Department for Work and Pensions

The complainant has requested a breakdown of the number of child maintenance cases in which a specific scenario occurred. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is entitled to rely on section 12(2) to refuse to confirm or deny whether it holds the requested information as to do so would exceed the appropriate limit. The Commissioner find, however, that DWP has breached section 17(5) of the Act as it did not issue its section 12 refusal notice within the statutory timeframe of 20 working days. The Commissioner does not require DWP to take any steps in relation to this request. Information Tribunal appeal EA/2021/0190-0191-0192 under appeal.