Confusion
Like the Findings from our survey on promotion of the Civil Service Code, the Findings from our survey on complaints under the Civil Service Code do appear to reveal a certain degree of confusion about what exactly constitutes an appeal under the Civil Service Code.
A number of the cases that were reported to us appear to be clearly human resources management issues and not under the ambit of the Civil Service Code. Or it might be truer to say that often, when a civil servant is uneasy about something, there are different aspects to their concerns. It is perhaps only through the process of investigation in many cases that it becomes clear what are human resources issues, what are performance and disciplinary issues, and what are issues relating to the core values of the Civil Service as expressed in the Civil Service Code. Also, as we noted in relation to the Findings from our survey on promotion of the Civil Service Code, departments and agencies often have common systems for recording and investigating a number of different types of concerns. It is not therefore surprising that it can take some time for the department to identify exactly what issues and what appeals regime any individual concern relates to.
We believe that a more consistent approach to recording and investigating complaints across departments and agencies may help to reduce the confusion for both civil servants and departments.
A more detailed consideration of the responses can be found in Findings from our survey on complaints under the Civil Service Code.