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The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 was introduced to give the public the right to access any information recorded by public sector organisations. These organisations include:

• schools
• councils
• government departments
• health trusts and hospitals
• libraries
• museums

Anyone is able to request information, regardless of how old they are, where they live or their nationality.

Requests must be made in writing, either by letter or by email. The organisation then has 20 working days to provide the information.

Many people incorrectly assume that public bodies must give them any information that they request. Organisations are excluded from providing information in the following cases:

• If the information required is regarded as sensitive - the Data Protection Act 1998/2018 and General Data Protection Regulation 2018 overrule in this instance. For example, a request to find out how much an employee earned would be rejected as that information is sensitive to the employee.
• If the information will be too costly or time consuming to produce. For a public organisation, such as a school or a council, the cost limit is £450. For example, if organisations determine costs based on £25 per hour per person and the information requested would take longer than 18 hours (18 × £25 = £450) to produce, the request would be rejected. For the government and armed forces, this limit is raised to £600 (24 hours).