Lee Cruickshank v The Information Commissioner
[2024] UKFTT 730 (GRC)
D Hooper v The Information Commissioner
21 May 2024
[2024] UKFTT 392 (GRC)
First-tier Tribunal
Someone complained to the Information Commissioner about the DWP. The Commissioner said there was no breach. The person then went to a Tribunal to challenge that decision. The Tribunal said it couldn't decide if the Commissioner was right or wrong; that's a job for a higher court. The Tribunal threw out the case because it couldn't help.
Key Facts
- •Ms. Hooper (Applicant) applied to the First-tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber) under section 166 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) against the Information Commissioner (Respondent).
- •The application challenged the Information Commissioner's finding of no data protection breaches by the DWP.
- •The Commissioner applied to strike out the application.
- •The Applicant argued that the DWP's actions were unlawful and sought a review of the ICO's decision.
Legal Principles
The Tribunal does not have jurisdiction to review the merits of a complaint to the Information Commissioner under section 166 DPA 2018.
Killock & Veale & ors v Information Commissioner [2021]UKUT 299 (AAC)
Challenges to the lawfulness of the Information Commissioner's process or the rationality of their decision are matters for judicial review by the High Court, not the Tribunal.
R (on the application of Delo) v Information Commissioner and Wise Payments Limited [2022] EWHC 3046 (Admin), upheld by the Court of Appeal at [2023] EWCA Civ 1141
Section 166 DPA 2018 does not provide a right to appeal the Commissioner's decision; the Tribunal cannot determine whether the outcome was substantively correct.
Section 166 DPA 2018
The Tribunal lacks jurisdiction to consider whether the DWP complied with data protection legislation.
None explicitly stated, inferred from the Tribunal's lack of power
Outcomes
The Application was struck out.
The Tribunal lacked jurisdiction to address the merits of the complaint or the DWP's actions. The Applicant's desired remedies were beyond the Tribunal's powers under section 166 DPA 2018. There were no reasonable prospects of success.
Applications to refer the matter to the Upper Tribunal and to join the DWP as a party were not determined due to the striking out of the main application.
The Upper Tribunal also lacks jurisdiction, and joining the DWP would not change the Tribunal's lack of power to address the core issues.