Social Services Front Line (Are talking rubbish)

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Legal Action
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2018 12:14 pm

Social Services Front Line (Are talking rubbish)

Post by Legal Action » Fri Mar 23, 2018 3:30 pm

Hello

A variant of the old, anonymous tip-off to Social Services, malarky. (Only not anonymous, exactly.)

This is probably an FAQ. So, I won't say too much, up front. Basically, I get a call from Social Services saying they've received a complaint against me from the school, in regard to (this is quite a well-known case) so I'm going to swap one common noun for another. For the sake of forum discussion, the complaint was in regard to School Parking.

So, I get a call....

"Hello, this is Social Services. The school has made a complaint against you, in relation to on street parking."
"OK, I do park my car. How can I help you?"
"Would you be willing to let us come round and talk about parking?"
"No. I do park. But, it's got nothing to do with Social Services. In fact, I don't appreciate you phoning me."
"Are you refusing to have an interview with Social Services?"
"Not exactly, no. I'd be perfectly willing to have hundreds of interviews with Social Services, just not to discuss car parking. What would you like to discuss?"
"On street car parking, sir. The complaint is in relation to parking."
"I just said it's got nothing to do with you."
"But, it has, sir. Any complaint made by a school, needs to be investigated by Social Services. It doesn't matter what it's about."

In the end, I took the matter to my solicitor and wrote a letter to Social Services, asking them to contact him. They wrote back explaining that the case was closed. We won't be pursuing this matter any further, at this time. They wrote. I thought, not at any other time, either. But, I left it at that.


Does the old, Social Services phone call, about a complete load of tripe, sound familiar? Followed by, we won't be pursuing, (at this time.)

To me, it felt like a play out of the Social Services playbook. Does that sound about right?


(Edited; to make the subject close enough to the original complaint, without identifying individuals.)
Last edited by Legal Action on Sat Mar 24, 2018 10:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

Legal Action
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2018 12:14 pm

Re: Social Services Front Line (Are talking rubbish)

Post by Legal Action » Sat Mar 24, 2018 9:07 am

I've now read a few threads. The replies are extremely comprehensive. So, I'll save time.

(a) Data Protection Act Sec 10
Right to prevent processing of data that would cause harm or distress.

(b) Children's Act Sec 47
Investigation where there are reasonable grounds...

(c) AB v Haringey 2012, Haringey had to pay damages for launching an investigation based on a false complaint that was anonymous.

A phone call to my home is an investigation, albeit a very short one! But, there were no reasonable grounds for it. If there had been, my solicitor would have read about them!

I can and do expect the Information Commissioner to prevent my phone number being processed in order to cause me unnecessary distress.

I have made it clear that unwarranted Social Service investigations (even short ones) are eligible for a claim for damages. Most people probably wouldn't make a claim. Because the solicitor's fees would be higher than the settlement. But, knowing that it's possible did cause a rethink, in my case.


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