pecuniary interest at a meeting.
• Failing to register any gifts or hospitality they have received in their role as a member, worth over £50.

If none of the above applies to your complaint, it is probably not something we can deal with.

To find out if another organisation can help you, contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau, Law Centre or other advice centre.

You can complain about councillors, members and co-opted members of all of the authorities we cover.  A co-opted member is a voting member of an authority or one of its committees, who was appointed to their position for their particular skills and experience rather than being elected.

Under this process we can only consider complaints about individual councillors or members. If you wish to complain about the Isle of Wight Council as a whole or about people employed by it or contractors or services, please refer to the Council Complaints Pages.

Parish and Town Councils can determine their own code and therefore if you wish to obtain a copy you will need to contact the relevant Town or Parish Council direct.

A complaint should be made in writing, by filling in a complaint form (PDF, 44.39KB, 4 pages) within 10 working days of the alleged breach of the Members Code of Conduct. Any documents that support a complaint should accompany the form.

For more information about the investigation and hearings please view the Council's Code of Conduct Complaints, Investigation and Hearings procedure which can be found in the Council Constitution.

If you have any questions or need any help filling in this form, please contact Democratic Services, by using the contact us section.