Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s support of allegations about Mr X by its tenant in 2022. This complaint which was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner.

The complaint

1. Mr complained about the Council supporting claims about his conduct in 2022 which he says caused reputational damage to him as a former councillor. He says the Council supported claims by its tenant and ignored his own claims about the tenant. When he made a Freedom of Information access request in 2023 he says the Council unnecessarily redacted documents using data protection reasons to prevent his access.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. The Information Commissioner's Office 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.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Mr X says the Council’s tenant of a building which it manages made allegations about his conduct in 2022 which he says were untrue and in fact he had made similar allegations about the tenant’s behaviour. In August 2022 a Council officer wrote to Mr X and told him that it had received allegations of bullying by a third party and that this was inappropriate and in contrast to allegations he had made. By this time Mr X had resigned his involvement with projects in the building and returned the keys.
7. Mr X subsequently complained about the letter and the Council’s position on the matter. He submitted a Freedom of Information subject access request in December 2023 and received a response in early 2024. The Council issued emails which he had requested, but they were heavily redacted because they related to third parties who had not consented to share their information.
8. Mr X complained to the Information Commissioner(ICO) about the redactions which he believes were unnecessary. The ICO concluded that the Council had used the wrong provisions of the legislation and directed it to issue the correspondence under the correct provisions. The Council re-issued the documents but they remained redacted because it says disclosing further details would breach data protection of the third partis. It has advised Mr X to contact the Information Commissioner again if he believes this is incorrect.
9. We will not investigate the Council’s actions in 2022. This was submitted to us outside the normal 12 months period for receiving complaints. The time for receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wish to complain about, not when they complained to the Council or it issued its final response. We would expect someone to complain to us within a year, even if they were dissatisfied with the time the complaints procedure was taking.
10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaints about restriction of data which he requested about his complaint. It was reasonable for him to complain to the ICO about this and he pursued this remedy. He may resubmit his complaint to that body if he believes the Council is still in breach of the UK General Data Protection Regulations which the ICO directed the Council to consider.

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Final decision

11. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s support of allegations about Mr X by its tenant in 2022. This complaint which was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman