Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council handled a telephone call with X. This is because we have decided any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. X complains a Council officer was unprofessional during a telephone call to discuss a data protection breach linked to X’s rent arears. They say this has caused them distress and wants the Council to take disciplinary action against the staff member. X also complains that the Council refused to consider their complaint about these matters.

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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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

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

3. 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)
4. We will not normally investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), or section 34B(8)).

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The law means we can choose only to investigate a complaint where the person has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures by the body complained about. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
8. I recognise the telephone conversation with the Council affected them, but this does not amount to a significant enough inustice to warrant us investigating. Furthermore, we cannot achieve the outcome X is seeking as we cannot ask councils to take disciplinary action against staff.
9. X’s complaint about the Council’s actions about a data breach is better dealt with by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
10. We will not investigate the way the Council handled the complaint and correspondence here because we are satisfied it did not cause enough separate injustice to warrant it.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, we cannot achieve the outcome X seeks and the ICO are better placed to deal with their complaint about a data breach.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman