THE borough has made changes to its whistleblowing policy following an unprecedented amount of complaints against councillors in the last six months.

Slough Borough Council (SBC) plan to replace their Whistleblowing Policy with the brand new Confidential Reporting Code.

This is in light of five complaints against at least five borough or parish councillors since September 2016 that have been referred for investigation.

A report to SBC’s Audit and Corporate Governance Committee on Thursday, March 16 concluded: “There has been five complaints within a six-month period. This is a reasonably high number of complaints.”

The report added: “There is an impact on officer time and resources in dealing with complaints, in particular where they are referred for investigation and all five were during this period.”

Two borough councillors and a parish councillor are under investigation for allegedly bringing the office into disrepute and failure of duty to promote high standards following complaints from parish councillors and a member of the public respectively.

Another is under investigation for allegedly bringing the office into disrepute and being accountable for use of expenses and services from the public purse after a complaint from a parish councillor.

At least two more borough councillors are being investigated for duty to uphold the law following a complaint from a fellow councillor.

In his introduction to the new Confidential Reporting Code, SBC leader Sohail Munawar said: “The council is committed to the highest possible standards of openness, honesty and accountability. It is not prepared to tolerate malpractice or wrongdoing.

“In line with that commitment we expect employees, and others that we deal with, who have any serious concerns about any aspect of the council’s work to come forward and voice those concerns. Wherever possible, employees are encouraged to use relevant council procedures to report issues in an open and transparent way, because that is the type of organisational culture we are trying to foster.

“I hope that the improvements made to this process inspire confidence and enable employees and others to feel able to raise concerns so that the authority can address them appropriately and improve standards within the organisation.”

The new policy will be recommended to full council on April 25. A spokesman for SBC said: “Our confidential reporting code provides greater clarity on the process to be followed, more detail on protections provided in order to encourage open disclosure, and clearer reference to support those who are affected by raising their concerns.”