Department for Work and Pensions
- Date 14 July 2021
- Sector Central government
- Decision(s) FOI 12: Not upheld, FOI 16: Not upheld, FOI 17: Upheld
The complainant has requested the number of messages sent to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) via its online portal and a breakdown of the time taken to respond. 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 as to do so would exceed the appropriate limit and it has fulfilled its obligations under section 16. The Commissioner finds, 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.