F3 - Member / Officer Protocol

1. Purpose and scope

1.1 The Best Value standards and interventions guidance has identified the maintenance of constructive relationships between members and officers as a characteristic of a well-functioning authority. This protocol is a code of standards designed to provide a guide to ethical, effective, respectful and professional working relations between members and Council employees to the benefit of local residents. It defines their respective roles and provides some principles governing conduct. It is not intended to be prescriptive or comprehensive but simply seeks to offer guidance on some of the issues that most commonly arise.

1.2 The roles of members and Council employees are complementary. Elected members provide democratic leadership, set strategic direction, hold decision makers appropriately to account and represent the interests of their communities. Council employees bring professional expertise, impartial advice, and operational capability to support informed decision-making and delivery. Together, they ensure that services are delivered and commissioned economically, efficiently and effectively, in line with local needs and priorities.

1.3 The protocol applies to members (including both elected and co-opted members) and Council employees at all times whilst they are acting in their official capacity.

2. Principles of effective member-officer relations

2.1 The protocol seeks to reflect the principles underlying the respective codes of conduct that apply to members and Council employees, which is primarily to enhance and maintain the integrity of local government, and should be read in association with Chapter F2 (Members’ Code of Conduct) and Chapter G3 (Officers’ Code of Conduct). It is built on four interconnecting basic principles to achieve effective member-officer working relations:

1) Ethical conduct: This overarching principle is important to achieve effective collective behaviours. The Seven Principles of Public Life (Nolan Principles) apply to all public officeholders, both elected and appointed and define clear expectations around consistent behaviour which supports mutual respect and trust:

2) Mutual respect and trust: Members and Council employees respecting each other, their respective roles and responsibilities reflect positively on the authority, demonstrating professionalism, unity and integrity in its internal relationships.

3) Clear and well understood roles and responsibilities: The roles and responsibilities of both members and council employees, including the boundaries between them, need to be clearly defined, consistently communicated and understood by all members and Council employees working with members.

4) Visible leadership: members and Council employees actively and visibly modelling, promoting and upholding the authority’s standards, setting clear expectations, and committing to preventing, identifying and resolving conflicts constructively and transparently sets the tone and expectations for the entire organisation.

Principle 1: Ethical Conduct

2.2 Guidance on personal relationships is contained within Chapter F2 (Members’ Code of Conduct) and Chapter G3 (Officers’ Code of Conduct). Provided these guidelines are observed there is no reason why there should not be an informal atmosphere between members and Council employees outside formal meetings and events.

Principle 2: Mutual respect and trust

2.3 The relationship between Council employees and members is characterised by mutual respect and courtesy and recognition of each other’s roles and responsibilities. Members can feel confident that Council employees will provide honest, impartial advice and Council employees can trust that members will use that advice responsibly. This fosters a collaborative environment where complex issues can be tackled jointly.

2.4 Constructive challenge is a vital part of this relationship: members have a responsibility to scrutinise recommendations and advise objectively, in support of transparency and accountability. Where it applies to their actions or advice, it is important that Council employees recognise that constructive challenge is not personal, but a legitimate and necessary aspect of good governance and continuous improvement.

Principle 3: Clear and well understood roles and responsibilities

2.5 Both members and Council employees should respect the boundaries of their own roles (as set out at 3.5 and 3.6 respectively). Members provide leadership, give strategic direction, hold officers to account and represent the views of their communities, but Council employees must be permitted to implement the Council’s policy, conduct its day-to-day operations and (where relevant) discharge their legal obligations. In turn, Council employees must not engage in party political activity or express a partisan view on a matter that has any bearing on the Council’s work and their role. Officers in “politically restricted posts” are barred by law from engaging in activity connected with campaigning or publicly supporting a political party or group.

Principle 4: Visible leadership:

2.6 There should be a close working relationship between committee chairs, spokes, and the relevant executive director, service director and heads of service. However, such relationships should never be allowed to become so close, or appear to be so close, as to bring into question the individual's ability to deal impartially with others.

3. Roles and responsibilities

3.1 The authority operates within a legal framework. Whilst collaborative working between members and Council employees is essential, clear and well understood roles and responsibilities help members and Council employees to build professional and respectful working relationships, with clear boundaries preventing overreach to ensure decisions are made at the appropriate level.

3.2 Council employees should be politically neutral in how their discharge their responsibilities and in the information and advice they provide to members. In turn, members should respect the boundaries of the roles performed by Council employees and must not require them to change their professional advice or take any action which a Council employee considers unlawful or illegal or which would amount to maladministration or breach of a statutory duty. Council employees work to the instructions of their managers, not individual members.

3.3 Council employees should respect the democratic mandate of elected members and the pressures of representation. The advice provided and actions taken by Council employees should be sensitive to the political nature of the organisation, but their advice should always be independent and unbiased.

3.4 Members and Council employees should promote and model good behaviour, uphold standards and intervene where necessary in order to support transparency and accountability.

Role of Members

3.5 Members are elected by the public to represent their local communities. They provide democratic leadership, set strategic direction, hold decision makers appropriately to account and represent the interests of their communities. They must act in accordance with Chapter F2 (Members’ Code of Conduct).

Role of Council employees

3.6 Council employees are employed to provide expert professional and impartial advice, implement decisions, and manage day-to-day operations. It is therefore inappropriate for Members to criticise this advice in public. Some senior Council employees also have specific responsibilities which are set out in legislation. The Head of Paid Service (Chief Executive), Monitoring Officer and Section 151 Officer (Chief Finance Officer), have specific statutory duties to support lawful, ethical and financially sound decision-making. Council employees must act in accordance with Chapter G3 (Officers’ Code of Conduct).

Potential conflict of roles

Senior council employees and Political Groups

3.7 On the invitation of a group leader, an executive director or service director or their nominee may attend an approved political group meeting to give factual information about an issue which is currently being or will shortly be debated by a council body, provided that:

(a) Notice of attendance is given to the proper officer and made available to the other group leaders setting out the subject matter under discussion.

(b) The Chief Executive, Section 151 Officer or Monitoring Officer or their nominee will be in attendance.

3.8 Council employee support in these circumstances must not extend beyond providing information in relation to matters of Council business. They must not be involved in advising on matters of group business and must not be present when matters of group business are discussed. They must also respect the confidentiality of any political group meeting at which they are present and not relay the content of any such discussion to another political group.

3.9 Council employees will not normally attend and provide information to any political group meeting which includes non-County Council members (e.g. MPs), as they are not bound by the Code of Conduct’s obligations of confidentiality. Exceptions to this may be approved by the Chief Executive and notified to all the political group leaders.

3.10 Any particular cases of difficulty or uncertainty in this area of advice to political groups should be raised with the Chief Executive who will discuss them with the relevant group leader(s).

Members’ Constituency Role and Individual Council employees

3.11 A member may be asked for advice and support by a Council employee who is one of their constituents. Council employees are entitled to seek such assistance in the same way as any other member of the public. However, members should be aware of Chapter G4 (Officer Employment Procedure Rules) of this constitution and be careful not to prejudice the County Council's position in relation to disciplinary procedures or employment matters in respect of a Council employee. A member approached for help in such circumstances should first seek advice from the Monitoring Officer.

Council employees and Non-County Council Elected Representatives

3.12 Council employees may receive requests to meet with nationally or locally elected representatives, including government ministers, Members of Parliament, the Mayor of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority and members from neighbouring local authorities to provide briefings and/or policy advice. Council employees who receive such requests should ensure that the county councillor(s) representing the affected division(s) are informed and invited to any meeting which takes place. Any Council employee requested to attend a meeting of this nature which is not held on a cross–political party basis must obtain the prior authorisation of the Chief Executive who shall inform all group leaders of the arrangements.

3.13 Council employees should be cautious in agreeing to requests to meet or provide briefings made directly to them by elected members of lower-tier councils, and instead guide such members to take up their request with the relevant county councillor.

4. Communication

4.1 Members have the right to challenge Council employees’ reports and actions, but they should avoid personal and or/public attacks, and ensure their criticism is fair and constructive. They should not raise matters relating to the conduct or capability of a Council employee or of officers collectively at meetings held in public or in the press.

4.2 Council employees should not publicly criticise Council decisions even if they do not personally agree with those decisions.

Keeping Local Members informed

4.3 Members will be fully informed as early as possible about matters affecting their division to enable them to carry out their divisional role effectively. This should include formative stages of policy development and discussion at informal meetings, to enable them to contribute to the decision-making process. Issues may affect a single electoral division but others may have a wider – even sub-regional – impact, in which case numerous members will need to be kept informed. Where county councillors raise issues with Council employees which affect another division (or other divisions) to the one which they represent, Council employees must ensure that the councillor(s) for the affected division(s) are informed and involved in any meetings or discussions about those issues.

4.4 Whenever a public meeting is organised by the Council to consider a local issue, all the members representing the electoral division(s) affected should be invited to attend the meeting as a matter of course. If a local member intends to arrange a public meeting on a matter concerning some aspect of the Council’s work, they should inform the relevant Council employee. Similarly, whenever the Council undertakes any form of consultative exercise, the local member(s) should be notified immediately prior to the outset of the exercise.

Council employees and Individual Members

4.5 Any political group leader, committee chair/vice chair or spokes may request a private and confidential briefing from an executive director or service director on matters of policy which have already been or may be discussed by the Council or within its decision-making or advisory process. All requests should be made to the appropriate executive director or director. Briefings shall remain strictly confidential and will not to be shared with other members of the Council unless so permitted by the relevant member. Where possible information will be shared among political group representatives. Chapter B3 (Access to Information Procedure Rules) sets out the right of members to access information.

5. Embedding and monitoring the protocol

5.1 Both members and Council employees working directly with members will participate in training on ethical conduct, effective member-employee relations and the protocol itself, to support embedding and accountability.

Member Training

5.2 Members are expected to embrace the principles of personal development and skill training and ensure they allocate time to participate in all the necessary training and personal development activities. This includes the necessary skills to take advantage of the IT facilities made available to them. Group leaders should ensure that all new members in the group attend new councillor induction training.

Council employee Training

5.3 Council employees working with Members should undertake political awareness training, which includes the operation of the protocol.

5.4 The tables below provide a quick guide to acceptable member and Council employee behaviours.

Acceptable member behaviour

Acceptable Council employee behaviour

6. What if things go wrong

6.1 Explicit procedures for raising concerns or reporting breaches support transparency and accountability in the management of potential instances of inappropriate behaviour between members and Council employees, and avoid confusion or escalation where possible. Before raising concerns or reporting breaches, members and Council employees will review potential instances of inappropriate against the relevant codes of conduct.

Procedure for Members

6.2 If a member is dissatisfied with the conduct, behaviour or performance of a Council employee they should raise the matter privately with the relevant executive director or service director. If their concerns relate to an executive director or service director the concern should be raised with the Chief Executive. If the concerns relate to the Chief Executive then the concern should be raised with the Monitoring Officer.

Procedure for Council employees

6.3 If a Council employees is unhappy with the conduct or behaviour of a member they should seek to resolve the matter by appropriate discussion and involvement of their executive director or service director. In the event that matters remain unresolved they should inform the Monitoring Officer who will consider what action should be taken.

Arbitration

6.4 When necessary, the Chief Executive will arbitrate on the interpretation of this protocol following consultation with the Monitoring Officer.

[Chapter F3 (Member and Officer Protocol) was last amended on 19 May 2026]

A PDF version of this chapter is available to view or download on the CMIS section of the Council’s website, along with a PDF version of the full constitution.