header-logo header-logo

Duty to investigate data denials

18 October 2023
Issue: 8045 / Categories: Legal News , Data protection
printer mail-detail
The Information Commissioner is not obliged to investigate and reach a final decision on every complaint it receives, the Court of Appeal has unanimously confirmed

In R (Ben Peter Delo) v the Information Commissioner [2023] EWCA Civ 1141, the appellant, Ben Delo made a data subject access request to Wise Payments, a financial institution with which he had an account. Wise refused, claiming it had no obligation to provide the data. Delo complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). After review, the ICO advised Delo it was likely Wise had complied and said no further action would be taken.

Delo sought judicial review, claiming the ICO had unlawfully failed to investigate and/or reached an unlawful and irrational conclusion.

Dismissing the claim, Mr Justice Mostyn held the Commissioner was not obliged to determine the merits of each and every complaint but had a discretion which he had exercised lawfully.

Mostyn J’s decision was upheld on appeal. Giving the lead judgment, Lord Justice Warby said: ‘I would uphold the conclusion of the judge… that the legislative scheme requires the Commissioner to receive and consider a complaint and then provides the Commissioner with a broad discretion as to whether to conduct a further investigation and, if so, to what extent.’

On the significance of the existence of adequate alternative remedies to the Commissioner’s decision, Warby LJ said: ‘It must be legitimate for the Commissioner, when deciding how to deploy the available resources, to take account not only of his own view of the likely outcome of further investigation and the likely merits, but also of any alternative methods of enforcement that are available to the data subject.’

John Edwards, the Information Commissioner, said the ICO received more than 33,500 data protection complaints in 2022/23 and issued nearly 40,000 outcome decisions in the same period. 

Issue: 8045 / Categories: Legal News , Data protection
printer mail-details

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Gilson Gray—Linda Pope

Gilson Gray—Linda Pope

Partner joins family law team inLondon

Jackson Lees Group—five promotions

Jackson Lees Group—five promotions

Private client division announces five new partners

Taylor Wessing—Max Millington

Taylor Wessing—Max Millington

Banking and finance team welcomes partner in London

NEWS
The landmark Supreme Court’s decision in Johnson v FirstRand Bank Ltd—along with Rukhadze v Recovery Partners—redefine fiduciary duties in commercial fraud. Writing in NLJ this week, Mary Young of Kingsley Napley analyses the implications of the rulings
Barristers Ben Keith of 5 St Andrew’s Hill and Rhys Davies of Temple Garden Chambers use the arrest of Simon Leviev—the so-called Tinder Swindler—to explore the realities of Interpol red notices, in this week's NLJ
Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys [2025] has upended assumptions about who may conduct litigation, warn Kevin Latham and Fraser Barnstaple of Kings Chambers in this week's NLJ. But is it as catastrophic as first feared?
Lord Sales has been appointed to become the Deputy President of the Supreme Court after Lord Hodge retires at the end of the year
Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) are reportedly in the firing line in Chancellor Rachel Reeves upcoming Autumn budget
back-to-top-scroll