Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council has not complied with data protection law in respect of his request for it to change his record on its electoral register. This is because this is best dealt with by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has wrongly recorded his nationality as ‘British’ on its electoral register. Mr X says this does not align with his historical and cultural identity and wants the Council to record his nationality as ‘English’. Mr X considers he has a right under data protection law to have his record rectified in this manner. Mr X complains that he contacted the Council twice to ask it to make this correction, but it provided no substantive reply. Mr X feels the Council should compensate him for this.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK’s independent regulator in respect of data protection matters. Under Article 16 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), individuals have the right to have inaccurate personal data rectified. The ICO, as the regulator, is best placed to decide if the Council has complied with its obligations under the GDPR. We are not empowered to make such determinations. It is reasonable therefore to expect Mr X to complain to the ICO.
7. I recognise Mr X remains unhappy that he received no substantive response to his requests that the record be amended. We will not investigate this, as in isolation, it does not represent a level of injustice, from our perspective, that would warrant our further involvement, in the public interest.
8. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is for the ICO to determine if the Council has complied with data protection law. Any Council fault in respect of not responding to Mr X’s request does not represent a level of injustice, in isolation, to warrant our further involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman