Police Federation of England and Wales

The complainant requested information about salaries of senior staff. The Police Federation of England and Wales (“PFEW”) suspected she had made the request using a pseudonym. It asked for confirmation of her identity, which she did not provide. PFEW then argued that the request was not a valid request for information within the meaning at section 8(1)(b) (Request for information) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that, in the circumstances of this case, PFEW was entitled to consider the request did not meet the criteria for a valid request at section 8(1)(b) of FOIA without confirmation of the complainant’s identity.