Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to respond to his 2021 complaint. It lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and there are no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider it now. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to investigate his complaint that it provided false information about him to a third party. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider it without third party consent.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint that it provided false information about him to a third party. He also complains the Council failed to respond to his 2021 complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We do not start an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. Mr X complains about the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint that it provided false information about him to a young person who is known to him. Mr X says the false information included the Council telling the young person he had an extensive criminal record, despite him having no criminal record. Mr X also complains the Council failed to respond to his September 2021 complaint.
9. We asked the Council about Mr X’s complaint. It explained it did not respond to Mr X’s 2021 complaint because Mr X had told the Council, in his complaint letter, not to contact him about it.
10. The Council recently responded to Mr X’s complaint about information it provided about him to a third party earlier this year. The Council told Mr X it was unable to consider his complaint. This was because under the Data Protection Act 2018, it was unable to disclose or discuss third party information without the explicit consent of the young person involved and Mr X did not have an automatic right to the information.
11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council failed to respond to his 2021 complaint. The complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and I see no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider it now. The law says a complaint should be made to us within 12 months of the person first becoming aware of the matter. We would not have investigated this complaint even if it was not late. This is because there is no sign of fault by the Council as it acted in line with Mr X’s stated wishes by not responding. Mr X wrote in his complaint letter that he did not want to hear back from the Council and that it should not contact him.
12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to investigate his complaint without the consent of the young person involved. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s approach here. If Mr X obtains consent from the young person in the form required by the Council then he could ask the Council if it will consider it.
13. If Mr X considers he has a right to the information referred to without the young person’s consent then he can ask the Information Commissioner’s Office to consider the matter.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider the complaint without the young person’s consent. The complaint about the Council’s failure to respond to his 2021 complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and there are no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman