Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement in Mr X’s children’s case. Parts of the complaint are late and there is not a good reason Mr X did not complain to us sooner. The Information Commissioner is best placed to consider complaints about how the Council responded to a Subject Access Request, and we could not achieve a different outcome by investigating the matter.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council:
• wrote fraudulent reports in order to prevent him seeing his children;
• gave him conflicting information about whether there had been court involvement in his children’s case; and
• rejected his request for information about court involvement.
2. Mr X wanted the Council to share information with him about court involvement regarding his children.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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 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. 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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome,.

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

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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. Part of Mr X’s complaint relates to assessments the Council completed relating to his children. The Council closed his children’s case in 2022. These complaints are late, as the law says people should bring complaints to us within 12 months of finding out about the matter. There is not a good reason for the delay in Mr X complaining to us about the Council’s involvement up to 2022, and we will not investigate this now.
9. Mr X contacted the Council in early 2026. In its response, the Council referred to court involvement. Mr X did not have any knowledge of prior court involvement. He responded requesting information about the court involvement via a Subject Access Request.
10. In its response, the Council confirmed it had not been party to any proceedings relating to his children and it had no data about court proceedings to share with Mr X. It indicated if Mr X had not been involved in any proceedings, its previous reference to court involvement was an error.
11. Mr X was not satisfied with this response, as he believed the Council was concealing information about court proceedings that had taken place. He complained to us.
12. The Information Commissioner is best placed to consider complaints about councils’ responses to Subject Access Requests. Given Mr X’s requested outcome is for the Council to share the information he believes it holds, it is reasonable for him to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner as the appropriate body.
13. If we investigated this complaint, we would not be able to add to the investigations the Council has already carried out or achieve a different outcome. The information Mr X provided to us confirms the Council’s initial reference to court proceedings was an error, and the Council apologised for the confusion this caused.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because parts of the complaint are late and there is not a good reason Mr X did not complain to us sooner. The Information Commissioner is best placed to consider complaints about how the Council responded to a Subject Access Request, and we could not achieve a different outcome by investigating the matter.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman