Summary: We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint about the Council’s refusal to correct inaccurate personal data. This is because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complains the Council gave inaccurate personal data about him to third parties and it has refused to correct this. He says it has not considered the impact of this decision on his disability.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. 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

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 Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is better placed to consider disputes about the rectification of data and it has already considered this matter. It noted the Council passed information to debt collectors and the court based on its records held at the time. The issue was the time it took the Council to process postal correspondence, which the Council had agreed to take steps to address. It also noted the Council had since pulled the account back from recovery and cancelled the relevant summons. The ICO took no further action. Further investigation by us would not achieve a different outcome.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint about the Council’s refusal to correct inaccurate personal data because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman