Summary: We cannot investigate complaints about court action or the police so we cannot consider Mr X’s complaint about the issue of a warrant. We do not investigate complaints handling unless we are also investigating the underlying complaint. The Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider complaints about subject access requests.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s involvement in the procurement of a warrant, leading to his unlawful arrest and imprisonment. He also complained the Council refused to investigate his complaint and to respond to a subject access request.

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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 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)
4. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as the police. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34(1), 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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(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 Mr X and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mr X complained about the Council’s involvement in the issue of a warrant. The law says we cannot investigate complaints about court action. We cannot therefore consider a complaint about the issue of a warrant by a court. Nor can we investigate complaints about the actions of the police.
9. We do not investigate a Council’s complaints handling unless we are also investigating the underlying matter complained about.
10. Mr X made a subject access request (SAR) in February 2025. He asked for all data from 2015 onwards, which is very broad. The Council asked him to provide evidence of his identify before considering the request, which Mr X refused to do. Due to the content of his emails, the Council decided to restrict communication with him and said it would only accept further SARs if they were made by Mr X’s legal representative and were specific about the data being sought. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the way the Council considered his SAR. In any case, the Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider complaints about data if Mr X wants to pursue this.
11. We cannot achieve some of the outcomes Mr X wants, including for the Council to provide the data he requested or rehouse him.
12. For all of these reasons, we will not consider Mr X’s complaint further.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot investigate complaints involving court action or the police. We do not investigate complaints handling where we are not investigating the underlying matter complained about. The Information Commissioner’s Officer is better placed to consider complaints about subject access requests.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman