Escalated cases working with the ico and ombudsman

Sometimes the Information Commissioner may receive a complaint about our handling of a request for information or personal data. We will liaise with the relevant service and managers to agree a response to the ICO. Wherever possible we will always aim for early resolution of a customer’s complaint.

The ICO would normally expect the customer to have completed our appeals process (internal review) before complaining to them. More details can be found on the ICO website.

Working with Ombudsmen

An Ombudsman’s role is usually the final stage for complaints. They are independent of us and investigate complaints fairly, they do not take sides. The main Ombudsman we liaise with is the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO), who investigate complaints about councils, all adult social care providers (including care homes and home care agencies) and some other organisations providing local public services.

We may also receive enquiries about complaints from the Housing Ombudsman, Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman or others.

Most Ombudsmen would expect a customer to have completed our, or its commissioned providers and/or contractors, own complaints procedures before they investigate.

We are keen to learn from our mistakes and always adopts a positive approach to Ombudsman reports and recommendations. You can find more information on the following websites: