Freedom of Information performance data 2025-26

About this report

We are required to capture and publish Freedom of Information compliance statistics under section 8.5 of the section 45 Code of Practice set by the Information Commissioners Office.

We publish this data on a quarterly basis.

The Information Commissioners Office has defined the data that must and could be captured and published, as folllows:

key data is data we must collect to comply with the Code of Practice
additional data is the data we could collect to get a better understanding of our performance
exemptions and exceptions is the data we could collect about the exemptions and exceptions applied to requests

We capture all of the above data and it is set out in the below report.

About the data

The data provided in this report is for the financial year 2025 – 2026 (01 April 2025 to 31 March 2026) and is presented quarterly:

quarter 1 (Q1) is April to June
quarter 2 (Q2) is July to September
quarter 3 (Q3) is October to December
quarter 4 (Q4) is January to March

This data has been collated after the 2025-26 financial year. Some of the required data has not been captured during the year due to the information being live data. Where data has not been captured, this has been replaced with N/A.

Questions about the data

If you have any questions about this document or the data, please contact the Information Governance Casework Manager at inforequests@housing-ombudsman.org.uk.

Helpful Links

Key and additional data

Key data collection

Data to collect	Definition	Which requests should we include?	Captured?	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
Total requests received	All valid requests, including all processed and unprocessed requests. Do not include information requests that you have not responded to under FOIA (eg business as usual or subject access)	Received during the period	Yes	35	36	43	30	144
Total open requests	All requests that remain open, including any subject to a permitted extension	Received during the period	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	0
Total of open requests with permitted extensions – public interest test	All requests that remain open because you applied the public interest test to extend the time limit	Received during and before the period	Yes	0	0	0	0	0
Total of open requests with permitted extensions – complex and voluminous	All EIR requests that remain open because you applied a permitted extension due to the complexity or volume of the request	Received during and before the period	Yes	0	0	0	0	0
Total requests closed	All requests you closed, including withdrawn requests	Opened during and before the period	Yes	37	34	38	35	144
Total requests closed within statutory timescale	All requests you closed within the statutory 20 working day deadline or those you completed under permitted extensions, where appropriate	Opened during and before the period	Yes	37	34	37	35	143
Total requests closed with a permitted extension	All requests you closed using a permitted extension	Received during and before the period	Yes	0	0	0	0	0
Total requests closed outside statutory timescale	All requests you closed outside the statutory deadline, including all requests you closed in over 20 working days and beyond the reasonable limits of a permitted extension	Opened during and before the period	Yes	0	0	1	0	1
Total closed requests where information was granted in full	All requests you closed and provided all information	Opened during and before the period	Yes	12	14	9	11	46
Total closed requests where information was withheld in full	All requests you closed and withheld all information	Opened during and before the period	Yes	10	7	8	8	33
Total closed requests where information was partially provided	All requests you closed and partially provided information	Opened during and before the period	Yes	4	5	14	6	29
Total internal reviews received	All requests that resulted in you opening an internal review	Internal reviews received during the period	Yes	1	1	2	5	9
Total requests with a stopped clock for clarification	All requests that remain open because the request is on hold, awaiting requestor clarification	Received during and before the period	Yes	6	6	4	4	20
Total requests with a paused clock for fees notice	All requests that remain open because the request is on hold, awaiting payment of a fee	Received during and before the period	Yes	0	0	0	0	0

Additional data collection

Data to collect	Definition	Which requests should we include?	Captured?	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
Compliance rate	The percentage of requests you closed within the statutory deadline or those you completed under permitted extensions	Received during and before the period	Yes	100%	100%	97%	100%	99%
Total FOI requests received	Valid FOI requests you received, including all processed and unprocessed requests. Do not include information requests that you have not responded to under FOIA (eg business as usual or subject access)	Received during the period	Yes	35	36	43	30	144
Total EIR requests received	Valid EIR requests you received, including all processed and unprocessed requests. Do not include information requests you have not responded to under FOIA (eg business as usual or subject access)	Received during the period	Yes	0	0	0	0	0
Total of overdue requests	All requests that remain open which have exceeded the statutory 20 working days or are beyond the reasonable limits of a permitted extension	Opened during and before the period	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Total of overdue requests over 1 month old	All requests that remain open which have exceeded the statutory 20 working days or are more than a month old and beyond the reasonable limits of a permitted extension	Opened during and before the period	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Total of overdue requests over 3 months old	All requests that remain open which have exceeded the statutory 20 working days or are more than 3 months old and beyond the reasonable limits of a permitted extension	Opened during and before the period	Yes	0	0	0	0	0
Total of overdue requests over 6 months old	All requests that remain open which have exceeded the statutory 20 working days or are more than 6 months old and beyond the reasonable limits of a permitted extension	Opened during and before the period	Yes	0	0	0	0	0
Total of overdue requests over 9 months old	All requests that remain open which have exceeded the statutory 20 working days or are more than 9 months old and beyond the reasonable limits of a permitted extension	Opened during and before the period	Yes	0	0	0	0	0
Total of overdue requests over 1 year old	All requests that remain open which have exceeded the statutory 20 working days or are more than a 1 year old and beyond the reasonable limits of a permitted extension	Opened during and before the period	Yes	0	0	0	0	0
Exemptions and exceptions applied	Record the number of times you applied each exemption or exception. You should apply each exemption or exception only once per request	Closed during the period	Yes	See exemptions
Total closed requests where information was withheld under the provision at section 12	All requests you closed as not complied with under the provisions of section 12	Closed during the period	Yes	3	6	10	6	25
Total closed requests where information was withheld under the provision at section 14	All requests you closed as not complied with under the provisions of section 14	Closed during the period	Yes	2	0	0	0	2
Total internal reviews closed	All internal reviews you closed	Internal reviews closed during the period	Yes	2	1	1	4	8
Total internal reviews closed within code of practice and statutory timescales	All internal reviews you closed within the code of practice (FOI) or statutory (EIR) deadline	Internal reviews closed during the period	Yes	1	1	1	4	7
Total internal reviews closed outside code of practice and statutory timescales	All internal reviews you closed exceeding the code of practice (FOI) or statutory (EIR) deadline received during and before the period	Internal reviews received during and before the period	Yes	1	0	0	0	1
Total internal reviews closed and upheld in full	All internal reviews you closed where the original decision on information disclosure was fully upheld	Internal reviews closed during the period	Yes	2	1	1	2	6
Total internal reviews closed and partially upheld	All internal reviews you closed where the original decision on information disclosure was partially upheld	Internal reviews closed during the period	Yes	0	0	0	0	0
Total internal reviews closed and overturned	All internal reviews you closed where the original decision on information disclosure was overturned	Internal reviews closed during the period	Yes	1	0	0	2	3
Total internal reviews open	All internal reviews that remain open	Internal reviews received during and before the period	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Exemptions

Exemption	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4
Section 21 – Information accessible by other means	3	3	5	7
Section 22 – Information Intended for Future Publication	0	0	2	1
Section 22A – Research Information	0	0	0	0
Section 23 – National Security (Security Bodies)	0	0	0	0
Section 24 – National Security	0	0	0	0
Section 26 – Defence	0	0	0	0
Section 27 – International Relations	0	0	0	0
Section 28 – Relations within the UK	0	0	0	0
Section 29 – The Economy	0	0	0	0
Section 30 – Investigations and Proceedings Conducted by Public Authorities	0	0	0	0
Section 31 – Law Enforcement	1	1	2	0
Section 32 – Court Records	0	0	0	0
Section 33 – Audit Function	0	0	0	0
Section 34 – Parliamentary Privilege	0	0	0	0
Section 35 – Formulation of government policy and Ministerial Communications	0	0	0	0
Section 36 – Effective Conduct of Public Affairs	0	0	2	2
Section 37 – Communications with the Royal Family and the granting of honours	0	0	0	0
Section 38 – Health and Safety	0	0	0	0
Section 39 – Environmental Information	0	0	0	0
Section 40(1) – Personal Information of the requester	3	0	1	0
Section 40(2) – Personal Information	3	3	5	3
Section 41 – Information provided ‘In Confidence’	0	0	0	0
Section 42 – Legal Professional Privilege	0	0	0	0
Section 43 – Commercial Interest	0	0	2	0
Section 44 – Prohibitions on Disclosure	0	0	0	0