The Standards Assessment Board of Durham County Council is scheduled to consider a number of complaints received under the Code of Conduct for Members. The meeting will also include an update on ongoing complaints and a review of previously considered cases.

Code of Conduct Complaints Update

The Board is scheduled to receive an update on complaints received by Durham County Council under the Code of Conduct for Members. This report, prepared by Helen Bradley, Director of Legal and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer, will provide information on complaints that have been assessed and those that are still ongoing. The Council has a duty under section 27 of the Localism Act 2011¹ to promote and maintain high standards of conduct among its members. The report indicates that as of the Board's last meeting on 17 February 2026, thirteen complaints received before 6 February 2026 were ongoing. Five of these were considered at the 1pm session on 17 February, with the outcome being no further action for all, and decision notices have been issued. A further five complaints were considered at the 2pm session on the same day, also resulting in no further action and the issuance of decision notices. The remaining three complaints from this period are scheduled for consideration at the 17 March meeting.

Between 7 February 2026 and 6 March 2026, thirteen new Code of Conduct Complaints were received. Four of these are scheduled for consideration by the Board on 17 March. One complaint has been treated as withdrawn due to the complainant not providing requested additional information. Another complaint is awaiting further information from the complainant to progress to pre-assessment. One complaint remains at the pre-assessment stage and is intended for consideration by the Board on 2 April 2026. The remaining six complaints received in this period were rejected as they did not engage the Code of Conduct.

The report also details specific complaint references that are due for consideration. These include FS-Case-789915840, FS-Case-793880253, FS-Case-795694815, FS-Case-796619358, FS-Case-801756809, COM 435, and FS-Case-799515820. The report notes that for many of the complaints considered at previous meetings, the outcome was no further action . For example, complaint FS-Case-763200402, received on 06/11/2025, was considered on 17 February 2026 with an outcome of No Further Action . Similarly, complaint FS-Case-772392587, received on 10/12/2025, was also considered on 17 February 2026 with the same outcome.