Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr Q’s complaint about information the Council holds about him in his son’s social care records. The Information Commissioner is better placed to deal with the complaint.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I have called Mr Q, complained that Derbyshire County Council holds inaccurate information about him in his son’s social care records. He believes this misinformation has “branded” him and he wants his name cleared.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. 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)
3. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Mr Q provided. I considered the information the Council provided. I invited Mr Q to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

5. Mr Q’s son has received support from the Council’s Adult Social Care Team in the past. Mr Q is not happy with information the Council holds about him in his son’s records. He believes the information is inaccurate and has “branded” him. He would like to get his name cleared. The Information Commissioner is better placed to deal with this complaint, and so it would be reasonable for Mr Q to take his complaint there. So we will not investigate the complaint for this reason.

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Final decision

6. We will not investigate this complaint because another body is better placed to deal with it.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman