Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant made a number of requests to the public authority through his website. Four requests were referred to the Commissioner and have been considered in this case. The public authority applied section 12(1) [the costs limits] to these four requests. It explained that it believed that the requests could be aggregated with four other requests the complainant had made and that the work needed to respond to all eight requests would exceed the costs limit of £450. The complainant complained to the Commissioner. The Commissioner has determined that the four requests can only be aggregated with two others. However, he has found that the work that would be required to answer those six requests would exceed the costs limit and the exclusion found in section 12(1) has therefore been applied appropriately by the public authority. He has found that there was a procedural breach of section 16(1). This is because the public authority failed to offer reasonable advice and assistance about how to narrow the requests down at the time of its refusal notice. He does not require any remedial steps to be taken in this case. Information Tribunal appeal EA/2011/0016 allowed.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 12 - Complaint Not upheld, FOI 16 - Complaint Upheld