How to access information from a public authority

How does it work?

You have the right to request recorded information held by public authorities. The most obvious kind of recorded information is electronic or paper copies of formal documents, like policies or minutes of meetings. But you can also request information held in other kinds of records like emails, photographs or audio recordings.

There are laws that give you this right of access, which are:

the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA);
Environmental Information Regulations (EIR); and
INSPIRE Regulations.

This guidance focuses on the FOIA and EIR. You can find more information on INSPIRE in our guide to the INSPIRE Regulations.

If you ask for information, public authorities must provide it, unless there’s a good reason not to.

We use the phrase “information request” to cover the requests you can make using FOIA or EIR.

If you want to request a copy of your own personal information from a public authority, make a subject access request.

Who can you ask?

You can request information from any public authority in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and UK-wide public authorities based in Scotland. Scotland has its own legislation which covers Scottish public authorities and its own commissioner.

Examples of public authorities include:

government departments, devolved administrations and other public bodies and committees;
local councils;
schools, colleges and universities;
public health services – including hospitals, GPs, dentists, pharmacists and opticians;
publicly-owned companies;
publicly-funded museums, galleries and theatres; and
the police and fire services.

You can make an environmental information request to some private or public companies that have public responsibilities – such as water companies.

If you are unsure if you can make a request to an organisation, you can contact us via our helpline on 0303 123 1113 or our live chat.

Top tips

To make information requests as efficiently and effectively as possible, we suggest you take this approach:

Search first. Public authorities publish a great deal of information. You may find what you’re looking for by searching online or looking at the website’s sitemap. If the information is already in the public domain, it may be quicker to find it than ask for it. For more tips, see "Searching for information" below.
Keep it clear. Make your request as simple and straightforward as possible. Use simple language. Numbered lists or bullet-points might help you to structure your request. In general, try to make it as easy as possible for the public authority to understand what you want to receive.
Be nice. Even if you’re dissatisfied with the organisation, try to put that to one side and focus on the information you want to receive. If possible, keep your information request separate from any ongoing email threads or complaints about wider issues.
Read it twice. Before you send a request, take another look at it to make sure it’s clear and easy to follow. If you’re unsure, you could seek a second opinion from someone you know. They might spot something confusing that you can fix before you send the request. If the public authority has to ask you to clarify your request, it will take longer for you to receive the information you want.

Searching for information

The following resources could help you find the information you’re looking for.

Publication schemes, annual reports, policies and datasets published on public authorities’ websites. These kinds of documents explain who the organisation is, what they do, how they do it, and how they are performing. If you can’t easily find documents on their website, look for a sitemap, which may help.
Disclosure logs on public authorities’ websites. These allow you to read a public authority’s responses to previous information requests.
WhatDoTheyKnow is a public register of over 1 million information requests, and responses from thousands of public authorities.
Advanced searches of a public authority’s website. For example:
- Use Google’s advanced search dashboard or similar facilities on other search engines.
- Add “site:” to your search query (eg “annual report site:ico.org.uk”).
- Search for a specific file type in your search query. In Google it’s “filetype:” (eg “ICO annual report filetype:pdf”).
Previous website versions. Viewing historic snapshots of an organisation’s website may help you retrieve information which is no longer current. You can search for previous website versions using:
- UK Government Web Archive.
- Not-for-profit organisation the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
National regulators or other bodies. These organisations are likely to publish information they collect about the bodies they oversee. For example:
- Office of National Statistics website.
- Resources available through gov.uk, including www.data.gov.uk.
Academic journals, reports or articles. These might require a subscription, but may also be available through a local library, employer, professional body or education institution.
Civil society organisations, expert researchers and journalists. Expert organisations and individuals publish research and opinion, and share information on social media

Protect public money

Gaining access to public information is your right and public bodies must respect that.

However, requests do cost public bodies time and money to respond to. This is public money and we need to make sure it’s spent responsibly.

It is important that you don’t submit frivolous or trivial requests.

You should not make requests for the same information more than once, unless the information has changed a lot.

You should not make requests as a way of ‘punishing’ a public body if you think they have done something wrong. If you do any of the above, the public body could consider your request vexatious and refuse to action it.