Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about post adoption letters. The Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider inaccurate information.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, says the Council holds inaccurate information.

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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 there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
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 information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mrs X says the Council’s adoption support team hold inaccurate information. She says the birth family broke the post adoption letter rules, but those letters are still on the children’s file. She says they contain inaccurate information, are emotional and contain information which should not be shared. Mrs X has asked the Council to remove them from the file. It has refused to do so.
7. Mrs X has the right to request records are ‘rectified’. This means any factual inaccuracies are corrected. If the Council refuses to do so, she can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Parliament set up the ICO to consider data protection disputes which includes ‘right to rectification’ disputes. The ICO are better placed than us to consider if the Council should change its records particularly because there are complex exemptions for children case files.
8. Mrs X says the Council has not followed the correct post adoption letters’ procedure. We will not look at this because the effect of that procedure is the existence of those letters which we will not look at for the reasons set out in the paragraph above.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the ICO is better placed to consider data protection issues.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman