Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about personal information being shared without permission. This is because there is insufficient evidence of council actions directly causing injustice, and the Information Commissioner’s Office is best placed to consider breaches of data protection law.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained that the Council shared personal information about her with a third party, without her permission.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

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

3. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection.

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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the Miss X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Miss X told the Council that it shared personal information about her to a third party without her permission. The third party then engaged in actions which were detrimental to Miss X and caused her distress.
7. The Council acknowledged it had shared this information with the third party and apologised to Miss X. Although the Council had shared this information, it did not directly cause the third party’s actions. Only the third party was responsible for these, so we could not hold the Council responsible for the underlying events.
8. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is better placed to consider a complaint about just the apparent disclosure of personal information. It has specific powers to do so under data protection law.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint as there is insufficient evidence council action directly caused any injustice to Miss X, and the sharing of personal information is best considered by the ICO.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman