Decision Report 201606227

Summary

Mr C complained about the council's response to a report from the police about his daughter (Miss A). Miss A had been involved in an incident following which she was charged with an offence. Shortly afterwards, Miss A and her mother both received letters from the council suggesting that Miss A may be referred to the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) if she had any further involvement with the police.

The police later apologised for the way they handled the matter, dropped the charge and apologised to Miss A and her family. Mr C complained that the council's response had been unreasonable. He considered that the letter his daughter received had been threatening and inappropriate in the circumstances.

Following our review of the council's policies and procedures we concluded that the council had acted correctly and accordingly we did not uphold this complaint. However, we did note that whilst we considered it to be correct for the council to highlight to Miss A the possible consequences of further involvement with the police, the council could have used a more empathetic tone in correspondence.

Recommendations

We recommended that the council:

• apologise to Miss A, and to her parents, for not having handled this matter more sensitively; and
• reflect on this complaint, and consider how matters could have been handled more sensitively.