The Standards Assessment Board of Durham County Council met on Friday 11 September 2026 to consider updates on code of conduct complaints. The meeting's agenda included a review of ongoing complaints and a discussion of specific complaint references.

Code of Conduct Complaints Update

The Board was scheduled to receive an update on complaints received under the Code of Conduct for Members of Durham County Council. This report, prepared by Helen Bradley, Director of Legal and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer, aimed to inform the Board about the status of ongoing complaints and those that had been assessed since the previous meeting on 27 July 2026. 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 detailed that at the time of the last meeting, three complaints received before 16 July 2026 were ongoing. One of these was considered on 27 July 2026, resulting in no further action. Two further complaints were scheduled for consideration by the Board on 11 September 2026.

The report also covered complaints received between 16 July 2026 and 1 September 2026. Of the 21 complaints received in this period, several were rejected for various reasons, including the complainant not providing necessary information or the complaint not engaging the Code of Conduct. Some complaints were withdrawn by the complainants. A significant number of these complaints, eight in total, were listed for consideration by the Board on 11 September 2026. Additionally, five complaints remained at the pre-assessment stage and were to be presented to the Board at the earliest opportunity, provided the Code of Conduct was engaged.

Complaint References

The meeting was scheduled to consider several specific complaint references in Part B of the agenda, which involved the likely disclosure of exempt or confidential information. These included:

• Complaint Reference COM 439
• Complaint Reference FS-Case-859237730 and FS-Case-859406429
• Complaint Reference FS-Case-864520634
• Complaint Reference FS-Case-860471424
• Complaint Reference FS-Case-858711204
• Complaint Reference FS-Case-857948859
• Complaint Reference FS-Case-857086882
• Complaint Reference FS-Case-859234779
• Complaint Reference COM440

The report pack indicated that for some of these references, the Board would be considering details of the complaint, the Subject Member's response, the advice of the Monitoring Officer, and the options available to the Board. For example, regarding Complaint Reference FS-Case- 851363724, which was considered at a previous meeting on 27 July 2026, the report stated it was suitable for informal resolution and that recommendations would be outlined in the Decision Notice.