The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council declining to correct inaccurate records and failing to deal properly with Mrs X’s complaint about it. There is not enough evidence of fault to warrant our further involvement, and another agency is better placed than us to consider this matter. We will not investigate complaint handling where we are not investigating the substantive matter complained of.
The complaint
Mrs X said the Council had not investigated her complaint properly. She said it had left inaccurate records on her family’s file and told her they cannot be changed.
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 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)) It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The complaint correspondence Mrs X sent suggested she had objected to the Council recording what a school said about her family. She did not respond to my invitation to provide evidence of having complained to the Council about other matters.
Recording what a third party said is not fault. That Mrs X disagrees with what the school said does not make it fault to record it.
However, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is better placed than us to consider complaints of inaccurate data. It has powers to require rectification and to impose penalties that we lack.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because: There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant our further involvement; Another agency is in any case better placed to consider a complaint about inaccurate data; and It is not a good use of resources to investigate how the Council dealt with a complaint we are not investigating.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman