Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about data processing or the conduct of a Social Worker. This is because there are other bodies better placed to consider these matters. We will not investigate the Council’s complaint handling because the Council already remedied the injustice caused and an investigation is unlikely to achieve anything further.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained a Council Social Worker forged a signature on a consent form which was then used to obtain and share private medical information relating to his family.
2. Mr X said this resulted in confidential medical information being accessed and shared without consent. Mr X said this caused him distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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:
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or;
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The central issues raised by Mr X concern the alleged unlawful access to, and sharing of, personal data.
7. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the specialist body responsible for considering concerns about the processing, sharing and protection of personal information. It is therefore better placed than the Ombudsman to consider these matters.
8. Mr X’s concerns about the whether a Social Worker has acted in accordance with the standards expected of the profession fall within the remit of Social Work England, which is the appropriate regulatory body to consider such matters.
9. The Council accepted it had failed to send Mr X a complaint response on time. To acknowledge the injustice caused by the delay the Council offered Mr X a symbolic payment of £100. This is in line with the Ombudsman’s Guidance on Remedies. An investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to achieve anything further.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. The substantive issues fall within the jurisdiction of other bodies better placed to consider them, and there is nothing further we could achieve through an investigation for the remainder.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman