Department for Work and Pensions

The complainant has requested information on DWP’s external legal costs. DWP has refused to comply with the request on the basis that to do so would exceed the appropriate limit. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is entitled to rely on section 12(1) to refuse to comply with the request. However, the Commissioner finds that DWP has breached section 10(1) as it failed to confirm that it held the requested information within the statutory timeframe and section 17(5) as it failed to provide its refusal notice within the statutory timeframe. The Commissioner does not require DWP to take any steps.