The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint that the Council has refused to pay him compensation after wrongly sharing his personal data. This is because it is reasonable for Mr B to take the Council to court.
The complaint
The complainant, who I will refer to as Mr B, complains that the Council wrongly shared his personal data. Mr B says he has suffered losses because he has had to close accounts which used the email address shared by the Council. Mr B also says he is paying £50 a month to access his credit files. Mr B complains the Council has refused to pay him compensation even though the Information Commissioner upheld his complaint.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr B.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr B has complained to the Information Commissioner about the Council’s use of his personal data. The Information Commissioner is in the best position to decide if data protection legislation has been breached. The Information Commissioner cannot award compensation. But, Mr B has the right to take the Council to court to claim compensation for damage or distress caused by the Council’s misuse of his data.
I find it is reasonable for Mr B to put in a court claim for the compensation he seeks. This is because the courts are in the best position to assess such a claim. So, we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because it is reasonable for him to take the Council to court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman