Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council (19 021 206)
Category : Adult care services > Safeguarding
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 17 Feb 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council will not provide the complainant with information about her son. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, says the Council will not provide her with any information about her son.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I read the complaint and the Council’s replies. I invited Mrs X to comment on a draft of this decision.
What I found
What happened
- Mrs X’s son is an adult. Mrs X says her son was removed from the parental home by social services in 2020 and she has not seen him since; she does not know where he is. Mrs X complains the Council will not give her any information about her son. Mrs X wants to know what is happening with her son and she wants a meeting with him.
- The Council told Mrs X it cannot share any information with her about her son. This is because he has not given the Council permission to share information with Mrs X. The Council told Mrs X it would be unlawful for it to pass on any information without his consent.
Assessment
- I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. This is because the Council has to follow data protection law and it has correctly told Mrs X that it cannot give her any information about her son because he has not given consent. The Council would be at fault if it gave information to Mrs X without having consent.
Final decision
- I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman