Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a Subject Access Request. The Information Commissioner is better placed to consider this part of Mr X’s complaint. We will also not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council refused to investigate his concerns about how it safeguarded him when he was a Looked After Child. The complaint relates to events which occurred over 12 months ago, and it is unlikely we would find fault with the Council’s decision not to investigate it.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council did not properly process his Subject Access Request (SAR), with delays and omissions.
2. Mr X also said the Council refused to investigate his complaint about the service provided to him when he was a Looked After Child from the mid-1990s onwards. Mr X said the Council left him exposed to risk with the arrangements it made for his care.
3. Mr X said the SAR processing caused him distress, and added to the distress he was already feeling from his childhood experiences.
4. Mr X wants the Council to meet with him at a location closer to his home, provide therapy and compensate him.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

5. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact 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 or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint, or
• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

6. 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

7. I considered information provided by Mr X.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. Mr X raised concerns about how the Council processed his SAR. Mr X said the Council did not adhere to statutory timeframes, failed to meet its own deadlines thereafter, and when the SAR was processed it contained omissions.
10. We will not investigate this part of Mr X’s complaint. The Ombudsman does not usually investigate complaints regarding personal data as this is a matter better dealt with by the Information Commissioner’s office (ICO).
11. The ICO is the regulator for information rights matters and oversees complaints involving personal data. It has very recently published guidance to Councils concerning people’s right to access their care records. It would therefore be reasonable to expect Mr X to complain to the ICO.
12. I have read all the documents that Mr X supplied to us regarding his childhood and understand that this will have been a challenging and difficult experience for him to complain to us.
13. Mr X complained to the Council, and it met with him to try and explain its earlier decisions and actions while he was a Looked after Child. However, the Council declined to consider Mr X’s representations as a complaint.
14. The children’s statutory complaint procedure allows the Council to decline to take a complaint about matters which have occurred more than 12 months before a complaint was raised with it. It can do so, provided it explains its reasons why it has decided this, and does so on a case-by-case basis. The Council emailed Mr X, explained its reasons in his case and therefore it is unlikely we would find fault if we were to investigate its decision and therefore, we will not investigate the Council’s decision here.
15. I have considered whether there are good reasons for us to exercise discretion to consider Mr X's complaint. The law, explained in paragraph six, says we should not investigate late complaints. I acknowledge Mr X's comments about why he did not feel able to raise these matters sooner, but this does not displace the expectation in law that we will not investigate. 
16. The Council provided Mr X with some resources that may be able to support him. It is open to Mr X to explore these.

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Final decision

17. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Information Commissioner is better placed to consider the matter. It is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint about his childhood experiences, and we will not consider it either because it is late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman