PAPER O
VEXATIOUS COMPLAINTS POLICY
VEXAATIOUS COMPLAINTS POLICY
ADOPTED MAY 2021
1
A policy for dealing with abusive, persistent or vexatious complaints and
complainants
1. Introduction
1.1 This policy identifies situations where a complainant, either individually or as part
of a group, or a group of complainants, might be considered to be habitual or
vexatious. The following clauses form the Council policy for ways of responding to
these situations.
1.2 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 intends to assist in identifying and
managing persons who seek to be disruptive to the Council through pursuing an
unreasonable course of conduct.
1.3 The term complaint in this policy includes requests made under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 1998 and reference to the
Complaints Procedure is, where relevant, to be interpreted as meaning a request
under those Acts.
1.4 Habitual or vexatious complaints can be a problem for Council staff and
members. The difficulty in handling such complainants is that they are time
consuming and wasteful of recourses in terms of Officer and Member 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 reasonably be
done to assist or to rectify a real or perceived problem.
1.5 Raising of legitimate queries or criticisms of a complaints procedure as it
progresses, for example if agreed timescales are not met, should not in itself lead to
someone being regarded as a vexatious or an unreasonably persistent complainant.
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.
1.6 The aim of this policy is to contribute to the overall aim of dealing with all
complainants in ways which are demonstrably consistent, fair and reasonable.
2. Habitual or Vexatious Complainants
2.1 For the purpose of this policy the following definitions of habitual or vexatious
complainants will be used: The repeated and/or obsessive pursuit of:
(1) unreasonable complaints and/or unrealistic outcomes;
and/or
VEXAATIOUS COMPLAINTS POLICY
ADOPTED MAY 2021
2
(2) reasonable complaints in an unreasonable manner.
2.2 Prior to considering its implementation the Council will send a summary of this
policy to the complainant to give them prior notification of its possible
implementation.
2.3 Where complaints continue and have been identified as habitual or vexatious in
accordance with the criteria set out in Section 3, the staff and Communications
Committee will seek agreement to treat the complainant as a habitual or vexatious
complainant for the appropriate course of action to be taken. Section 4 details the
options available for dealing with habitual or vexatious complaints.
2.4 The Clerk on behalf of the Council will notify complainants, in writing, of the
reasons why their complaint has been treated as habitual or vexatious and the action
that will be taken. District/ County /Unitary Councillors for Ryde Town Council will
also be informed that a constituent has been designated as an habitual or vexatious
complainant.
2.5 The status of the complainant will be kept under review. If a complainant
subsequently demonstrates a more reasonable approach, then their status will be
reviewed.
3. Definitions
3.1 Ryde Town Council defines unreasonably persistent and vexatious
complainants as those complainants who, because of the frequency or nature of
their contacts with the Council, hinder the Council’s consideration of their or other
people’s complaints.
The description ‘unreasonably persistent’ and ‘vexatious’ may apply separately or
jointly to a particular complainant.
3.2 Examples include the way in which, or frequency with which, complainants raise
their complaints with staff or how complainants respond when informed of the
Council’s decision about the compliant.
3.3 Features of an unreasonably persistent and/or vexatious complainant include the
following (the list is not exhaustive, nor does one single feature on its own
necessarily imply that the person will be considered as being in this category):
An unreasonably persistent and/or vexatious complainant may:
have insufficient or no grounds for their complaint and be making the complaint
only to annoy (or for reasons that he or she does not admit or make obvious)
refuse to specify the grounds of a complaint despite offers of assistance
refuse to co-operate with the complaints investigation process while still wishing
their complaint to be resolved.
refuse to accept that issues are not within the remit of the complaints policy and
procedure despite having been provided with information about the scope of the
policy and procedure
VEXAATIOUS COMPLAINTS POLICY
ADOPTED MAY 2021
3
refuse to accept that issues are not within the power of the Council to investigate,
change or influence
insist on the complaint being dealt with in ways which are incompatible with the
complaints procedure or with good practice (e.g. insisting that there must not be any
written record of the complaint)
make what appear to be groundless complaints about the staff dealing with the
complaints, and seek to have them dismissed or replaced
make an unreasonable number of contacts with the Council, by any means in
relation to a specific complaint or complaints
make persistent and unreasonable demands or expectations of staff and/or the
complaints process after the unreasonableness has been explained to the
complainant (an example of this could be a complainant who insists on immediate
responses to questions, frequent and/or complex letters, faxes telephone calls or e-
mails)
harass or verbally abuse or otherwise seek to intimidate staff dealing with their
complaint, in relation to their complaint by use of foul or inappropriate language or by
the use of offensive and racist language or publish their complaints in other forms of
media
raise subsidiary or new issues whilst a complaint is being addressed that were not
part of the complaint at the start of the complaint process
introduce trivial or irrelevant new information whilst the complaint is being
investigated and expect this to be taken into account and commented on
change the substance or basis of the complaint without reasonable justification
whilst the complaint is being addressed
deny statements he or she made at an earlier stage in the complaint process
are known to have electronically recorded meetings and conversations without the
prior knowledge and consent of the other person(s) involved
adopts a ‘scattergun’ approach, for instance, pursuing a complaint or complaints
not only with the Council, but at the same time with, for example, a Member of
Parliament, other Councils, elected Councillors of this and other Councils, the
Council’s Independent Auditor, the Standards Board, the Police, other public bodies
or solicitors
refuse to accept the outcome of the complaint process after its conclusion,
repeatedly arguing the point, complaining about the outcome, and/or denying that an
adequate response has been given
make the same complaint repeatedly, perhaps with minor differences, after the
complaints procedure has been concluded and insist that the minor differences make
these ‘new’ complaints which should be put through the full complaints procedure
persistently approach the Council through different routes or other persons about
the same issue
persist in seeking an outcome which Council has explained is unrealistic for legal
or
policy (or other valid) reasons
refuse to accept documented evidence as factual
complain about or challenge an issue based on an historic and/or an irreversible
decision or incident
combine some or all of these features.
VEXAATIOUS COMPLAINTS POLICY
ADOPTED MAY 2021
4
4. Imposing Restrictions
4.1 The Council will ensure that the complaint is being, or has been, investigated
properly according to the adopted complaints procedure.
4.2 In the first instance the Clerk will consult with the Chairman of the Council
prior to issuing a warning to the complainant. The Clerk will contact the
complainant in writing, or by e-mail, to explain why this behaviour is causing
concern and ask them to change this behaviour and outline the actions that the
Council may take if they do not comply.
4.3 If the disruptive behaviour continues, the Clerk will issue a reminder letter to the
complainant advising them that the way in which they will be allowed to contact the
Council in future will be restricted. The Clerk will make this decision in consultation
with the Chairman of the Council and inform the complainant in writing of what
procedures have been putin place and for what period.
4.4 Any restriction that is imposed on the complainant’s contact with the Council will
be appropriate and proportionate and the complainant will be advised of the period of
time over which that the restriction will be in place. In most cases restrictions will
apply for between three to six months, but in exceptional cases this may be
extended. In such cases the restrictions would be reviewed on a quarterly basis, or
at the next Full Council Meeting.
4.5 Restrictions will be tailored to deal with the individual circumstances of the
complainant and may include:
banning the complainant from making contact by telephone except through a third
party e.g. a solicitor, a Councillor or a friend acting on their behalf
banning the complainant from sending emails to individuals and/or all Council
Officers and insisting they only correspond by postal letter
requiring contact to take place with one named member of staff only
restricting telephone calls to specified days and/or times and/or duration
requiring any personal contact to take place in the presence of an appropriate
witness
letting the complainant know that the Council will not reply to or acknowledge any
further contact from them on the specific topic of that complaint (in this case, a
designated member of staff will be identified who will read future correspondence).
4.6 When the decision has been taken to apply this policy to a complainant, the
Clerk will contact the complainant in writing to explain:
why the decision has been taken
what action has been taken
the duration of that action.
4.7 The Clerk will enclose a copy of this policy in the letter to the complainant.
4.8 Where a complainant continues to behave in a way that is unacceptable, the
Clerk, in consultation with the Chairman of the Council may decide to refuse all
VEXAATIOUS COMPLAINTS POLICY
ADOPTED MAY 2021
5
contact with the complainant and stop any investigation into his or her complaint.
4.9 Where the behaviour is so extreme or it threatens the immediate safety and
welfare of staff, other options will be considered, e.g. the reporting of the matter to
the police or taking legal action. In such cases, the complainant may not be given
prior warning of that action.
5. New complaints from complainants who are treated as abusive, vexatious or
Persistent
5.1 New complaints from people who have come under this policy will be treated on
their merits. The Clerk, and the Chairman of the Council will decide whether any
restrictions that have been applied before are still appropriate and necessary in
relation to the new complaint. A blanket policy is not supported, nor ignoring genuine
service requests or complaints where they are founded.
5.2 The fact that a complainant is judged to be unreasonably persistent or vexatious,
and any restrictions imposed on Council’s contact with him or her, will be recorded
and notified to those who need to know within the Council.
6. Review
6.1 The status of a complainant judged to be unreasonably persistent or vexatious
will be reviewed by the Clerk and the Chairman of the Council, annually, and at the
end of every subsequent year.
6.2 The complainant will be informed of the result of this review if the decision to
apply this policy has been changed or extended.
7. Record Keeping
7.1 The Clerk will retain adequate records of the details of the case and the action
that has been taken. Records will be kept of:
the name and address of each member of the public who is treated as abusive,
vexatious or persistent, or any other person who so aids the complainant
when the restrictions came into force and ends
what the restrictions are
when the person and Council were advised.
7.2 Full Council be provided with a regular report giving information about members
of the public who have been treated as vexatious/persistent as per this policy.
VEXAATIOUS COMPLAINTS POLICY
ADOPTED MAY 2021
6