Some advice on breach of data protection , bad practice, and where to find help please?

[AlittleAdvicePlease]

It is a very long story so I will cut out the details, but last year we had to go through a social services investigation after my step mother in law maliciously reported us.
We have a very limited relationship with them, and she has only seen our children 3 times in her life. She has mental problems, and also I think, is a little jealous of us.

After a meeting with our health visitor and GP the case was closed as they saw that there was no need to be involved.
It was a horrible time for us and has caused much emotional turmoil in our extended family.

We thought the matter was over and done with until we were told by my FIL that his wife had been in contact with the social worker since, who had read to her pretty much word for word what he put in our report.

This includes very personal things, and many things that I would not ever want her to know about us. She is now using these things against us in horrible ways.

I am certain he has breached all kinds of laws, but I have no idea how to put in a complaint or who to ask for advice.
I know it's a very odd situation so don't expect any of you to be able to offer advice from experience, but I am just at a loss.

And to negate any assumptions you may have we are not an 'estate family' of alcoholics or anything of the sort. Just a hard working happy family who have had some crap to deal with, and are very very angry at how an agency that purports to protect has actually messed things up for us.

I forgot to add that all of the 'official reports we were mailed were full of awful spelling mistakes, and often mixed up the children, or got their names wrong. It was scary to see such non professionalism when you think of the powers these agencies have.

Message withdrawn

I'd worry you don't have any evidence this happened, because it was over the phone. That being said, you need to contact your local council - they do have to have a complaints policy. Details here.

Oh, and you have every right to be furious, what a dreadful situation.

Right - work for a council so no direct experience but know about local authority complaints procedures. The Social Services Dept with have an official complaints procedure - should be on their web-site so start there. If not they will have something like a help-desk or standard phone number for initial enquiries. State that you wish to make an official complaint and they should put you through to a Complaints Officer or send you the forms. This will then go through the hoops and you should be written to to let you know what action they are taking. Usually goes to person's line manager 1st if complaint about a named individual, or to senior manager if about a procedure. If response not satisfactory you can appeal to next level (councillors usually). OR go Freedom of Information / Data Protection Route. Again - Council should have a named officer on web-site (or get via their main number) who will deal with your case. Am appalled for you and really hope you get a result - this was a clear breach of confidence. Very best of luck.

I would echo what Sparkletastic says but I think your first step should perhaps be to contact the Social Worker's line manager directly. In many cases, a complaints procedure will expect you to have done so.

Before you do anything, I'd write down everything that you can about it - timelines, content of conversations, etc. In particular, write down anything that your FIL told you that was told to his wife by the Social Worker; you imply that she now knows things that you didn't tell her but that were in the report - it'll be corroboration of the claim that the social worker disclosed the contents of the report. Also, once you start pursuing this, be sure to keep detailed records of any telephone conversations and meetings - have a witness to all conversations to help you remember what was said - and keep copies of all correspondence, including what you send.

I'm horrified that any social worker would do this (I work in social services tho' I'm not a social worker). If this actually happened (I'm just allowing for the slim possibility it's a misunderstanding of some kind), it's absolutely unforgiveable. Don't be put off at any stage until you get a satisfactory explanation of what happened and a satisfactory response from the council to it.