• The complaint
• The Ombudsman’s role and powers
• How I considered this complaint
• What I found
• Final decision

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X's complaint about the support her adult child received. She does not have their consent to complaint. We should not investigate her complain about information sharing with her as the Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Miss X, says the Council has failed to provide proper information about her child and has provided inappropriate support to Y.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information Miss X provided and the Council’s responses. Miss X had the opportunity to comment on a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

4. Miss X says that her child, Y left her care in January 2018. They are now 18. Miss X says the Council has failed to provide her with proper information about Y. She says it has not supported Y properly. She says the Council has helped Y with housing and other essentials. But she does not believe the support provided is suitable.
5. The Council replied to her complaint in October 2018. It explained the action it had taken. The Council refused to escalate the complaint to its complaints procedure second stage as it said it would need Y’s consent to disclose information to Miss X.
6. In the circumstances of this complaint, we should not investigate Miss X’s complaint about information sharing and support. The main injustice of poor support would be to Y. Given Y’s age, it is not suitable to investigate that complaint without their consent.
7. Miss X can ask the Council to provide all the information she is legally allowed to see. If she disputes the decision the Council takes about which information it discloses, she can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Parliament set up the ICO to consider data disputes and they are the more suitable body to consider this part of her complaint. This is particularly so because it involves her child’s consent.

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Final decision

8. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because she does not have consent to complain on her adult child’s behalf and the ICO is better placed to consider any complaint about information sharing.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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