Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s children’s services involvement with her family. The issues complained about are subject to court proceedings and therefore the law says we cannot investigate. We will not investigate Miss X’s remaining complaint about the Council breaching her confidentiality because the Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider it.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s children’s services involvement with her family. Specifically, she complained about how it handled a safeguarding referral and about a kinship placement.
2. Miss X said the matters caused distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. 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))
6. 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

7. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. Miss X complained about the Council’s children’s services involvement with her family.
10. As outlined in paragraph four, we cannot investigate issues which relate to court proceedings. The issues complained about are subject to court proceedings and therefore the law says we cannot investigate.
11. Miss X complained the Council held a meeting with her and discussed her personal information in a public space. Miss X said this was a breach of confidentiality.
12. The Council responded to this part of Miss X’s complaint and said while the meeting location was not ideal, it took measures to ensure nobody overheard Miss X’s personal information.
13. Complaints about the handling of personal data are better placed with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO was set up by parliament to consider matters related to data security. For this reason, we will not investigate this part of Miss X’s complaint.

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Final decision

14. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because the issues are subject to court proceedings and for the remainder of the complaint, the Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider it.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman