The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a data breach as it is best dealt with by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council has wrongly disclosed his and his family’s personal information to a third party. Mr X says this has caused significant distress to him and his wife. Mr X wants the Council to take responsibility, explain what went wrong and take steps to make sure it does not happen again, to apologise and to offer financial compensation for the distress caused.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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) 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 the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK’s independent regulator in respect of data protection matters. It is best placed to assess what the Council did wrong and what it should do to put things right.
Data protection law gives someone who has suffered damaged through a data breach, to claim compensation in court. There is a procedure open to anyone to make a money claim in the court or Mr X could consider using a solicitor, some of whom take on such cases on a conditional (‘no win, no fee’) basis. We cannot determine damage claims as these are matters that can only be decided by a court. It is reasonable therefore to expect Mr X to make a claim in court and we will not therefore investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is best dealt with by the ICO and it is reasonable to expect Mr X to resort to court action for the compensation he seeks.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman