Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about disclosure of information to a third party. This is because the complainant can complain to the Information Commissioner. In addition, some issues have been considered in court and the Ombudsman cannot investigate any issue that has formed part of legal proceedings. He also does not investigate complaint handling when he is not investigating the main issue.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, says the Council wrongly disclosed information to a third party which has impacted her career. She also says the Council is in contempt of court. She also complains of delay and the Council’s handling of her complaint.

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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.

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)

3. 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)
4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I read the complaint and letters the Council sent to Ms X about her Subject Access Request (SAR). I considered comments Ms X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

What happened

6. Ms X has been involved in legal proceedings which concern children. Ms X alleges the Council disclosed information to a third party which has had a negative impact on her career. She is unhappy that information provided by the Council has been redacted. And she says the Council is in contempt of decisions made by the court.
7. Ms X also complains that the Council delayed responding to her requests for information and has not responded properly to her complaints. Ms X says she has been having problems with these issues since 2015.

Assessment

8. I will not start an investigation for the following reasons.
9. Ms X is unhappy with the information provided to her by the Council and says the Council wrongly disclosed information about her to a third party. I will not start an investigation because complaints about the handling of data or how the Council responded to a SAR request need to be dealt with by the Information Commissioner. Ms X can also raise with the Information Commissioner her concerns about the Council not responding within an appropriate timescale.
10. In addition, if Ms X thinks the Council has acted in a way that is in contempt of court then that is a matter she needs to take to the court. The Ombudsman cannot consider any matter that has formed part of legal proceedings.
11. Ms X is dissatisfied with the way the Council has handled her complaints. She says there has been delay, confusion and a lack of clarify about who was responsible for her complaint. However, while I appreciate Ms X’s frustration, it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaint handling when we are not investigating the main issue (because Ms X needs to approach the Information Commissioner).
12. Ms X says she has been having problems since 2015. I will not investigate matters since 2015 for the reasons I have already explained and because the law says people should complain to the Ombudsman within 12 months of becoming aware of a problem that affects them.

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Final decision

13. I will not start an investigation because Ms X can complain to the Information Commissioner and because I cannot investigate anything that has formed part of legal proceedings. In addition, I will not investigate the complaint handling because I am not investigating the main issue.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman