A FORMER leader of Staffordshire County Council has suggested the introduction of a bond system is introduced in order to cut down on "frivolous" complaints against elected members.
Cllr Ian Cooper, who stood down from the top role in December after accusations about posts on social media, told a meeting that his proposed mechanism would see complainants get their money back if a grievance is upheld by the authority.
External investigators had to be brought in at Staffordshire County Council to meet demand after the level of complaints made against elected members soared from 12 to 168 in a year.
As of July, 88 complaints from 2025-26 remained outstanding – but the latest update revealed that 56 of those had now been closed, with just one being determined to be a breach of the council’s Code of Conduct for Members.
Cllr Cooper, who sits as an independent after being kicked out of Reform UK, said:
"It would be nice if we could put some figures on this, in terms of impacts on the council and ultimately the taxpayer. I think members have the right to see how much this process costs everybody.
"Is there any way we can have a system where someone has to place a bond, to prevent frivolous complaints? If they win their case they get their money back, and if they don’t win their case they lose their deposit.
"It may help with the number and volume and help the service run more efficiently."
But Chris Ebberley, head of member and democratic Services and deputy monitoring officer, said that such a mechanism would not be appropriate:
"I think that would certainly discriminate against people wanting to put in a complaint in where they feel they have good grounds, but don’t have the financial means to do so.
"We can certainly take that away and give it consideration. But I think that would go against the spirit of holding councillors to account."
Cllr Colin Greatorex, Conservative member for Lichfield City South, said:
“I certainly disagree with the idea of a bond – I think it’s all a matter of free speech and people are entitled to raise whatever issues they think is appropriate.
"I also think it’s good that the backlog has been dealt with and we are in a healthier situation. I suggest that having the cost in front of members would be useful.
"But I can’t get away from the fact that the stat that stands out most for me is that Q1 (May to July) is lower than last year, but it’s still up on previous years.
"It doesn’t take a great deal of working out to see what has changed in the last year and a half, and I suggest one of the actions we take is for group leaders to discuss actions that might happen within their groups to try and reduce the amount of repeat incidences."
There are 32 complaint investigations ongoing from 2025-26, the report to the Audit and Standards Committee said. A further nine complaints have been received between May and July this year.
Five of the nine complaints made during the first quarter of the 2026-27 civic year have been closed, and all were recorded as no breach being found. Four complaints remain open.
Three related to comments made on social media and two arose from communication with a constituent. Others were in connection with comments made at a council meeting, not discharging duties correctly, attire worn in council meetings and communication with a partner agency.
Eight complaints were in connection with Reform UK – the ruling administration at the county council – and one related to an independent member Seven complaints were made by members of the public, with one from a councillor and the other from a parish council.
Mr Ebberley said:
"The report demonstrates progress in dealing with the complaints, while recognising that a significant number still remain open. I think we have stabilised.
"In terms of the backlog, that is where we are dealing with a significant number of complaints regarding a small number of individuals, where we’ve had to put those out to external investigation."
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