Mr P complained about Information Commissioner's Office's (ICO) assessment of a complaint he had made about an organisation's response to his subject access request. Mr P also complained about the time taken by ICO to deal with his complaint.
What happened
Mr P contacted Organisation A and asked to receive a copy of the information it held on him (a subject access request). Mr P was dissatisfied with Organisation A's response and complained to ICO. ICO found that it was likely that Organisation A had complied with the Data Protection Act. However, the Data Protection Act includes a time limit which organisations must meet, and ICO found that it was unlikely that Organisation A had met that time limit in Mr P's case. When Mr P complained about the outcome of ICO's assessment, it carried out a review of his concerns. ICO decided that its earlier assessment of Mr P's case had been correct.
What we found
ICO's assessment of Mr P's case was reasonable. ICO had followed the correct process in assessing Mr P's case and had reached reasonable decisions.
However, ICO took too long to complete its review of Mr P's concerns and it failed to keep him updated during that process. ICO's failure would have caused Mr P frustration.
Putting it right
The ICO apologised to Mr P for failing to complete its review within the appropriate timescale or keep him updated, and for the impact that had on Mr P.
Child Support Agency
Independent Case Examiner (ICE)
UK
Did not apologise properly or do enough to put things right
Did not involve complainant adequately in the process
Not applicable