Bradford City Council FOI Complaint Upheld - IC-490042-S9X7

The ICO found that Bradford City Council breached its obligations under FOIA by failing to respond to a freedom of information request within the statutory 20 working day timeframe. The decision notice constitutes a formal enforcement order requiring the council to provide the outstanding response to the complainant within 30 calendar days of the notice date. This type of procedural enforcement is common in ICO decision notices and serves to ensure public authorities maintain compliance with their transparency obligations. Public authorities receiving similar notices should ensure internal FOI tracking systems are monitoring statutory response deadlines to avoid comparable findings.

Affected parties include Bradford City Council, which must now cure the procedural breach by issuing a substantive response, and the original complainant, who is entitled to receive the information or a valid refusal notice. Other public authorities subject to FOIA should review their FOI request management processes to ensure responses are issued within the 20 working day window to prevent similar complaints.