Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s involvement in her extended family. She does not have parental responsibility for the children involved. The Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider her data sharing complaint.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, complains about the way the Council’s children services team is handling her extended family’s case. She says the Councils actions are isolating the extended family.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended)
3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word 'fault' to refer to these. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions a council has taken or proposes to take or  it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Ms X provided and the Council’s reply to her. I considered Ms X’s comments on a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

5. In 2020, Ms X contacted the Council to explain her concerns about the care of children in her extended family. She is concerned the Council has not taken proper action since. She says the action it has taken means the mother and children are now more isolated from their extended family. She feels the Council’s actions have ripped her family apart.
6. The Council says Ms X’s concerns and information was considered as part of its child protection investigation and the Child Protection Conference considering the children’s needs had the information. It replied to her complaint in July 2020.
7. Ms X says the Council has refused to provide any more information or reply to anymore of her complaints.

Analysis

8. Ms X does not have parental responsibility for the children involved. On the information we have she is not the best placed person to complain on behalf of the children. This means we cannot investigate how the Council is handling this child protection case.
9. Ms X is not entitled to any information the Council holds about the children. This means it is unlikely we could get any further information for Ms X to see.
10. Ms X says she believes information she gave the Council anonymously, has been shared with the children’s mother. Parliament set up the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to decide data protection disputes. Sharing information without consent can be a data protection breach. The ICO is better placed to decide this part of Ms X’s complaint, particularly because it involves child protection for which there are complex data protection exemptions.
11. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely we could significantly add to the information Ms X already has, and the ICO is better placed.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman