Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Authority’s decision not to investigate her concerns about the content of its internal training materials as a complaint. There is not enough evidence of fault or significant injustice to justify us investigating.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about how the Fire and Rescue Service has interpreted and presented equality law in its internal staff training materials. She says the training contains legal inaccuracies and ideological content, which has reduced her trust in the organisation and caused her concern about whether it is complying with its legal duties.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

3. We cannot decide if an organisation has breached the Equality Act as this can only be done by the courts. But we can make decisions about whether or not an organisation has properly taken account of an individual’s rights in its treatment of them. Organisations will often be able to show they have properly taken account of the Equality Act if they have considered the impact their decisions will have on the individuals affected and these decisions can be challenged, reviewed or appealed.
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Authority.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Ms X raised concerns about the content of the Authority’s internal training materials. Ms X believes the materials to be legally inaccurate and this reduces their trust in the authority. The Ombudsman is not a regulator of internal training content and does not have the role of approving, amending or directing the content of internal guidance or staff training. Decisions about how an authority interprets legislation for the purpose of its internal training sit within the authority’s professional and organisational discretion, subject to challenge through the courts where appropriate.
8. We cannot decide if an organisation has breached the Equality Act as this can only be done by the courts. But we can make decisions about whether or not an organisation has properly taken account of an individual’s rights in its treatment of them.
9. We have not seen evidence of administrative fault causing Ms X significant personal injustice. The claimed injustice is a general loss of confidence and concern about legal compliance, rather than a failure in the delivery of a statutory service to the Ms X. Without a direct, personal injustice arising from maladministration, there is no basis for the Ombudsman to investigate. We therefore will not investigate this complaint as it falls outside our remit.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault or significant personal injustice. We also cannot decide if an organisation has breached the Equality Act as this can only be done by the courts

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman