Summary: We will not investigate this complaint the Council wrongly shared personal information. The Information Commissioner’s Office is best placed to consider complaints about how organisations use personal information.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council shared personal information about him with his friend. He said the Council wrongly stated he had agreed to it sharing that information. He said the Council’s actions had ruined his life.
2. In Mr X’s contact with the Council, he also complained:
• the Council had failed to respond to a subject access request,
• about the actions of two Council social workers in 2023, and
• about items that were delivered to a hotel when he was living in temporary accommodation in 2023.
3. Mr X wants the Council to treat him with dignity.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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

7. 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

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

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My assessment

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint the Council decided to share personal information about him. That is because the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is best placed to consider complaints about how organisations use a person’s information. It is reasonable for Mr X to take his complaint about information sharing and the delays in progressing his subject access request to the ICO.
11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaints about the actions of two social workers in 2023. We expect a person to complain to us within twelve months of becoming aware of the matter. Therefore, any complaints about this are late and we will not consider them now. In addition, the Council said Mr X contacted the Police at the time who decided to take no further action. Given the nature of the complaints, the Police were the correct body for Mr X to refer his concerns to.
12. We will also not investigate Mr X’s complaint about items delivered to a hotel when he was living in temporary accommodation. Again, the Council’s response confirms this happened in 2023 therefore any complaint about it is late.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Information Commissioner’s Office is best placed to consider his concerns.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman