Summary: Ms X complains the Council used ideas she submitted in bids for funding in its own projects. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because it is too late. Also, Ms X can ask the courts to determine whether the Council used her information and ideas. If it decides in her favour it can grant compensation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council used the information provided in bids she made to it to create art events based on her work.
2. She wants the Council to apologise, recognise her work and pay her compensation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the information provided by Ms X, including the Councils response to her complaint.
7. Ms X commented on the draft version of this decision.

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What I found

8. In late 2017 Ms X made 2 applications to the Council under its ‘Making Places’ scheme and arts development grants scheme. She was not successful in either bid.
9. She says that in February 2018 she saw a poster at a local tube station which led her to believe the Council has used the information she provided with her previous bids. She says it has created artwork based on this information.
10. The Council says none of the information Ms X provided in her bids is known to anyone other than those involved in the scheme. It says that any similarities between existing projects and Ms X’s ideas are coincidental.

Assessment

11. Ms X says she first realised the Council has used her ideas in February 2018. She did not complain to us until September 2019. So, the complaint is late, as explained in paragraph 4.
12. We do have the discretion to consider late complaints if there are good reasons for the lateness. In this case, Ms X complained to the leader of the Council in 2018. She received a response from the leader at the end of August 2018. She says she then approached several solicitors and the Citizens Advice Bureau for help. But is was not until she contacted her MP that she understood the Council should have escalated her complaint to stage 2 of its complaints procedure.
13. She made her stage 2 complaint in 2019. It investigated her complaint and responded to her July 2019.
14. However, the law says the complaint must be made to the Ombudsman within 12 months of becoming aware of the complaint issue. This was is February 2018. The fact the Council accepted her complaint in 2019 does not alter the fact that Ms X became aware of the problem in February 2018 but did not complain to the Ombudsman until September 2019. Her complaint is therefore late.
15. I considered whether to exercise my discretion and consider the complaint now. However, Ms X’s main complaint is the Council used information she provided in her bids to create its own artwork and she wants compensation for this.
16. This is a matter for the court, as it can give a definitive ruling on whether the Council used Ms X’s information without her consent. If it finds in her favour, it could award the substantive compensation she seeks, and enforce payment.
17. It is my view that Ms X may take court action on whther the Council used her ideas and information and that it would be reasonable for her to do so in the circumstances of this case (see paragraph 5).

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Draft decision

18. I will not investigate this complaint because it is late. I have not exercised my discretion because Ms X can ask the courts to decide whether the Council used her information and ideas without her consent, and to grant compensation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman