A former Staffordshire County Council leader has called for a bond system aimed at cutting down on what he described as “frivolous” complaints against elected members.
Councillor Ian Cooper suggested complainants could pay a deposit when making a complaint, with the money returned if their grievance was upheld.
Cllr Cooper, who stood down as council leader in December following allegations about social media posts, raised the idea during a discussion on the management of complaints at the council’s Audit and Standards Committee on Tuesday 29 September. The meeting and complaints report are confirmed in the council’s published agenda.
His Reform UK membership was revoked in December and he now sits as an independent councillor. Staffordshire County Council later said complaints relating to the social media allegations could not be upheld because its investigation found he was not acting in his capacity as a councillor.
External investigators were brought in after the number of complaints against elected members rose from 12 to 168 in a year.
As of July, 88 complaints from 2025/26 remained outstanding. The latest update revealed that 56 of those have now been closed, with one determined to be a breach of the council’s Code of Conduct for Members.
Cllr Cooper 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.”
Chris Ebberley, Head of Member and Democratic Services and Deputy Monitoring Officer, said
“I don’t think that would 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.”
Councillor Colin Greatorex 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 from 2025/26 still ongoing, according to the report, while a further nine complaints were 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, with no breach found in any of them. Four remain open.
Three related to comments made on social media and two arose from communication with a constituent. The others concerned comments made at a council meeting, not discharging duties correctly, attire worn in council meetings and communication with a partner agency.
Eight complaints related to Reform UK members and one to an independent member. Seven were made by members of the public, one by a councillor and one by a parish council. Reform UK remains the controlling political group at Staffordshire County 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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