We do not routinely charge for information requested under the Freedom of information Act where the information is easily available.
However there may be occasions where we will not be able to comply with an FOI request as the time it would take to obtain the information exceeds statutory limits.
We may ask you for a payment :
1) where the time taken to collate the information, where the information exists, exceeds 18 hours
The appropriate limit for councils is £450 and is assessed as a staff rate of £25 an hour, which is equivalent to 18 hrs work
2) where multiple requests are received from the same person
We are allowed to treat multiple requests from the same person as a single request, provided they relate to the same or similar information and are received within any 90 day period.
In both instances, we will advise that the request exceeds the time/cost element.