HM Revenue and Customs

The complainant has requested information from HMRC about claims investigated by Concentrix since the commencement of its contract with HMRC. In Response, HMRC refused to comply with the request, relying on section 12(1) – costs of compliance exceed the appropriate limit. The Commissioner’s decision is that HMRC was entitled to rely on section 12 to refuse to comply with this request. She notes however that the response was issued outside of the statutory 20 day time limit and accordingly HMRC has breached section 10 FOIA. The Commissioner does not require HMRC to take any further steps.