Council to hold independent review after information given to ex-partner

Wokingham Borough Council has commissioned an independent review of procedures after being told to apologise to a woman for wrongly giving information about her family to her ex-partner.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman said Wokingham should apologise to ‘Ms C’, ensure that it staff are empowered to seek advice where there is a complex case history and confirm that relevant training has been undertaken and regular monitoring will be put in place.

Ms C complained that Wokingham had failed to keep her family’s files up to date, which had caused it to give information to her ex-partner, which he should not have had.

The council told police there were no bars to contact between Ms C’s ex-partner Mr F and her younger daughter, E and also sent details of Ms C’s elder daughter, Ms D, and her partner and son, to Mr F when Mr F had a lifetime ban on contact with Ms D.

In its report, the ombudsman service said: “The council accepts that it told the police there were no bars to contact between Ms C’s ex-partner, Mr F, and her younger daughter E. It says it did this because the bars to contact had not been put in place by the council. It thought the question related to this.”

It went on: “This is fault. It caused distress to Ms C as she felt the council had not ensured the file was up-to-date.”

Wokingham’s executive member for children’s services Pauline Helliar-Symons said: “I apologise unreservedly on behalf of the council to this family for the distress we have caused them.

“We have fully accepted the ombudsman’s report and are implementing it recommendations. We have put additional measures in place in our record keeping and internal reporting as well as introducing mandatory training for staff handling sensitive and personal information.

“In addition, we have commissioned an independent review to see if there are any other actions that required.”

Mark Smulian