Weird one

[Hereforaglance]

So a friend and myself where out for a walk other night and stumbled across paper work evidently from a social services depot in another county we are handing this to police today but this paperwork has names address emails dob phone numbers children's circumstances etc all detailed ie pip reviews lac minutes etc plus a disciplinary for an individual who looks like they are being sacked and have dumped these in an underpass out of retaliation we are obv going to hand this in a'd only reason haven't is police station was closed due to bank holiday but this is goi'g to get someone in a lot of bother has anyone ever came across this before

@Hereforaglance maybe get it back to the department it belongs to rather than hand it in to the police as such. While you may think someone should pay, it might badly affect the people involved or set the whole case back if it becomes public knowledge before being resolved. If it goes back to the appropriate council it is likely to be investigated anyway but in a way that may not affect the case.

But if handed into police will they not be discrete I have zero intention of this going to press or any other outlet for that matter I just thought they would be discrete and had it over to relevant authorities I kind of worry I being niave now and should try n get it back to appropriate county instead I trying to handle this ddiscretely and with minimum damage to an individual already on a disciplinary hearing

No good deed goes unpunished OP., going by the responses on here.

Someone is going to be in a whole lot of trouble though.

Don't want anyone to get into bother I just want it dealt with discretely and sensitivity that all no big drama no three ri'ged circus just had docs back n that me done but 'ow concerned I gonna cause more bother

And that what concerns me I feel very niave on these matters and def not be getting i'vomved in anything like this agai' to much hassle if you ask me

If you return to Social Work, let them know that you expect them to report this breach to the ICO within 72 hours. This is a legal requirement.

You did the right thing picking them up, handing to the police is the right course of action in the circumstances.

It is a serious issue, and dare I say made much worse by WFH without secure storage.

I’m amazed some pp have managed to frame this as you doing something wrong. You did the right thing to pick up the documents. As someone else said, I think it’s likely that someone’s bag was stolen and the unwanted paperwork dumped. If I were in your position I would look up the number for the Children’s Services department of the county the documents are from and let them know asap.

@Hereforaglance I’d return it to the appropriate county council rather than police, if I’d found it.

@ShamblesRock why do you think working from home is relevant?
Social workers have had to transport documents from one location to another since social work existed- how else do you think families are given copies of their paperwork? Social workers are mobile and always have been. Professionals try and reduce the need for printing copies as much as possible but some of it has to be printed, not everyone has the tech or security to receive documents electronically.

I agree with others that it sounds likely that someone has had their work bag stolen/car broken into and the non valuable items dumped. If so, it's likely already a police report and an ICO report - standard practice.

I'm glad you're handing them in before more people can see them. The idiot who suggested you go to the press - who exactly do you think that would help? It would cause a heck of a lot of anxiety for families in that authority but not do anything to help prevent it happening again (unlike a data breach investigation which will look at whether there's anything that could be prevented)

Of course it is relevant. There is a massive difference between going on a visit with a case file / appropriate paperwork and not having any secure storage for it when you are predominantly WFH.

I honestly can't fathom that you don't see this as an issue. You said yourself it is likely they had their car or house broken into, the paperwork should never have been so insecure.

Everyone getting on the op is exactly why I mostly lurk these days

@ShamblesRock you don't work in the sector do you? You still haven't explained why you think WFH is relevant.

If you can think logically, you'd realise that people who predominantly WFH don't tend to print much, because they don't have to go anywhere, because they're WFH. If they're in a role where their work is online they're not printing. Also they won't be printing because they don't have access to printers. Because they're WFH.

It's the workers who are working face to face that have to sometimes print documents (for which they'll go to the office) and travel with them. How exactly do you think workers should be shamed into not having their cars broken into when they're at court/on a visit/picking up their kids on the way home etc etc?

Even before any WFH, the vast majority of social work visits are at the end of the working day (because that's when children and families are at home, ie after school). So if a worker has to take some minutes out to a parent, and then have something prepped for a meeting first thing at a school, they'll have some documents in their bag. They're advised to print minimally, keep things out of sight etc, but how exactly do you suggest they avoid getting mugged/getting broken into? No one wants to have their stuff stolen, and to be faced with disciplinary on top of everything else.

You seem to be very keen to blame the victims because you have some chip on your shoulder about home working. In practice home working has made it more secure, not less, because more organisations have finally signed to to systems that allow for electronic sharing (eg secure email and storage) so it's more common that paperwork is only needed for members of the public.

👏 yep. No need.