Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council handled her service complaint. There is no evidence of significant injustice to Mrs X to warrant investigation. Additionally, the Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider complaints about data protection matters.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council’s decision on how it would handle her complaint. She said this amounted to a data breach. She wanted the Council to respond to her complaint separately.

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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:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• 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 the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mrs X complained to the Council about a Children and Families Assessment (CAF) report. Another person made a separate complaint.
6. The Council responded to say it would address both complaints with a single complaint response.
7. Mrs X disagreed with the Council’s decision and said she had a right to raise a complaint in her own name.
8. Additionally, Mrs X complained the Council’s actions could amount to a data breach because she did not give consent for it to share the details of her complaint with anyone else.
9. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint the Council’s decision to provide a single complaint response means she has not been able to raise a complaint in her own right. From the evidence I have seen, the Council told Mrs X it would consider the points from both complaints and provide a single response. There is no evidence of injustice to Mrs X to warrant our investigation because she was still able to raise anything she considered important in her own complaint for the Council to consider.
11. Nor will we investigate Mrs X’s complaint the Council’s actions amount to a data breach. Mrs X has already complained to The Information Commisioner’s Office (ICO) about any data breaches that have happened or will continue to happen due to the Council’s actions. The ICO is the UK’s independent regulator for complaints about information rights and data protection. If Mrs X considers the Council has breached data protection rules, the ICO is better placed to consider a complaint about this.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is no evidence of significant injustice to warrant investigation. Additionally, the ICO is better placed to consider her complaint about data breaches.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman