Rights & choices · England
Asking public bodies for information
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This guide is for people in England.
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Information about public services
You can ask many public bodies for information.
This is called Freedom of Information.
People often say FOI.
Ask for recorded information
You could ask for a policy or spending figures.
The information must already be held.
Staff do not usually have to write a new explanation.
Information about you is different
Use a subject access request for your own records.
That has different rules and deadlines.
Find the right organisation
Check who holds the information.
It may already be on the organisation’s website.
Write your request
Give your name and a reply address.
Explain what information you want.
Add dates if they help.
Get help to ask
You can ask staff for help with the request.
Tell them if your disability makes writing difficult.
You can choose someone to support you.
Ask for the format you need
You might need large print or audio.
Tell the organisation what works for you.
Protect private information
FOI information may be made public.
Keep private health details out of a public request.
Do not ask for someone else’s private records.
The usual time limit
The usual response limit is 20 working days.
Weekends and public holidays do not count.
Some requests have different deadlines.
Answer questions about your request
Staff may need you to explain what you want.
This can change the deadline.
Ask them to tell you the date they will reply.
Most requests are free
Some copying or postage may cost money.
A very costly search may be refused.
Ask for help choosing a smaller request if needed.
Some information may be withheld
Legal rules can protect some information.
Ask why you have not received it.
Ask for a review
You can ask the organisation to check its answer.
This is called an internal review.
The ICO can consider an unresolved information complaint.
Information about the environment
This can use different rules called EIR.
You can ask by speaking or writing.
Ask which rules and deadlines apply.
What you can do next
Use the worksheet to plan a clear request.
Ask for help and an accessible reply.
Read the GOV.UK FOI request guide Web pageThis link opens another website.
It may use harder words.
More useful links
- GOV.UK: make a Freedom of Information request Web page
What to include, who to ask and getting help if writing is difficult.
- ICO: prepare and send an information request Web page
Public guidance on useful requests, formats and support.
- ICO: if you are unhappy with the response Web page
Request an internal review and take an unresolved information complaint to the regulator.
- ICO: what to expect from an FOI or EIR complaint Web page
How the ICO deals with complaints about public access to information.
- ICO: environmental information requests Web page
Detailed guidance on the separate environmental information rules, including spoken requests.
These links open other websites.
They may use harder words.
Freedom of Information requests: asking public bodies for information — Easy Read
Ask for public-service policies, spending or recorded decisions, get accessible help and challenge a refusal or delay.
England · Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations · Separate rules apply to your own personal data
What Freedom of Information is for
FOI lets you ask a covered public authority for information it holds in recorded form. Records can include documents, emails, minutes, photographs and recordings. You could ask for a council’s charging policy, an NHS body’s accessible-information policy or recorded spending on a service. It does not normally require the authority to create a new explanation or answer from someone’s memory. Ask for the records behind a decision, rather than only asking “Why did you do that?”
Check who holds the information
Covered bodies include government departments, councils, NHS bodies, state schools and police. Not every charity or private company is covered just because it receives public money. Information a contractor holds on a public authority’s behalf may be covered; ask the authority for advice. Check its website, publication scheme or previous disclosed information first. If you contact the wrong body, ask for help finding the holder. Your own care, employment or health records are usually a subject access request instead.
Make a clear written request
An ordinary FOI request must be in writing. Email is enough. Give your real name, a reply address such as an email address, and a clear description of the recorded information. You do not have to use a special form or mention the Act. Add a useful date range and name the relevant service. You normally do not have to explain your reason. Keep your message and its sending date.
Ask for support and an accessible response
Public authorities must provide reasonable advice and assistance. If disability makes writing difficult, explain this and ask for help making the request. Staff may record a spoken request and send it for you to confirm, or accept it as a reasonable adjustment. Ask for the response format you need, such as large print, audio or Braille. A format change required as a disability-related reasonable adjustment should not attract an extra charge. You can choose a supporter to help you understand replies.
Keep personal information out of a public request
FOI disclosure is generally treated as disclosure to the public. An authority may publish the released material. Some request websites also publish the request and correspondence. Do not include private health details or identifying information about another person when asking about a general policy. Use the organisation’s secure subject access route for your own personal information. FOI does not give you an automatic right to someone else’s records. You can make a private complaint about your situation separately.
The usual 20-working-day response limit
The authority should respond promptly and normally within 20 working days. Counting starts on the first working day after it receives the request. Weekends and relevant public holidays do not count. This is a response deadline, not a guarantee of full disclosure. Some bodies, including schools, have special time rules. If the authority reasonably needs clarification to identify and locate the information, the period runs from receiving that clarification. Ask it to explain the deadline it is using.
When an FOI response can take longer
An authority can sometimes take reasonable extra time to weigh the public interest in a qualified exemption. It should identify the exemption, explain the extension and give an expected date within the original response period. ICO guidance normally allows no more than 20 additional working days for this; longer needs exceptional justification. Being busy does not create a general right to extend. A lawful fees notice can pause the response clock while payment is outstanding.
Fees and the cost limit
Most requests are free, although reasonable copying or postage charges can apply. An authority can refuse a request whose permitted costs of finding and extracting the information exceed the legal limit: normally £450, or £600 for central government and certain other bodies. These are refusal thresholds, not automatic bills sent to you. Different rules apply to environmental information. If cost is a problem, ask for advice on reducing the dates, number of services or record types while keeping the information most useful to you.
If information is withheld or not held
An authority may say it does not hold the information, direct you to material already available, or rely on a legal exemption. Exemptions can protect personal information, safety or other specified interests. Some require a public-interest assessment. Other rules can cover vexatious or repeated requests. Ask which rule applies and what review rights you have. A refusal should give reasons as far as the law allows. You can question searches, missing parts and the use of an exemption.
Ask for an internal review
If unhappy, ask the authority in writing to review its handling of the request. Identify the request, the decision and what you think is wrong. Ask within 40 working days of the response. ICO guidance normally expects an FOI review within 20 working days, or up to 40 in exceptional cases. These review timings are guidance, not the FOI Act’s statutory response deadline. If there has been no response, chase the authority first and then contact the ICO; you do not need to wait indefinitely.
Complain to the ICO
The ICO handles unresolved FOI and environmental-information complaints. Provide the original request, response, review request and review outcome, or evidence of the delay. The ICO asks you to complain within six weeks of the final response or last substantive contact. This is its complaint guidance, so seek help promptly if that time has passed. An information complaint does not decide whether a care decision was fair or award the service you wanted. Use the relevant service complaint or appeal route for that issue.
Environmental information has different rules
Information about issues such as pollution, land or environmental effects on health may fall under the Environmental Information Regulations, called EIR. A request can be spoken or written, and some additional bodies are covered. The normal limit is 20 working days. Complexity and volume together can justify up to 40 working days, with notice within the first 20. There is no fixed FOI-style £450 or £600 cost limit. Charges must be reasonable. Ask for an internal review in writing within 40 working days of believing there was a failure; the authority must decide it within 40 working days.
Use the request planner
A useful starting point is: “Please provide the recorded policy on reasonable adjustments for service appointments that was in force on [date], and any recorded guidance sent to staff about applying it.” Replace the example with what you need. State the format you want. The worksheet helps you prepare and track a request; it does not send one. Keep any personal complaint separate. Asking for information does not automatically extend a court, benefit, council or NHS challenge deadline.
Words you could use
“Please provide the recorded information described below for the dates listed. Please help if clarification is needed and provide it in the accessible format requested.”
More useful links
- GOV.UK: make a Freedom of Information request Web page
What to include, who to ask and getting help if writing is difficult.
- ICO: prepare and send an information request Web page
Public guidance on useful requests, formats and support.
- ICO: if you are unhappy with the response Web page
Request an internal review and take an unresolved information complaint to the regulator.
- ICO: what to expect from an FOI or EIR complaint Web page
How the ICO deals with complaints about public access to information.
- ICO: environmental information requests Web page
Detailed guidance on the separate environmental information rules, including spoken requests.
These links open other websites.
They may use harder words.
Where the information comes from
Links checked 7 November 2026.
These links open other websites.
They may use harder words.
- ICO: what the FOI Act covers Web page
Covered authorities, recorded information and information held on an authority’s behalf.
- ICO: a valid FOI request Web page
Written requests, names, correspondence addresses and identifying the information.
- GOV.UK: making a request Web page
Practical request content and disability-related support.
- ICO: preparing a request Web page
Helpful scope, accessibility, response formats and support.
- ICO: FOI response time limits Web page
Working days, clarification, public-interest extensions and fee pauses.
- ICO: FOI request handling Web page
Costs, refusal grounds and internal-review practice.
- ICO: fees below the cost limit Web page
Permitted charges and accessible formats required as reasonable adjustments.
- ICO: challenging the response Web page
Internal review, complaint evidence and escalation.
- ICO: expectations for FOI and EIR complaints Web page
The request to complain within six weeks of the final response or last substantive contact.
- ICO: receiving an EIR request Web page
Environmental information and spoken or written requests.
- ICO: EIR time limits Web page
20 working days, with a qualified complexity-and-volume extension to 40.
- ICO: charges under EIR Web page
Reasonable charges and the absence of the FOI cost-limit formula.
- ICO: EIR internal reviews Web page
Statutory review request and decision deadlines.
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