Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to share the outcome of a personnel investigation with the complainant. It is reasonable for the complainant to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council has refused to share the outcome of an investigation into her complaint that an employee was aggressive, misogynistic, and racist when they visited her business.

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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 another body better placed to consider this complaint.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Authority.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X complains a Council officer was aggressive, misogynistic, and racist when they visited her business premises. She says the Council failed to take her complaint seriously and refuses to share the outcome of its investigation with her.
6. The Council says it investigated Ms X’s complaint as a personnel matter. The investigation contains personal, confidential information about the officer’s employment with the Council. Therefore the Council cannot share this information with her. However, it apologised if it led Ms X to believe it would share the information and offered £150 as a gesture of goodwill.
7. The Ombudsman is prevented by law from involving herself in personnel matters. We do not expect the Council to disclose to a third party (which Ms X is) the outcome of any personnel or disciplinary procedure against one of its officers, as this is personal information which is subject to data protection.
8. If Ms X believes she is entitled to receive details of the outcome of the Council’s investigation undertaken as part of a personnel process, she may raise it with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO is the UK’s specialist information rights agency, and it is reasonable for Ms X to ask them to consider her request for the information she is seeking.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it concerns the actions of a Council employee which was dealt with under the Council’s personnel procedures. Such matters are outside our jurisdiction.
10. It is reasonable to expect Ms X to contact the ICO if she believes she is entitled to seek the Council’s personnel investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman