Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about inaccurate information held by the Council which the complainant said was shared with her employer leading to the complainant being dismissed and her being barred from working with children. This is because the complainant should take her concerns to the Information Commissioner.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Miss X, complains about information held about her by the Council’s children’s services which was shared with her employer after a referral was made about her to the Council’s Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO). Miss X says the inaccurate information led to her employer dismissing her and making a referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) which means she is now unable to work with children.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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 the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council’s children’s services have been involved with Miss X and her children for around fifteen years. In 2022, the LADO received a safeguarding referral concerning Miss X, who worked with children. Miss X says that information from children’s services was shared with her employer and she was subsequently dismissed and barred from working with children by the DBS. Miss X says the information held by children’s services is inaccurate and by sharing inaccurate information with her employer the Council has committed a data breach.
7. Miss X has the right to ask the Council that records are ‘rectified’. This means any factual errors are corrected. If the Council refuses to do so, she can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). She can also complaint to the ICO if she believes the Council has breached data protection rules when it disclosed information to her employer. 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 and for this reason, I will not investigate Miss X’s complaint.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because the ICO are better placed to consider the matter.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman