Case management policy for councillors - unacceptable behaviour and actions by members of the public

To progress the issue, the person's name and contact details along with an account of numbers/types of contact and behaviours should be provided by the councillor to the monitoring officer.

The monitoring officer will then meet with the Customer and ICT Services business manager and the Executive Director (Resources and Support Services) who will jointly decide whether or not it is appropriate to invoke this policy. At this stage, information about interaction between the council and the individual will be reviewed. This meeting may consider information relating to any interaction between the council and the individual, including the information provided by the councillor.

This policy is initiated when the Customer and ICT Services business manager writes to a person (via letter or email if appropriate) to explain why they are being monitored. The following information will be provided:

• the behaviour that has caused concern

• our expectations regarding future contact and behaviour from them

• the time period for which their contact will be monitored - three months

• the name and contact details of the person who will be their single point of contact from the date of the letter. This person will be the Customer & ICT Services Business Manager assisted by the Customer Relations Officer

• the potential outcome, including any sanctions, if the person’s behaviour does not significantly change

• a copy of this policy

Once the letter has been received, in normal circumstances, the person will be expected to only contact us via the nominated staff member who will monitor the frequency and content of the contact for a period of three months. However, there may be instances where, for purposes of service delivery, correspondence may continue between the person and a designated officer in the service area, for example where a person continues to submit and receive planning advice regarding an application. Such correspondence will be monitored by the Customer and ICT Services business manager for compliance with the policy.

If after three months, contact has been acceptable, a letter will be written to the person to thank them for their co-operation and to inform them that their contact will no longer be monitored via this policy.

If, after three months, the person’s contact has continued to be unacceptable, the Chief Executive may decide to apply one of the following sanctions:

• extend the monitoring period

• limit the contacts to a certain number per week/month, in a specified form (telephone/email/letter etc.) and during a particular time slot

• in extreme circumstances ask the person not to contact the Council for a period of time after which this policy will be invoked again to monitor contact for a further period of three months

The person must be informed in writing (via letter or email if appropriate) by the Customer and ICT business manager of any sanctions

If the Chief Executive decides they will have no further contact with a member of the public, the Customer and ICT business manager must take all reasonable steps to advise all our staff and Members of future arrangements for handling that member of the public.