Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaints about the Council’s children services’ actions. We cannot investigate legal proceedings. There are other bodies better placed to consider her complaints about a social worker’s professionalism and a data protection breach.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, complains about a Council Court ordered report, the sharing of information with third parties without her consent and a social worker’s actions.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We have the power to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been, raised within a court of law. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
4. 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)
5. 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

6. I considered the information Ms X provided and the Council’s responses to her which it provided. I considered Ms X’s comments on a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

Background

7. Ms X became involved in Court proceedings to decide her children’s care arrangements. As part of those proceedings, the Court ordered the Council to provide a report on the children’s welfare and circumstances. This is called a section seven report.
8. Ms X says the Council produced an inaccurate and unfair report. She also complains about how Officer Z compiled the report.
9. Ms X says Officer Z disclosed information about her to another person without her consent. She says she has complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
10. Ms X also complains about Officer Z’s professionalism and suitability to be a social worker.

Analysis

11. We cannot investigate the preparation and content of a section seven report. The report forms part of legal proceedings.
12. Parliament set up the ICO to consider allegations of Data Protection Act breaches. Providing information to third parties without consent can be such a breach. It is not suitable for us to investigate this part of Ms X’s complaint as the ICO is better placed to do so.
13. Our role is to investigate the actions of the Council as a corporate body, not to hold a single officer accountable. If Ms X has concerns about the professionalism or integrity of an individual social worker, it is reasonable to expect her to report her concerns to their professional body, Social Work England.

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Final decision

14. The Ombudsman will not and cannot investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot investigate legal proceedings, the ICO is better placed to consider a data protection complaint and Social Work England is better placed to consider Officer Z’s professionalism.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman