Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about Council’s handling of matters involving her grandchild and their half-sibling in 2018 and 2019. The complaint is late and there are other bodies better placed to consider the issues raised.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council failed to establish and maintain a relationship between her grandchild and their half-sibling, who was adopted in 2018. Ms X believes the Council has acted unlawfully and not complied with its duties under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) when dealing with her and her grandchild’s records. Ms X wants an independent review of the Council’s handling.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
3. We have the power to start or end an investigation into a complaint about actions the law allows us to investigate. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been mentioned as part of the legal proceedings regarding a closely related matter. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended, section 34(B))
4. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
5. The Information Commissioner's Office considers complaints about freedom of information. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). So where we receive complaints about freedom of information, we normally consider it reasonable to expect the person to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Ms X is Special Guardian for her grandchild. Her grandchild’s half-sibling was adopted in 2018. Ms X believes the Council failed to take appropriate action to ensure contact between her grandchild and half-sibling was established and maintained following adoption. Ms X is concerned about the negative impact on her grandchild as a result. She also has concerns about information the Council has recorded about her and her grandchild. She says records are inaccurate and action has been taken without proper consent.
8. The Council has recently confirmed to Ms X that it responded to her complaints about these issues several years ago in 2019 and again in 2021. The Council has also warned Ms X that it may restrict the level of contact it continues to have with her about issues it has already dealt with.
9. The Council also explained to Ms X that it had no legal role in the adoption of her grandchild’s half-sibling – another council was responsible. The Council therefore had no legal duty to establish or maintain contact between these half-siblings as Ms X believes. The Council has advised Ms X to approach the other council involved about this as its previous attempts to do so on her behalf have failed.
10. We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events they are complaining about. Ms X has been aware of these issues since 2018. Any concerns Ms X continues to have about the Council’s handling that occurred more than 12 months prior to her bringing her complaint to us are now late. I have seen nothing to explain why Ms X could bring these concerns to us sooner, so I will not exercise discretion to investigate this late complaint now.
11. Even if we did exercise discretion to investigate this late complaint, we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council. This is because this Council was not responsible for contact between half-siblings. This element of Ms X’s complaint appears to be misdirected.
12. We also could not investigate any concerns Ms X continues to have about how the Council has recorded her and her grandchild’s personal data. This is because complaints of this nature fall under the remit of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to investigate. The ICO is also better placed to consider any complaints Ms X has about how the Council has responded to her FOIA requests.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is late and there are other bodies better placed to consider her concerns.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman