Kicking Off | Careless Ep 2

Nkechi (0:09)

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SPEAKER_1 (0:16)

Thanks for calling Camden Council. We're currently having technical problems, and our staff only have limited system access, so they may not be able to assist you when you get through. It's making our wait times longer, too, so you may prefer to try again later. Good morning.

Please say the name of the person or department you wish to contact.

Nkechi (0:38)

Information and records?

SPEAKER_1 (0:42)

Was that Switchboard?

Nkechi (0:44)

No, records.

SPEAKER_1 (0:47)

Please say the name of another person or department. And for anything else, just hold the line. Or to hear these options again, just press the star key.

For building control, it's one.

Madeleine Parr (1:01)

Oh my god, this is so annoying already.

SPEAKER_1 (1:03)

Births, deaths, marriages and citizenship are on three. To get help with transport, including freedom passes and blue badges, pick four. For electoral services, choose five. If you need recycling, rubbish, street cleaning services or pest control, press six. To speak to the operator, please press seven.

And to hear those options again, just press the...

SPEAKER_4 (1:33)

Good morning, this is a contact. Camden, you're speaking to the switchboard service.

SPEAKER_1 (1:37)

How can I help you today?

Nkechi (1:38)

Hi, basically, I'm just trying to find somebody I can speak to about a subject access request that I've submitted. I'm just trying to get an update, but I'm trying to find the right person to speak to.

SPEAKER_4 (1:53)

So, when you say subject access request, for what?

Nkechi (1:57)

So, for my records?

SPEAKER_4 (2:06)

Hold on a second, let me have a look.

Ashley John-Baptiste (2:13)

Nkechi is being remarkably calm, given how bureaucratic this process has proven to be. I remember trying to get my files in my early 20s. I had left the care system and I was living alone in a council flat with barely any clue of how to navigate such a faceless and clinical process. I didn't have anyone around to help or guide me. When I contacted the council, I was always dealing with someone I didn't know. There's something deeply cold and isolating about navigating this particular path of bureaucracy. It's hard to fully put into words, so the best I can do is show you.

When Nkechi DMed me, I asked her if she would be up for letting me in on her journey to get her records. It's such a personal thing that I was honestly kind of surprised when she agreed to let us record her. But our shared experience sparked a synergy. What I didn't realise was just what it would take for her to get to that truth.

I'm Ashley John-Baptiste from Tortoise Investigates and The Observer. This is Careless, episode two, Kicking Off.

Nkechi (3:44)

So back in December 2025, I saw that the Information Commissioner had released a report talking about how difficult it was for young people in care to access their records. And that sort of inspired me even more to try again.

Ashley John-Baptiste (3:59)

I'm in the studio with Nkechi.

Nkechi (4:02)

And so that same week, I filled out a subject access request form. And in that form, they ask you for your name, your address, your email address, and then they ask you for what you want. And I explained that I wanted the entirety of my care records from childhood and through to leaving care. And they responded quite quickly, saying that they'd received my email and they'd received my request.

But could they have clarification on what it was I was asking for?

Ashley John-Baptiste (4:36)

It was just before Christmas. Nkechi was busy and felt a bit confused by their request for clarification.

You felt that you were quite clear in your request.

Nkechi (4:47)

I was so clear in my request. I didn't really understand what was difficult. If I want the entirety of my care records from childhood to adulthood, then send me everything. I didn't really understand where clarity was needed. And I think that's what frustrated me and made me feel like, okay, let me get through Christmas and then I can come back to this.

Ashley John-Baptiste (5:08)

In January, she wrote back to the council explaining that she wanted everything. Every note and report and record kept about her from the beginning of the council's involvement with her to the end.

This is a good place for me to explain how these kinds of requests tend to work. In the UK, you have a legal right under Data Protection Laws, otherwise known as GDPR, to request access to any personal data an organisation like a council or employer holds about you. This includes internal emails and records as long as you are identified or discussed in them. By law, organisations must respond to a request like this within one calendar month, but there can be extensions in complex cases. So when Nkechi feels like the council might be dragging its feet a bit, there's a legal deadline looming. When the council does respond to Nkechi's clarification, it's been about 10 days, and they ask for a scan of her passport, so she sends it over one week later.