London Borough of Haringey (23 001 563)
Category : Children's care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 31 May 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to disclose personal information. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify our involvement.
The complaint
- Mr X complained about the Council’s decision to share personal information about him. He said the Council did not tell him about the disclosure beforehand. He said the Council’s actions had put him at risk.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
- 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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to share his personal information. In its complaint response, the Council set out the reasons for the disclosure and how it considered the potential risks to him. It said it did not contact him because it did not have his details, however given the urgency of the matter it decided to disclose. Although Mr X is unhappy with the Council’s response, there is not enough evidence of fault in how it made its decision to justify our involvement.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough fault in how the Council made its decision to disclose personal information about Mr X, to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman