Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to an alleged data breach. This is because the Information Commissioner’s Office is best placed to consider complaints about data protection. We will not consider complaint handling as a standalone issue.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Ms X, complained about the Council’s response to her report of a data breach. Ms X is not happy with how the Council investigated and its eventual response.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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))
3. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if they have a complaint about data protection. This includes disclosing information in error. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
4. 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

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The issue which led to Ms X complaining to the Council is an alleged breach of her son’s personal data.
8. Ms X has already contacted the ICO about the alleged data breach. But Ms X is unhappy with the Council’s original response to her complaint.
9. As explained in paragraph 4, it is not a good use of our resources to look at complaint handling as a standalone issue. We will not look at how a council dealt with a complaint if we are not going to look at the original issue. This applies here because the ICO is best placed to consider complaints about data protection. We will not therefore start an investigation.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. The Information Commissioner’s Office is the appropriate body to investigate complaints about data protection and we will not investigate complaint handling as a standalone issue.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman