Department for Work and Pensions

The complainant has requested a breakdown of the number of child maintenance cases in which a specific scenario has occurred. The Commissioner’s decision is that DWP is entitled to rely on section 12(2) of the Act to refuse to comply with the request. The Commissioner finds, however, that DWP breached section 17(5) of the Act as it failed to provide its section 12 refusal notice within the statutory time frame. The Commissioner does not require DWP to take any steps.