Top Boy actor reveals access to care records battle

Actor Nkechi Simms has spoken about her struggles to access her care records from Camden London Borough Council. In a detailed account in The Observer, Simms describes systemic data protection failures that led to severe delays and distress. 

Having been refused access to her records in 2020, Simms submitted a second subject access request (SAR) in December 2025 after seeing details of the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) Better Records Together campaign, which called for improvements in access to care records. Camden Council took eight months to release an initial batch, citing an internal rule capping disclosures at 500 pages per request and imposing a 90-day waiting period between submissions. 

To date, Simms has received approximately 1,000 records but is still waiting for the rest of her files. The council has apologised, acknowledging that the delays are unacceptable, and offered £250 in compensation. Simms described the offer as an insult, saying "I don’t think I’ve ever been more insulted by anything in my life. They’re offering me a month’s food shop and maybe a pair of jeans on sale… what were they thinking?"

Children's Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza warned that Simms's experience is not an isolated case and that local authorities are "failing" care leavers through overly bureaucratic processes, calling on councils to urgently reform their data protection processes.

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