The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about the way he was treated by a member of the Council’s staff. This is because further investigation could not add to the Council’s response or make a different finding.
The complaint
Mr B complained the Council’s Employment Advisor had a conversation with his prospective employer, following which the employer withdrew the offer of the job. Mr B says the Employment Advisor sided with an abusive employer and told him off. Mr B says the Council should be held accountable for what they did, apologise to him and compensate him financially for the stress and anxiety caused to him.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council explained Mr B told the Employment Advisor that he had been unsuccessful with one job but had been offered the opportunity of another role. Mr B indicated he would accept the offer but at the same time, informed them he was considering taking legal action for not being offered the original job. The following day the employer contacted the Employment Advisor to inform her of the content of Mr B’s email. The Employment Advisor advised Mr B to seriously consider the impact of accepting a job offer whilst informing the same employer of a potential legal challenge. The Council confirmed it was not involved in any way in the employer’s decision not to offer him the original role.
Mr B feels the intervention by the Employment Advisor contributed to the employer withdrawing the job offer but we could not make that finding. It is for the employer to decide whether or not to offer an interview or job and we could not say the withdrawal of the offer was because the Employment Advisor’s intervention as Mr B believes.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because we could not add to the Council’s response or make a different finding.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman