Policies & Procedures

Old Somerby Parish Council.

Policy Relating to Abusive, Persistent or Vexatious Complaints.

This policy is supportive of, and supplemental to the formal Complaints Policy of the Council.

Introduction.

This policy identifies instances where a complainant, either individually, or as part of a group, may be considered to be habitual or vexatious, and ways of responding to such situations.

In this policy, the term “habitual” means done repeatedly, or as a habit. The term vexatious is recognised in law and means “denoting an action, or the bringer of an action, that is brought without sufficient grounds for winning, purely to cause annoyance to the defendant”.

This policy exists to assist in identifying and managing persons who seek to be disruptive to the Council, its members, and members of staff, through pursuing an unreasonable course of conduct.

The term complaint in this policy includes requests made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and the Data Protection Act 1998.

Habitual or Vexatious Complaints can be problematic for the Council, such Complaints are time consuming and wasteful in terms of resources in terms of staff and member’s time. While the Council endeavours to respond with patience and sympathy to the needs of all complainants, there are times when there is nothing further which can be reasonably be done to assist to rectify a real, or perceived problem.

The raising of legitimate queries or criticisms of a complaint procedure as it progresses should not in itself lead to someone being regarded as vexatious or an unreasonably persistent complaint. Similarly, the fact that a complainant is unhappy with the outcome of a complaint and seeks to challenge it, once, or more than once, should not necessarily cause him or her to be labelled vexatious or unreasonably persistent.

The aim of this policy is to contribute to the overall aim of dealing with complainants consistently, fairly, and reasonably.

Habitual or Vexatious Complaints.

For the purpose of this policy, the following definition of vexatious or habitual complaints will apply;

The repeated and/or obsessive pursuit of ~

Unreasonable complaints and/or unrealistic outcomes.

Reasonable complaints in an unreasonable manner.

Where complaints have been identified as potentially habitual or vexatious the Council will consider and seek agreement to treat the complainant as vexatious or habitual, in order that an appropriate course of action can be taken.

The Parish Clerk, will, on behalf of the Council notify the complainant in writing the reasons why their complaint has been classified as vexatious or habitual and what action will be taken.

South Kesteven District Council will also be notified that a constituent has been designated as vexatious or habitual.

The status of the complaint will be kept under review, and should they subsequently demonstrate a more reasonable approach, their status may be reviewed and removed.

Old Somerby Parish Council defines unreasonably persistent or vexatious complainants as those who, because of the frequency and nature of their contact with the Council hinders either the Councils consideration of other complaints, or its business generally. The description vexatious or unreasonably persistent may apply separately or jointly to a particular complainant.

Example may include the way in which, or the frequency with which complainants both raise their complaint, or how they respond when informed of the Parish Councils decision regarding their complaint.

The below lists examples of features of an unreasonable or vexatious complaint (the list is not however exhaustive);

1) Have insufficient or no grounds for their complaint, and makes the complaint only to annoy (or for reasons that he/she/they do not make obvious).

2) Refuse to specify the grounds for the complaint, despite offers of assistance.

3) Refuse to co-operate with the complaints investigation, while still wishing their complaint to be resolved.

4) Refuse to accept that issues are not within the remit of the complaints policy and procedure despite having been provided with information about the policies scope and procedure.

5) Refuse to accept that issues are not within the power of the Council to investigate, change or influence.

6) Insist on the complaint being dealt with in ways that are incompatible with the remit of the complaints policy or with good practice or procedure (e.g. insist ping that there is no written record of the complaint).

7) Make what appear to be groundless complaints about the staff dealing with the complaint and seek to have them dismissed, removed or replaced.

8) Make an unreasonable or inappropriate number of contacts with the Council by any means, in relation to a specific complaint or complaints (this is likely to include unannounced and/or uninvited attendances at any members home address or the use of any private email address).

9) Continue to make persistent and unreasonable demands or expeditions of staff or members and/or the complaints process, after the unreasonableness has been explained to them (e.g. insistence on immediate responses to questions, frequent and/or complex letters, telephone calls, emails, faxes or any other kind of communication, including Social Media).

10) Harass, abuse, or otherwise seek to intimidate members, or staff dealing with them, to include foul, or inappropriate language, or by the use of offensive or racist language.

11) Raise subsidiary or new issues whilst a complaint is being addressed that were not part of the complaint at the commencement of the process.

12) Introduce trivial or irrelevant new information whilst the complaint is being investigated and expects this to be taken into account or commented upon.

13) Changes the substance or basis of the complaint without reasonable justification whilst the complaint is being addressed.

14) Deny statements he/she/they made earlier in the process.

15) Electronically record meetings or conversations without the prior knowledge and consent of the other person(s) involved.

16) Adopts a “scattergun” approach. For instance pursuing a complaint or complaints, not only with the Parish Council, but other agencies and organisations at the same time e.g. members of a District Council, MP’s other Councils, the District Council Monitoring Officer, the Police or Solicitors.

17) Refuse to accept the outcome of a complaint process after its conclusion, repeatedly arguing the point, complaining about the outcome, and/or denying that an adequate response has been given.

18) Make the same complaint repeatedly, perhaps with minor differences after the complaints procedure has concluded, and insist that these minor differences make these “new” complaints which should be put, again through the full complaints procedure.

19) Persistently approach the Council through different routes about the same issue.

20) Persist in seeking an outcome which the Council has explained is unrealistic for legal, policy, or other valid reasons.

21) Refuse to accept documented evidence (including agreed minutes), as factual.

22) Complain about, or challenge an issue based upon historical and/or an irreversible decision.

23) Combine some, or all of these features.

Implementation of the Policy and Imposing Restrictions.

Old Somerby Parish Council will ensure that a complaint has been investigated and considered properly according to the adopted complaints procedure.

The Parish Clerk will consult with the Parish Council prior to issuing a warning to the complainant. The Clerk will acknowledge the complainant in writing (email is acceptable), and contact them to explain why their behaviour is causing concern, and request that they change this behaviour, and outline the actions and response the Council may take if they do not comply.

If the behaviour continues, the Parish Clerk will issue a reminder, in writing to the complainant advising them that the way that they will be allowed to contact the Council, in future will be restricted.

Following the issue of this second letter, the matter will be added to the agenda for the next scheduled Parish Council meeting, or, an additional meeting will be convened (consideration should be given to discussing the matter in closed session).

Once a majority decision has been taken to designate a complainant vexatious and/or persistent, the Parish Clerk, on behalf of the Council will inform the complainant in writing of what restrictions have been put in place, and for what period of time.

Any restrictions imposed will be reasonable, necessary and proportionate and the complainant will be advised of the time period that the restrictions will apply. In most cases, restrictions will apply for between 3 and 6 months, however any period may be extended or reduced following review, and any decision will take into account any continuance, escalation or reduction in the complainants contact or behaviour.

Restrictions will be tailored to deal with the individual circumstances but may include:

Banning the complainant from making contact by telephone except through a third party (e.g. a solicitor, friend, or advocate acting on their behalf).

Banning the complainant from sending emails to individual and/or all Council members, and insisting that they only correspond by letter.

Requiring contact to take place with one named Council representative, or staff member only.

Restricting contact to specified days and/or times only.

Requiring any personal contact to take place in the presence of an appropriate third party.

Advising the complainant that Old Somerby Parish Council will not reply to, nor acknowledge any further correspondence or contact from them in regard to the specific matter. In this case, the complainant is to be advised that a designated staff member (usually the Parish Clerk), will read their future correspondence.

Once a decision has been taken to designate a complainant as vexatious and/or persistent, and apply this policy to them, the Parish Clerk will contact the complainant in writing to explain;

Why the decision has been taken, what action is to be taken, and the duration of that action. A copy of this policy will be enclosed with that letter.

Where a complainant continues to behave in a way that is unacceptable the Parish Council may decide to refuse all contact with the complainant and stop any investigation into their complaint.

Where the behaviour is so extreme that it threatens the immediate safety or welfare of members or employees, other options must be considered e.g. reporting the matter to the Police or taking legal action. In such cases, it is not necessary to give the complainant prior warning of any such action.

New complaints from individuals or groups who are treated as vexatious or habitual will be treated upon their own merits, the Council, will decide whether any restrictions that have been applied before are still appropriate and necessary in relation to the new complaint.

The status of a complainant judged to be unreasonably vexatious and/or persistent will be reviewed by the Council every 6 months or at the nearest scheduled Parish Council Meeting thereto when a decision to remove or extend any restrictions will be taken. Following each review, the complainant will be notified of the outcome.

The Parish Clerk will keep adequate records of the detail of the case and the action taken.

Records will be kept of:

The name and address of each member of the public who is treated under this policy as abusive, vexatious or persistent.

What the restrictions placed upon them are, and their duration.

When the individual concerned was advised.

South Kesteven District Council, will be notified of the result of any review of restrictions placed upon a member of the public, and when they are removed.

Amended and adopted Parish Council Meeting 12 January 2021