London Borough of Croydon (20 011 248)

Category : Other Categories > Other

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 16 Mar 2021

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to respond to a subject access request. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault and the complainant could complain to the Information Commissioner.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, who I shall refer to as Mr C, complains that the Council failed to respond to a subject access request he made.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:
  • it is unlikely we would find fault, or
  • there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

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

  1. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I have considered Mr C’s information requests, and the Council’s responses. I have invited Mr C to comment on a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

  1. Mr C wrote to the Council and asked it to provide him with information about someone who lives next to a property he owns.
  2. The Council said that because the information relates to a third party, Mr C would need to provide consent from that person, otherwise the Council’s response would be redacted. The Council also asked Mr C to provide proof of his identity.
  3. Mr C wrote to the Council and said he would not be able to gain the third party’s consent, and he therefore accepted that the information would be redacted.
  4. The Council wrote to Mr C again. It said that to process his request he would still need to provide proof of identity. The Council said if it did not receive this within 20 working days, his request would be closed.
  5. The Council told me that because it did not receive any proof of identity from Mr C it closed his request.

Assessment

  1. I will not start an investigation into Mr C’s complaint about the Council’s failure to respond to his subject access request. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault.
  2. The Council initially told Mr C that he would need to provide proof of his identity. Mr C has provided the Ombudsman with two similar letters addressed to the Council, one which refers to him sending proof of identity and one which does not.
  3. The Council says it did not receive the letter containing the identification information, and wrote to him again asking for this information. There is no evidence that Mr C sent any proof of identification after the date of this letter.
  4. In addition, Mr C’s complaint is about a data protection matter and he could complain to the Information Commissioner (ICO). It is reasonable to expect him to do so because the ICO is the appropriate body to consider such complaints.

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Final decision

  1. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault and because Mr C can complain to the Information Commissioner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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