EAST BERGHOLT PARISH COUNCIL

Persistent or Vexatious Correspondenceand/Complaints Policy

This policy is similar to many others which have been adopted by Parish Councils
and local authorities across the country to address a matter of increasing concern. It
aims to help protect individual council employees and elected representatives
(councillors) from the impact of receiving excessive amounts of persistent and
vexatious correspondence in the course of their duties. Such correspondence might
come from a single source or multiple sources but the negative effect on the
recipients can become a matter of real concern to those individuals personally, as
well as consuming disproportionate amounts of Council time in trying to politely
respond to such.
For these reasons the policy is one of protection. It is hoped and expected that its
use would be very infrequent if used at all. It would in effect be used as a last resort
to attempt to quell correspondence at source if the Council considered that the
correspondence was having a serious and detrimental impact on either the individual
recipient or the workings of the Council. It is not intended to deter anyone engaging
in reasonable correspondence with the Council, its employees and Councillors on
any council matter”

1. Introduction

East Bergholt Parish Council does not tolerate bullying, harassment or
intimidation, in any form, of any of its employees or councillors. This applies to
includes such behaviour from members of the public and Parish Council
employees/councillors alike. A small percentage of people may correspond
with, or complain to the Parish Council in a way that could reasonably be
described as obsessive, harassing, bullying, intimidating or abusive. This
policy is to protect against persistent or vexatious correspondence and
complaints including face-to-face interactions.

2. Harassment

Under the Protection from Harassment Act 1977 Section 1(1) a person must not
pursue a course of conduct (a) which amounts to harassment of another, and (b)
which they know or ought to know amounts to harassment of the other. Such action
can be physical conduct, verbal conduct or non-verbal conduct.

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3. Bullying

The Council defines bullying as a pattern of offensive, intimidating, malicious,
insulting, or humiliating behaviour intended to undermine an individual or group,
gradually and as a consequence eroding their confidence and capability possibly
with the intention to force them to resign and this will not be tolerated.

Such behaviour may also be designed to annoy and/or to create an extreme
workload for a Parish Council which meets monthly and has limited staff resources.

Such behaviour might be designed to cause extreme distress and it might also be
repetitious.

Such behaviour from a minority of individuals can take up a disproportionate amount
of limited council resources and can affect the Parish Council’s ability to do its work
and provide a service to the community. It can result in unacceptable stress for the
Clerk and for Councillors.

4. 2 Defining persistent or vexatious correspondenceand/complaints.

Persistent or vexatious correspondence/complaints can be characterised in
the following ways:

• Behaviour which is obsessive, persistent, harassing, prolific,
repetitious, and/or
• Behaviour which is designed to cause extreme distress, bully, humiliate
and intimidate specific individuals and/or the corporate body, and/or
• Frequent correspondence timed to cause the council maximum
disruption and workload, and/or
• Behaviour which displays an insistence on pursuing unmeritorious
issues, trivial points and/or unrealistic outcomes beyond all reason,
and/or
• Displays an insistence upon pursuing complaints or issues in an
unreasonable and abusive manner, and/or
• Repeated and/or frequent and/or simultaneous requests for
information, whether or not those requests are made under the access
to information legislation, and/or
• Behaviour where former employees/councillors are contacted to try to
undermine the council or councillors, and/or
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• Behaviour which has the effect of hindering the council’s ability to go
about its democratic business due to the extreme workload generated,
and/or
• Behaviour where the aim is character assassination, and/or
• Behaviour characterised by a refusal to accept that issues raised are
not within the power of the council to investigate, change or influence.
• Use of social media to repeatedly contact/tag or discuss East Bergholt
Parish Council in a defamatory manner.

5. 3 Use of this policy

In the first instance the Clerk or a Councillor will consult the Chairman of the
Council. With the Chairman’s agreement, the correspondent/complainant will
be contacted in writing (also providing a copy of this policy), to explain why
the behaviour is a concern and request them to change their behaviour.

If the behaviours persist and the Clerk or Councillors identify behaviour which
they think exhibits these characteristics, and which they believe may be
persistent or vexatious, they should refer it to the Strategy, Policy and Finance
Committee which can invite the person(s) to the meeting to discuss the
matterfull council under closed session (so as not to disclose personal data
publicly).

If the Strategy, Policy and Finance Committee Council agrees with the
assessment, it should prepare a brief statement of why it considers the
correspondence and/or the complaint(s) to be persistent or vexatious,
including its effect upon the Council, the Clerk, Councillors and/or the village.
This should be accompanied by a report for the Council showing the workload
effects and resource impact, and if resources allow, information about the
related correspondence via email, telephone and letter including information
about to whom the correspondence/complaint(s) were addressed, to whom it
was copied, and a brief description of each piece of
correspondence/complaint.

The Council may impose sanctions which may include:

• Allowing the correspondent/complainant to communicate with only one
councillor/employee;
• Allowing the correspondent/complainant to communicate only in a
specific way, for example by letter rather than by email or telephone.
• Not responding to the correspondent/complainant’s further enquiries
and communications on the same matter if no substantive new issue
is raised;
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• Not responding to all the correspondent/complainant’s enquiries and
communications to the Council for 6 months if no substantive new
issue is raised.

6. 4 Handling correspondence and complaints deemed to be persistent or
vexatious

The Clerk/Council will write to the correspondent/complainant advising them
that their correspondence/complaint has been determined to be persistent or
vexatious and giving the reason for that decision.

7. Residents of the Parish

If the correspondent/complainant is a local resident of the parish, Tthe notification
should state which sanction has been imposed. They should be advised that the
decision will be reviewed in six months from the date of the letter advising them that
their correspondence/complaint has been determined to be persistent or vexatious.
There is no appeal against a decision that correspondence or a complaint is
persistent or vexatious. The County and District Councillors will be informed that a
constituent has been designated as a persistent or vexatious
correspondent/complainant.

8. Review of Sanction

At the following Parish Council meeting which occurs six months after the
correspondent/complainant has been advised that their correspondence/complaint is
persistent or vexatious, that decision should be reviewed. The Council should
consider whether there has been any improvement in the persistent or vexatious
behaviour over that time. The Clerk should write to the correspondent/complainant
advising them of the outcome of the review. If the behaviour has improved, future
communications can be treated in the normal way. If there has not been a significant
improvement, the correspondence/complaint(s) will continue to be treated as
persistent or vexatious and will be reviewed at six monthly intervals.

9. Non-Residents of the Parish
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If the correspondent/complainant does not reside in the parish, they will be advised
that all future correspondence/complaints will be ignored and left unread. There is
no appeal against a decision that correspondence or a complaint is persistent or
vexatious.

10. Persistent or vexatious communications on the same matter from multiple
correspondents/complainants

When persistent or vexatious correspondence on one single matter comes from
more than one source/complainant, the Clerk will send a standard response to each
of ‘the group’ involved, to explain the Parish Council’s concerns and highlight its
policies. If sanctions are not in place, this action does not require the specific
approval of Council.

“As a local government body, East Bergholt Parish Council holds the right to ensure
that all councillors, employees and volunteers are protected from persistent
harassment from members of the public, East Bergholt Parish Council recognises
that not all members of the community will agree with actions taken or decisions
made and the Council welcomes constructive feedback. In the unlikely event this
feedback becomes un-constructive and personal the council has the right to act
accordingly.

Approved and adopted by East Bergholt Parish Council: 12/09/24
Date of review: September 2025
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