The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a complaint about its response to a subject access request as the level of injustice caused to the complainant from this is not sufficient to justify our involvement.
The complaint
Ms X complained to the Council about delay in it providing a response to a subject access request (SAR) she had made to it. Ms X complains the Council has not responded to this complaint and this has caused her frustration and to lose confidence in the Council’s complaint handling ability.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) 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 fault has not caused significant injustice to the person who complained (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK’s independent regulator on data protection matters and was the appropriate body to deal with Ms X’s concerns about how the Council handled her SAR request.
I recognise that the Council has complied now with that request and that Ms X’s outstanding concern is regarding its handling of her complaint about delay, but, in isolation, this does not represent a level of injustice that would justify our further involvement. We have limited resources and must direct them to the most serious cases, in the public interest.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because the alleged Council fault has not caused her a level of injustice that would justify our further involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman