Making a complaint under the House of Lords Code of Conduct
Anyone wishing to make a complaint against a member of the House of Lords concerning a matter within the Commissioners' remit should email lordsstandards@parliament.uk.
To provide us with the correct details. please download the complaint form (pdf, 181KB) and submit it to the email address above.
Complaints may also be submitted in writing to: The House of Lords Commissioners for Standards, House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW
Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) Helpline
Call: 0808 168 9281 (freephone)
Email: Support@ICGShelpline.org.uk
The Helpline is open 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday
If you feel you have experienced, witnessed, been accused of or are supporting someone with bullying, harassment or sexual misconduct, the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) Helpline can provide you with emotional support and guidance on the options available to you and the processes involved.
Information to include with your complaint
When making a complaint the following information should be provided:
- in what respect the member concerned is alleged to have breached the Code of Conduct, or broken the rules governing the use of financial support or parliamentary facilities
- as much evidence as possible in support of the complaint
- name, postal address, telephone number and, if possible, email address.
A Commissioner will conduct a preliminary assessment of any complaint received. Following this preliminary assessment the Commissioner will inform both the complainant and the member concerned whether or not he will investigate the complaint and in doing so will normally provide the complainant’s name and the content of the complaint to the member. If the Commissioner decides that a complaint does not merit investigation then he will provide the person who has complained with a brief explanation of the reasons for his decision.
Important points to note when making your complaint
In the interests of natural justice, the specific allegation made to the Commissioner or the bullying and harassment and sexual misconduct helpline should be made in private and not publicised until the complaint has been finally determined.
The Commissioner will not without good reason consider either anonymous complaints or ones where the complainant is not prepared to have their name and complaint disclosed to the member whose conduct is criticised.
For complaints which the Commissioner decides to investigate and which do not include allegations of bullying, harassment or sexual misconduct, the complainant’s name will be published in the Commissioner’s final report.
A full explanation of the investigation process is in the Guide to the Code of Conduct.
For general enquiries the office of the Commissioners may be contacted on 020 7219 7152 and at lordsstandards@parliament.uk.