Essex County Council

The complainant has requested information about pension strain contributions from Essex County Council (the “Council”). The Council refused to provide this information citing section 40 (Unfair disclosure of personal data) as its basis for doing so. Following the Commissioner’s intervention, it made a partial disclosure to the complainant who remained unhappy with the extent of this. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council is not entitled to rely on section 40 as a basis for withholding the requested information. The Commissioner requires the public authority to disclose the information described in the complainant’s request of 7 October 2012.