Council criticised over handling of bullying claims

COUNCIL bosses could have acted sooner to deal with concerns from a senior director who accused a top city politician of bullying her, an investigation has found.

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Newcastle City Council confirmed on Monday that its former leader, Nick Kemp, had been cleared of breaching its code of conduct in his treatment of Michelle Percy, who made a complaint about his behaviour in September 2024.

The local authority said that it would release no further detail of the probe into the allegations, despite the cost to the public of the investigation and calls from senior councillors for transparency on the findings given longstanding concerns about the culture of governance at the Civic Centre.

The Chronicle can now reveal that law firm Bevan Brittan LLP, who were commissioned by the council last November to carry out the investigation into Ms Percy's complaint, found that “more could have been done” to deal with her concerns at an earlier stage to “diffuse the situation” between two of the highest-ranking public figures in Newcastle.

A copy of the investigation, seen by The Chronicle, concluded that Coun Kemp did not breach the council's code of conduct, in the context of the “enhanced protection” under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights in relation to freedom of expression in a political context.

However, Bevan Brittan added that their judgement “is not to be taken as a finding that the Councillor’s behaviour was always acceptable” and that he “could certainly have conducted himself in a less confrontational and aggressive manner at times”.

Their report adds that there is “no doubt that the Complainant has felt distressed, upset, and undermined”.

The investigation took around nine months and has cost taxpayers more than £74,000.