This page sets out statistics showing the number of Freedom of Information requests we've received and how we have responded.

Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and response

The Financial Ombudsman Service has been subject to the Freedom of Information Act since November 2011. Our publication scheme provides a guide to the information that's available without the need to make a specific written request and we also publish statistical information about the requests we handle and how we respond.

The following table shows the number of requests we've handled and how we responded. We add information and update the table each quarter.

Statistics for 2019/2020  

 

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Overview   

Number of FOI requests which were due to be responded to

107

109

122

117

Percentage of FOIs responded to on time

65%

72%

57%

82%

Percentage of FOIs responded to after the deadline

35%

28%

43% 

18%

Percentage of requests which remain outstanding

0%

0%

0% 

0%

 

 

 

 

  

How we responded    

Percentage of requests where the information wasn't held

7%

5%

4% 

3%

Percentage of requests where the information was provided in full

43%

40%

31% 

34%

Percentage of requests where the information was provided in part

20%

21%

17% 

25%

Percentage of requests where the information requested was refused

30%

34%

48% 

38%

 

 

 

 

  

Number of times we applied the following exemptions to requests we responded to in part or where the information was refused   

Section 40(1) – own personal data 

22

18

20 

11

Section 8 or 14 – not a valid request or vexatious 

3

11

65

23

Section 12 – cost exemption

17

20

9 

24

Other exemptions

49

27

14 

28

 

 

 

 

  

Review   

Number of internal reviews

6

4

36 

25

 

Applying exemptions

We aim to be as open and transparent as possible about the work we do, but there are times where it isn’t appropriate for us to share the information we hold in response to a Freedom of Information request. Where this is the case, we may apply an exemption. The Freedom of Information Act contains a number of exemptions that allow organisations to withhold information from a requestor. In some cases it allows organisations to refuse to confirm or deny whether they hold information.

In some circumstances, we will apply an exemption to part of a request or sometimes we may apply an exemption to the whole of a request. Sometimes we apply more than one exemption to a single request. You can read more about exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act on the Information Commissioner's website.

About the exemptions we applied in the last quarter of 2019/2020:

  • The most common exemption applied in this quarter was section 8 and 14 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Applying section 8 means a request is not valid, because the requestor didn’t give us a valid address to respond to, didn’t use their real name or doesn’t describe the information requested. Individuals can only ask for information held in a recorded format, not for opinion or commentary. Applying section 14 means the request is considered vexatious or is a repeated request. This exemption was applied to one individual who made multiple requests and was not using the Act for the purpose it was intended.
  • The second most common exemption applied was section 12. Section 12 means that we aren’t able to provide the information because the time taken to find, locate or retrieve the information is likely to exceed the appropriate limit set out in the legislation, which for us is 18 hours. 
  • Whenever we apply this exemption, we always try to provide the requestor with information that they may find helpful, as we already publish a lot of detail about what we do. For example, information on our website about our approach to the different types of complaints we see, or our database of ombudsman decisions where they can search for specific decisions we've published in relation to their area of interest.