Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs Q’s complaint about the Council’s decision to go to the Court of Protection regarding her son’s Lasting Power of Attorney. This is because the matter has been considered in court. Nor will the Ombudsman investigate Mrs Q’s complaint about the information held in her son’s records. The Information Commissioner is better placed to deal with this, or she may go to court.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I have called Mrs Q, complained on behalf of herself and her son, Mr J, about the actions of Lincolnshire County Council. She is unhappy the Council went to the Court of Protection to remove her Lasting Power of Attorney for Mr J. She is also unhappy with the information the Council holds in its files about them. She believes the information is inaccurate and misleading.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
4. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
5. 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

6. I considered the information Mrs Q provided. I invited Mrs Q to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

Background

7. If a person thinks a council holds personal information which is inaccurate she may take the matter to the Information Commissioner. She may also go to court for an order requiring a council to comply with data protection legislation.

What happened

8. Mrs Q’s son, Mr J, has Down’s Syndrome. She held a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPoA) for him.
9. In May 2018 the Council applied to the Court of Protection (CoP) as it did not believe Mr J had the mental capacity to consent to a LPoA. When the Council applied to the CoP it included information about how Mrs Q cared for Mr J as well as information about incidents at his college. The CoP granted Mrs Q deputyship for Mr J.
10. Mrs Q is unhappy the Council wanted to revoke the LPoA. She is also unhappy about information the Council holds in Mr J’s records which, she believes, shows she acted inappropriately when she cared for her son. She believes the Council’s records about her and Mr J are misleading and inaccurate.

Analysis

11. We will not investigate this complaint.
12. We cannot investigate Mrs Q’s complaint about the Council’s decision to go to the CoP regarding the LPoA, or the information presented to the court. This is because the law prevents us from investigating the start of court action or what happened in court. I explained this in paragraph 3.
13. Mrs Q believes the records the Council holds about her and Mr J are inaccurate and misleading. The Information Commissioner is better placed to deal with this complaint. It is also open to Mrs Q to go to court for an order requiring the Council to comply with data protection legislation. We do not have the power to require the Council to alter its records. So it would be reasonable for Mrs Q to go to court, if necessary, to achieve this.

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Final decision

14. We cannot and will not investigate Mrs Q’s complaint for the reasons given in the Analysis.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman