Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

The complainant has requested information relating to their late mother’s pension support. When doing so, they identified themselves as executors of their late mother’s will. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) initially failed to respond to the request for several months despite the complainant resubmitting it. When it eventually replied it refused to provide the information citing section 44 (statutory bar) and section 41 (information provided in confidence). It upheld this position at internal review. The Commissioner’s decision is that although DWP is entitled to rely on section 44 as its basis for refusing to provide the requested information it failed in its FOIA obligations under section 10 (timeliness) and section 16 (advice and assistance). No further steps under FOIA are required.