The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s alleged failure to safeguard Mrs X when she was a child. This is because parts of the complaint relate to data protection and are best placed for the information commissioner’s office to investigate. The remaining parts of the complaint relate to events that took place more than 12 months ago and are therefore outside of our jurisdiction due to the time that has elapsed.
The complaint
Mrs X complained the Council committed a data breach after she made a subject access request. She also complained about the Council’s failure to safeguard her when she was a child.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) considers complaints about freedom of information. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). So where we receive complaints about freedom of information, we normally consider it reasonable to expect the person to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.
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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
After Mrs X made a subject access request to the Council regarding information it held about one of her parents, she made a complaint about the way the information had been redacted and its actions after she made a disclosure of abuse. She also complained the Council had committed a data breach.
The Council investigated Mrs X’s complaint and said it would review the level of redaction used and contact Mrs X with its outcome. The Council did not determine that a data breach had occurred and explained to Mrs X that due to the length of time that had elapsed, it would not investigate the other aspects of the complaint. Mrs X brought her complaint to the Ombudsman because she was unhappy with the Council’s response.
The Ombudsman will not investigate matters relating to data protection as this is a matter best placed for the ICO to investigate. It is therefore open to Mrs X to refer the parts of the complaint that relate to the subject access request redaction and potential data breach to the ICO.
The Ombudsman will not usually exercise discretion to investigate complaints regarding events that took place more than 12 months ago unless there are good reasons to do so. In this case, whilst it is understandable that Mrs X has not brought the complaint regarding the Council’s failure to safeguard her appropriately before now, the length of time that has elapsed since these matters took place mean that is unlikely the Ombudsman can conduct a meaningful investigation. Exercising discretion to investigate this part of the complaint would therefore not be in Mrs X’s interest.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because parts of the complaint relate to data protection and are best placed for the information commissioner’s office to investigate. The remaining parts of the complaint relate to events that took place more than 12 months ago and therefore outside of our jurisdiction due to the time that has elapsed.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman