Freedom of Information request charges considered

Proposals for charges for making Freedom of Information requests in response to a growing number of "complex" cases have been outlined by the government.

The Cabinet Office said the number of requests had risen by about 17% each year since the introduction of the system, which promotes transparency, in 2018.

Views are being sought on what would be a "reasonable" upfront fee, and the possible introduction of a limit on how much resource would be put into providing an answer.

Minister David Ashford said any changes "must strike a balance between people's right to access information, cost-effective administration, and value for taxpayers".

Currently the requests allow people to ask public authorities for access to information held by them, without being charged.

The consultation said that the Council of Ministers were "minded to introduce a fee to make a Freedom of Information request" and asked for views on the appropriateness of fees totalling if £10, £15, £20 or £25.

The document said an upfront charge could "discourage purported abuse" of the legislation through the "submission of vexatious, frivolous or misconceived requests".

Other suggestions include implementing a limit on the the number of requests by one person, as nearly half of those made in 2024 were submitted by 7% of the people using the service.

The document said officers spent up to 5,300 hours responding to 982 queries in 2024, at a cost of £181,178.

Under the proposals, a cap on the amount of time and staff resources spent on individual submissions under the options outlined, with those taking longer than 15 hours able to be refused.

A government spokesman said the results of the consultation, which is available online until May 9, would inform future policy options considered by the Council of Ministers.

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