© Tom Blewitt & Zack Griffiths – Predator Awareness

A formal standards investigation by Sandwell Council has concluded that a Labour councillor breached the authority’s Code of Conduct — but no further action will be taken.

The complaint related to a social media post made by Councillor Horton in response to a series of online posts concerning him and third parties. Following an assessment of the evidence, the Council’s Monitoring Officer, Mike Jones, confirmed that the councillor’s language “does fall below the standard of respect required of all elected members.”

This represents an official finding that the Code of Conduct was breached.

However, after reviewing the wider context — including the broader exchange of social media posts between the parties — the Monitoring Officer concluded that the incident was isolated and not indicative of a wider pattern of behaviour.

In his decision notice, Mr Jones stated that, based on all available evidence, the conduct did not form part of “an evidenced pattern of wider behaviour.” He further confirmed that, after consulting the Independent Person (a statutory safeguard in member conduct complaints), no further action would be taken in this case.

The decision notice makes clear that this concludes the matter under the Council’s current arrangements for handling member conduct complaints. It also confirms there is no right of appeal within those arrangements.

However, the Monitoring Officer has reserved the right to re-examine the matter should further posts of a similar nature be made in future.

The outcome raises a broader and legitimate question: what is the practical purpose of a Code of Conduct if a breach can be formally identified but result in no consequence?

Codes of Conduct exist to set standards, protect public trust, and ensure accountability. Where a breach is acknowledged but no further action follows, some may question whether the process delivers meaningful deterrence or simply records misconduct without remedy.

What This Means?

In practical terms, the findings mean:

* A breach of the Code of Conduct has been formally identified.

* The behaviour was judged to fall below expected standards of respect.

* The incident was considered isolated.

* No sanctions or further action will follow at this stage.