London Borough of Southwark (21 006 758)
Category : Children's care services > Looked after children
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 05 Oct 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about that the Council failed to provide him with copies of all of his personal information. This is because the Information Commissioner is better placed to consider complaints about information handling.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I will call Mr X, complains that around ten years ago he received a response from the Council to a Subject Access Request (SAR) he made via his solicitor. However, the Council did not provide him with all of the information it holds, including copies of letter that his mother sent to him. Mr X wants the Council to either provide the information or compensate him for this distress this has caused him.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s response to his SAR. This is because he may complain to the Information Commissioner, who is better placed to investigate complaints about information requests and data protection.
- Furthermore, we expect people to complain to us about things councils have done within 12 months. In this case the Council responded to Mr X’s SAR around ten years ago. These events happened too long ago for us to investigate now.
Final decision
- I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he can complain to the Information Commissioner who is better placed to investigate such complaints.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman