Summary: We will not investigate this complaint from Mr X about the Council making false claims and interfering with his email account. The complaint was made late, and there is no good reason to consider it now.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council made false claims about him, falsified records and hacked his email account. Mr X says social workers falsely claimed he refused to engage and ignored the behaviour of his children’s mother from their reports.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
5. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. Mr X raised a complaint in 2022 about his daughter’s case, followed by a further complaint in 2023 which included concerns about data breaches.
9. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint as his concerns are about issues that happened more than 12 months ago, and I see no good reason why he could not have complained to us sooner.
10. Even if Mr X had made his complaint on time, we could not investigate the issues relating to his daughter. The matters he raises formed part of court proceedings, and therefore we do not have power to investigate this. The law prevents us from investigating the start of court action and anything that has formed part of court proceedings, including the preparation and contents of reports presented to the courts by the Council, and issues about social worker support which are also related to the court action.
11. Even if Mr X submitted his data breach complaint to us on time, we could not investigate it. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is better placed to consider complaints about how his request for information was handled.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is made late and there is no good reason to consider it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman