Ms J Linde v The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea — 2024

The claimant, who is Eastern European, applied on 18 April 2021 for an Adult Social Worker post with the respondent local authority and was interviewed on 10 May 2021 but not appointed. She brought complaints of direct race discrimination in respect of the interview and the feedback given on 9 and 18 June 2021, and indirect race discrimination based on an alleged provision, criterion or practice that candidates obtained their social work degree and/or adult social care experience in the UK. Complaints of age and disability discrimination were withdrawn at a Preliminary Hearing on 20 January 2023.

On the direct discrimination allegations, the Tribunal found that the claimant had not established a prima facie case on any of the matters relied upon. It accepted the respondent's evidence that the same recruitment process, scoring and prompting were applied to all candidates, that interview notes were appropriately recorded and that the feedback given was consistent with the claimant's interview performance. It found that the claimant was not selected because she did not demonstrate at interview that she had the skills and experience required for the role, and that her race was not the reason for non-selection; nor would a hypothetical comparator have been treated differently.

On the indirect discrimination claim, the Tribunal found that the respondent did not have or apply the alleged PCP, noting in particular that the claimant had been shortlisted for interview despite her social work degree and adult social care experience having been obtained outside the UK. The complaints were therefore not well founded and were dismissed.