The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a conduct complaint about a councillor as this does not cause the complainant a level of injustice that would justify our further involvement. The complaint about data protection is best dealt with by the Information Commissioner’s Office. We also cannot achieve the outcome the complainant seeks.
The complaint
Mr X complained a councillor posted comments on social media about him that hurt his feelings, and which divulged personal information about him. Mr X is unhappy with the Council’s handling of his complaint. Mr X wants the Council to impose sanctions on the councillor and for them to be required to personally apologise to him.
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 any alleged fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (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) When we find fault, we can recommend remedies for significant personal injustice, or to prevent future injustice, caused by that fault. We look at organisational fault, not individual professional competence. Decisions about individual’s fitness to practise or work are for the organisations concerned, and for professional regulators, not the Ombudsman. (Local Government Act 1974, s26(1) and s26A(1) as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
While I recognise Mr X remains unhappy about the comments made about him, from our perspective, this does not represent a level of injustice serious enough to warrant our investigation given we have limited resources and must direct them carefully.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK’s independent data protection regulator and is best placed to assess whether data laws were breached by the councillor.
We cannot achieve the outcome Mr X seeks as we cannot recommend sanctions against individuals.
For these reasons, we will not investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient injustice caused to Mr X and we cannot achieve the outcome he wants.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman