Vale Of White Horse District Council (25 028 160)
Category : Other Categories > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 12 Mar 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a data breach. This is because this matter is better dealt with by the Information Commissioner.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his personal data. He says, due to an error with records associated with his council tax, the Council shared a document containing his full name with a third party. Mr X says the Council failed to acknowledge the data breach when he first reported it by telephone.
- Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his and his partner’s complaint about the matter. He says the Council failed to reply to his partner’s response within a month.
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))
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council committed a data breach, how it handled this or that it failed to promptly escalate the breach when he first reported it by phone. This is because the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is better placed to consider these matters.
- It is not a proportionate use of resources to investigate the Council’s complaint handling alone when we are not looking at the core matters. So, we will not investigate.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is better dealt with by the ICO.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman