The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council’s advert for a voluntary position excluded him as a white male and that its employment practices are discriminatory. There is no injustice to Mr X and we cannot lawfully investigate personnel matters.
The complaint
Mr X complains he could not apply for a volunteer position with the Council because it excluded able bodied, white, heterosexual men. Mr X says the Council should make appointments based on ability and its approach affects him as a resident. Mr X says the Council’s complaint handling is not efficient.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We cannot investigate a complaint if it is about a personnel issue. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5a, paragraph 4, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant including the Council’s reply to him dated 8 February 2022.
My assessment
I will not investigate this complaint for the following reasons: There is no injustice to Mr X and we cannot achieve what he wants. I understand the Council advertised for an independent observer (voluntary role) in connection with its employment practices. The information indicates the Council invited applications from underrepresented groups and gave examples such as people with disabilities. The list was not exclusive and there does not appear any reason why Mr X could not have applied.
The Ombudsman cannot lawfully investigate ‘actions taken in respect of appointments…or other personnel matters’ (see paragraphs 3 and 4 above). We cannot investigate the issues of concern to Mr X.
There is no reason to investigate the communications or complaint handling and we would not normally do so where we are not investigating the substantive issue.
Final decision
The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint the Council’s advert for a voluntary position excluded him as a white male and that its employment practices are discriminatory. There is no injustice to Mr X and we cannot lawfully investigate personnel matters.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman