Wandsworth Council FOI Complaint: Partial Uphold, Additional Searches Required
Summary
The ICO upheld in part a freedom of information complaint against Wandsworth Borough Council. The Council was entitled to withhold the name of its Inclusion Service Manager under section 40(2) FOIA (personal information) and did not breach the 20-working-day response time under section 10(1). However, the ICO found that the Council failed to demonstrate it does not hold further information within the scope of the request. The Council must conduct further searches and issue a new compliant response within 30 calendar days of the decision notice.
About this source
The Information Commissioner's Office is the UK's data protection and freedom of information authority. Decision notices are the formal written outcomes of ICO investigations into complaints against public authorities for Freedom of Information Act compliance. Around 230 decisions a month, each naming the authority, request details, whether the request was upheld, partially upheld, or rejected, and any remedial action ordered. Decision notices are a rich vein of information about UK government transparency and often reveal what specific requests ICO considers legitimate. Watch this if you file FOI requests in the UK, advise public authorities on disclosure obligations, or research information rights case law.
What changed
The ICO found that Wandsworth Borough Council correctly applied section 40(2) FOIA to withhold the Inclusion Service Manager's name and complied with the 20-working-day response time. However, the Council failed to demonstrate it does not hold additional information within the scope of the request, requiring further searches. The Council must now conduct comprehensive searches across all relevant records systems and issue a new response to the complainant within 30 calendar days. Affected public authorities subject to FOIA should ensure they can demonstrate the adequacy of their searches and maintain documentation showing all reasonable steps were taken to locate responsive information.
What to do next
- Carry out further searches aimed at identifying all information held within scope of the request
- Issue the complainant with a new response meeting FOIA requirements
- Take these steps within 30 calendar days of the decision notice date
Penalties
Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as contempt of court.
Archived snapshot
Apr 28, 2026GovPing captured this document from the original source. If the source has since changed or been removed, this is the text as it existed at that time.
Wandsworth Borough Council
- Date 23 April 2026
- Sector Local government
- Decision(s) FOI 1: Upheld, FOI 10: Not upheld, FOI 40: Not upheld The complainant requested information from the London Borough of Wandsworth (“the Council”) including information relating to a specific school, a SoSAFE! programme and GDPR breaches. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council is entitled to rely on section 40(2) (personal information) of FOIA to withhold the name of its Inclusion Service Manager. He also finds that the Council did not breach section 10(1) (time for compliance) by responding to the request within 20 working days. However, the Commissioner finds that the Council has failed to demonstrate that on the balance of probabilities, it does not hold further information within the scope of the request. The Commissioner requires the Council to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. The Council is required to carry out further searches aimed at identifying all the information it holds falling within the scope of the request, and to issue the complainant with a new response which meets the requirements of FOIA. The Council must take these steps within 30 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.
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