Summary: We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her personal information and her related complaint. The Information Commissioner is better placed to deal with the substantive matter and it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures alone.

The complaint

1. Mrs B complained the Council had not yet responded to her complaint about its incorrect record of her address. She said this error means the Council may have shared a document containing her personal information with a third party. She wants the Council to investigate, correct her details, and report and mitigate any data breach.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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 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

2. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

3. After Mrs B contacted us, the Council issued its response to her complaint. It said it had investigated the matter and was satisfied it did not send Mrs B’s document to the incorrect address because it did not send any hard copies of the document.
4. The Council also confirmed it would correct Mrs B’s address on its system and reissue the documents with the correct details. It signposted Mrs B to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if she had any further concerns.
5. The ICO is the UK’s independent authority set up to uphold information rights. It promotes openness by public bodies and protects the privacy of individuals. It deals with complaints about public authorities’ alleged failures to comply with data protection legislation.
6. We will not investigate this complaint. Where someone has a complaint about data protection, we usually expect them to bring the matter to the attention of the ICO. This is because the ICO is in a better position than the Ombudsman to consider such complaints. This applies here.
7. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we decide not to investigate the substantive issue. So we will also not investigate the Council’s complaints handling.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint because the Information Commissioner is better placed to deal with the substantive matter and it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures alone.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman