Oldham sent case info to building site

Oldham social services, which were named earlier this month as
among the worst eight social services in the country, admitted this
week that confidential faxes containing details of social services
cases had been accidentally sent to a building site office 15 miles
away for up to a year.

The faxes, which were meant to be sent from one office to another
within Oldham social services, have been arriving two or three
times a week at a temporary office in the centre of Sale where a
new housing development is under way.

Property developer Crosby Homes alerted social services but the
faxes kept coming, so it called the police.

Oldham Council said the mistake happened when staff inadvertently
added an extra digit in front of the correct fax number.

A spokesperson said: “When the issue first arose, we instructed
staff to take extra care when dialling, but regrettably this hasn’t
been enough to prevent it happening again. We have now asked our
telephone engineers to change the number so that this cannot happen
again.