Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council issued him a warning under its unreasonable complainants’ policy, because the warning did not cause him significant injustice. The Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider the other issues.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council issued him a warning describing his actions as “unreasonably persistent” and shared that warning with his employer.

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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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement,(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)
4. 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

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. I will not investigate the Council’s decision to issue a warning to Mr X. The warning imposes no restrictions and therefore causes Mr X no significant injustice.
8. Mr X is unhappy that the Council shared his emails with his employer, a different Council. He can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which handles complaints about data sharing.
9. Mr X has raised a complaint about safeguarding matters with the Council, who issued a stage one response and advised him how to escalate to stage two. He must complete the complaints process before we consider the issues raised in his complaint or how the Council has handled the process.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of injustice to justify our involvement. Other issues are better suited to the ICO.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman