Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a social worker disclosing information and advising his ex-partner to breach a court order. We cannot investigate the second matter as it is not separable from the conduct of court proceedings. We will not investigate the first matter as, even if it does not concern court proceedings, Mr X has a right it would be reasonable to use to approach the Information Commissioner’s Office, which is better placed to consider the alleged data breach.

The complaint

1. Mr X said a social worker unlawfully disclosed personal information about him and his family to his ex-partner. He also said the social worker advised his ex-partner to breach a court order concerning his son. He said the Council had failed to deal with his complaint about these matters.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We have the power to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been, raised within a court of law. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
4. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
5. 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)
6. The Courts have said that we cannot investigate a complaint about any action by a council, concerning a matter which is itself out of our jurisdiction. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))
    
7. 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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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered information provided by the complainant.
9. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

10. In his complaint to us, Mr X stated his ex-partner confimred to court that the social worker had told her to withold contact. The matter has thus formed part of court proceedings and we cannot consider it.
11. It is not clear if the alleged disclosure of personal information relates to papers supplied as part of court proceedings. If so, then we could not investigate the matter. However, the alleged disclosure is separable from court proceedings, it would be more suitable for the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). This is because the ICO can decide whether any disclosure was a data breach, and if so, it can impose penalties. We cannot do either of these things.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because:

• We cannot investigate any advice by a social worker to Mr X’s ex-partner, as this is not separable from court proceedings;
• The ICO is better placed to consider the alleged data breach; and
• There is no good reason to investigate how the Council dealt with a complaint about matters we cannot or will not investigate ourselves.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman