Is this a breach of the Data Protection Act?

[CavitateBell]

Emotionally and psychologically abusive STBXH removed from the marital home by the Police after becoming drunk and threatening. I telephoned them to ask for help when he refused to leave/let me leave. The Police took a lengthy statement from me at the time. I was obviously very upset and distressed.

Because our DC were present, the Police (in Scotland) are obligated to make this known to Social Services via a report. I received a call from SS and voluntarily attended an appointment to discuss events. No further action was taken.

Shortly afterwards my ex made an allegation to the Police about me - unfounded and no action taken after a visit and discussion with the same very supportive Police officers who had attended previously.

Three months after this second event, I received a very aggressive phonecall from the Social Worker I had spoken with after the first incident. They said that there had been another report from the Police and demanded I tell them about it. I stated I didn't know what they talking about and asked for information. The Social Worker just kept repeating "you tell me, you tell me". My mind was racing trying to think of something that could have happened. Finally they gave me a tiny piece of information that clarified for me that they were talking about the false allegation ex made three months ago and not a recent event. I was very shaken by this phonecall.

The Social Worker told me that they were going to visit my ex. Following this visit my ex emailed me and informed me that the Social Worker had read out, verbatim, both of the 'statements' I had made to the Police after both above events. Ex of course denied everything and from then on the Social Worker painted me as the problem.

These statements contained a great deal of personal information and provided knowledge that enabled my ex to continue his abuse and manipulation of both myself and our DCs.

I think the sharing of such sensitive information was morally wrong and gave an abusive man the opportunity to continue to torture me mentally even after I had broken free. I would like to know if, outside of Court, such information can be given by SS so comprehensively to someone accused of domestic abuse?

I don't know the specific legalities of these things but I'd of thought it was obvious that if you make an allegation to police about someone that person has a right to reply and will obviously be told what the other party has said.

That being said I don't know if it is correct for the shared info (police to SS) to be discussed with you ex. But once again wouldn't he have already know what you said to the police anyway?

Thank you for your reply Newbieman.

STBXH was not privy to the conversation I had with the Police officers. I was stating the abuse I was subjected to and the reasons I or he would have to leave the marital home that night to ensure the safety and emotional care of our DCs.

The information given by me that was recorded by Police, and passed to SS by law, was a record of his abuse (of which of course he was aware of as the perpetrator) but included information that he would not wish to be shared outside of the marriage. He has since lied in Court regarding two major issues...and many other minor points.

The fact that my statement given to the Police was later read out, verbatim to him, by another agency to his ultimate benefit is what concerns me most.

I spoke openly and honestly with the Police in the trust and belief that this information would be treated sensitively. The Social Worker involved took this sensitive information and passed it on to the person who was abusive.

My question is, is this accepted practice or is it a breach of confidential information?

I very much doubt it is accepted practice and if that is what has happened it is potentially downright dangerous !!

Do Police share the full Statement or simply give a Report?

Hope you are ok OP.

The fact that my statement given to the Police was later read out, verbatim to him, by another agency to his ultimate benefit is what concerns me most.

How do you know that this is a fact though? You only have the word of your Ex who you said is not always telling the truth. Could your Ex be winding up the Social Worker (hence their 'aggression' towards you on the phone) and of course you to cause further trouble and turn it all round on you?

Keep the email and show it to your Solicitor.

I thought all statements were always public documents because of open justice - a witness statement is a statement a witness will make of her or his testimony which is what they will then say in court and if they lie it is a crime. To be fair to the other party then they are always told the evidence against them so they can counter act it.

So I would be surprised if a statement to police is kept confidential - surely it is made expressly with the purpose of being used in open court?

Also I suspect police have a duty to notify social workers which over-rides any confidentiality of subjects because the prime concern is protection of children so I bet there is an exception for that too.

I would concentrate on proving what you told the police if right and make sure you make those social workers love you to bits and believe every word you say.

Thank you for your response CoconutSponge. I am not ok but have to keep going.

I telephoned SS and asked what the statements passed on by the Police consisted of exactly. The Social Worker avoided any contact with me despite my attempts to speak with them.

I eventually managed to make contact with the Social Worker's manager and asked them what information had been passed on to my ex, I was told that as they were my statements I should know. I explained that I knew what I'd said, but did not know how that information was collated or edited by the Police before being passed on to SS. The Manager laughed and said sarcastically 'Ooooh, so you don't know?'

Despite the Manager and Social Worker's resistance I managed to meet with them face to face. The Social Worker panicked when I read out some of the email from my ex, and demanded to read the printed copy I had. I refused. The Social Worker ended the meeting abruptly by standing up and walking out stating that I was making things up when I pointed out things that they had said to me.

My concerns were ignored and I was basically told to speak to my ex and not drag SS into the situation.

The entire episode was much more convoluted and upsetting than can be fully explained here, but the outcome was/is that ex was treated with kid gloves and enabled to carry on subjecting myself and our DC to emotional abuse.

I know that I can ask for a copy of the records held and intend to do so, but given the response I had previously I feel that if I go down this road I will require to show that the Social Worker did act illegally as otherwise it will be a he said/she said farce. That is why I am seeking information regarding the DPA before deciding to proceed.

My solicitor was given a full version of events and a copy of the email. I am in the Court system (a whole other thread sadly).

Thank you for your reply LotusLight.

I was not in the court system at the time this took place and the information given to the Police, and recorded in their notebooks at the time formed the basis of what was passed on to SS. Maybe statement is the wrong word as whatever information was shared (specifically electronically) between the Police and SS has not been used in Court - too many other battles sadly.

There is no statutory SS involvement with my DC, now or then.

Sounds to me like your Ex is manipulating Social Services too which is a well known tactic in such situations. I am glad you have informed your Solicitor of these events, your Ex has given you written evidence which may have been an unwise move for him. The penny has probably dropped now with the Social Worker going by their reaction in the meeting when you read out the email from Ex, this may be enough to keep things on a more even keel from now on.

I get what you mean about being reluctant to complain about the Social Worker plus if you take on that role you are kind of falling into the role your Ex wants you to, being in conflict with Social Services and therefore seen negatively, as part of the "game" he seems to be playing.

Did your Solicitor give any advice? I would be inclined to let them deal with it in writing from now on, even if only to avoid being drawn further into the "he said, she said" thing and keep a documented paper trail of events.

Take care OP

Thank you CoconutSponge.

I agree that ex manipulated SS, and that if I take this forward I will be viewed as dragging up the past . There is a huge paper trail, and other evidence but at the time and still now my concerns were overtaken by other actions of ex.

My solicitor is very kind personally to me but this event (low-level abuse) is not a one-off and despite making them aware of each incident, it does not seem to translate into any protective action for myself or the DC.

For example: ex endangered the physical health of the eldest DC. I informed my solicitor of this. Ex denied the event, several letters were exchanged between our solicitors regarding this, ex said in the correspondence that DC must have been 'confused' and described a (fictitious) conversation between them (implication being that DC had lied), at the next court hearing this incident was raised by me. Ex's solicitor advised the court that yes, the incident had taken place, and oops DC's account was wholly factual. My 'reward' for this? Ex was given, an unasked for, week of contact over the Christmas/NY period. I spent the entire period alone without any form of contact with the DC.

He had previously told the DC that they would be with him for Christmas and New Year, but made no request or attempt to discuss possible arrangements regarding this with me. When I attempted to clarify what contact he wanted, I received a letter from his solicitor stating that ex "hadn't asked for because he believed I would not agree to any contact during the holidays". How do you even deal with this level of crazymaking?

I am currently dealing with two problems relating to contact and the manipulation of our DC from just this week. I can't catch my breath before the next round of blows.

From your most recent post, your Ex is most definitely playing the game and thinks he can get away with it - at the moment, anyway.

OP do you have any personal / emotional support in RL?

I am sure your Solicitor is very nice, but really they are not paid to be nice or to give emotional support as such but to protect you and your DC and to fight legally for the best outcome for you and your DC. Have you considered changing Solicitor? A more pro-active approach may be better, so that you are not always on the back foot so to speak, and can start to get a clearer head and recover from all this.

Of course keep posting here too if you feel that helps x

I have considered changing solicitor CoconutSponge, but would need to pay the balance of fees to date (several thousands) to enable this to happen. I try and keep their involvement to a minimum to save costs; only making them aware of concerns as and when they arise. Ex has the finances to harass me via his solicitor whenever he likes unfortunately.

I have minimal RL support, but manage as best I can. I have sought, and received, great support on MN regarding other issues in the past (under different names). Attila and Cog in particular have been wonderful on the Relationships board.

I came over to Legal to try and find a path through the convoluted strands of ex's behaviour and actions, and to find some definitive action I could take to protect myself and DC.

I appreciate your time today, and your kindness. Thank you.

To answer the original question, there are exemptions from the Data Protection Act relating to criminal investigations and social work. I would therefore be surprised if there has been any breach of the DPA here.

Thank you for your reply prh47bridge,

I have read around the guidelines of the DPA and of course rightly there are exemptions relating to the Law and SS for example - however, I don't believe that these exemptions are explicitly relevant to what actually took place in this situation.

The guidelines certainly cover sharing information between statutory agencies of course, but there was no Child Protection or Legal action relating to this information when it was passed to a 'member of the public', for want of a better phrase, without my knowledge or consent. Both the Police and SS had decided on no further action prior to this information being used in this way by the Social Worker.

Indeed, the guidance directly makes reference to ensuring the processing of information is... 'carried out with appropriate safeguards for the rights and freedoms of data subjects, and, does not involve disclosure of the personal data to a third party without the consent of the data subject' for example. I can certainly argue that the safety and rights of the DC and I were compromised.

My concerns are heightened because of the way SS used sensitive information - I was pressured to explain the information I had previously given to the Police while my ex was enabled to deny the given information without any prior disclosure on his part.

If it turns out that, either genuinely or technically, no breach was actually made in this instance, then I'd consider that many other victims of domestic abuse are at serious risk of their safety being eroded by legislation ostensibly designed to protect them.

I would just like to point out again that the two Police officers who attended the original incident were simply outstanding and managed a distressing situation with great sensitivity and professionalism (towards both my ex and I (even if my ex would disagree).

My apologies. I had missed the bit about your ex emailing you and telling you the social worker had read him your statements verbatim. If that did indeed happen that is potentially worrying but without knowing exactly what happened (as opposed to your ex's version of events) and exactly what information was disclosed it is impossible to say for sure whether or not the DPA was breached.

prh47bridge - I'm in a hellish situation with all the information at my fingertips whilst living through it, so any response from someone kind enough to comment, and then apologise for missing a tiny piece of my 'story', is doing not too bad in anyone's books to be fair!

Thank you for your input - it led me back to the DPA guidelines and revisiting any possible future objections to taking my concerns forward.

I appreciate the time taken by you, and other people, to think about and respond to my post.