Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s use of a photograph of the complainant’s late father. This is because the Council has already provided a fair response.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains that the Council used a photograph of his late father without consent.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if we believe the Council has provided a fair response. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I read the complaint and the Council’s responses. I considered comments Mr X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

What happened

4. Mr X’s father died in 2012. Mr X contacted the Council in 2019 to say he had seen a photograph of his father in a Council report. Mr X said the Council did not have permission to use the photograph. Mr X was very close to his father and he has felt very upset and distressed by the use of the image. Mr X says the incident badly affected his mental health and caused him to start drinking again.
5. In response the Council apologised to Mr X for the distress. It explained the photograph had been taken at a public event. It said it makes an announcement at the start of events to say it will be taking photographs and, if people object, they should make this known to the organisers. The Council said the photograph was used in an electronic report which was written in 2017. There were also 50 hard copies of the report although these were not distributed to the public. The Council explained it had removed the image from the electronic document and it would not use the photograph again.
6. Mr X is dissatisfied with the response. He wants a sincere apology in a letter, not in an email, and confirmation that all the images have been destroyed.

Assessment

7. I will not start an investigation because the Council has already provided a fair response. The Council has apologised, explained how it acquired the photograph and the arrangements for getting consent. It also explained how it used the image and that it has removed the image from the electronic document. I appreciate the image still exists in the paper report but the Council cannot remove the image from documents that are already in circulation. The Council has done everything I would expect it to do and there is no reason to start an investigation. It is unfortunate that finding the image had such an impact of Mr X’s mental health. However, this does not negate the appropriateness of the Council’s response.

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Final decision

8. I will not start an investigation because the Council has already provided a fair and proportionate response.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman