Our third strategic objective focuses on supporting the public’s right to access information held by public authorities, promoting a culture of openness and accountability across the public sector.

Supporting FOI practitioners amid rising demand

More people are exercising their fundamental right to access information, which is positive for transparency and accountability. However, this brings challenges. FOI complaints rose by over 40% year on year during 2025/26, as we received over 10,000 complaints.

We recognise that increasing FOI requests aren’t necessarily being met with more resources, and we’re working with the whole FOI community to tackle this, including requesters, practitioners and public authorities. 

Our Upstream Regulation team has developed practical tools and resources to help practitioners stay ahead of challenges.

We’ve shared training via: 

• newsletters; 
• webinars and self-serve resources; and 
• published case studies showcasing best practice, including practice recommendations and enforcement notices.

We also developed tailored guidance for specific sectors, including GPs and schools. And we continue to explore where our support can have the greatest impact.

We also published new advice on the use of disclosure platforms to help authorities manage requests appropriately while taking advantage of software and technology.

We surveyed FOI practitioners and found that: 

• 89% rated our resources as clear and easy to use; 
• most (70%) reported feeling more confident in dealing with FOI-related issues; and 
• a third had already made changes to their processes as a result of our support. 

Our evaluation of our upstream approach also showed that, as part of a suite of regulatory tools, it was delivering improved outcomes for all parties.

Ensuring proactive publication

Transparency is the cornerstone of accountability. The FOIA isn’t just about responding to requests - public authorities must also publish information proactively. This allows the public to routinely access information that is in the public interest and safe to disclose.

We examined whether more than 70 public authorities had publication schemes in place. We identified 18 that didn’t have one on their website and we made further enquiries with all of them. Following our work, they’ve all now taken steps to comply with this requirement, and they publish more information proactively.

We asked stakeholders whether proactively publishing information had helped them manage FOI request volumes. More respondents agreed (33.5%) than disagreed (23.5%). Proactive publication: 

• frees up staff time to concentrate on other requests; and 
• helps handle more enquiries as business as usual.

Since we published our FOI and Transparency regulatory manual, public authorities have begun publishing their compliance statistics. This helps build a greater culture of transparency and accountability.

Holding public authorities to account

We don’t hesitate to act where our work does not achieve the change we want to see. Over the past three years, we’ve taken more enforcement action than in the entire previous lifetime of the FOI Act. Since introducing the FOI and Transparency regulatory manual in 2022, we’ve issued 24 enforcement notices ad 36 practice recommendations.

During 2025/26, we issued eight enforcement notices addressing backlogs affecting almost 2,500 information requests. Recent actions included issuing the following:

• Enforcement Notice to London Borough of Enfield Council for failing statutory duties under FOIA. The council had 271 open requests over a month old, with more possibly unlogged. We required that the council:
  • log all requests within three months; and 
  • answer all overdue responses within six months.
• Enforcement Notice to Cambridge Hospitals NHS Trus for failing to meet statutory deadlines. Compliance rates were low, with 67 cases of its 222 open requests being over one year old. The Trust admitted to: 
  • poor staffing levels; and 
  • inadequate FOIA awareness.
• Practice Recommendation to Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Trus for inadequate FOI response rates. It achieved an average compliance rate of just 34% for responses within 20 working days.
• Eight Practice Recommendations to Northern Ireland government department for failing to publish FOI compliance statistics for authorities of its size.
• Practice Recommendation to London Borough of Redbridge Council for consistently poor performance and significant overdue requests. It failed to respond to around 30% of requests within the statutory timeframe.

Those making FOI requests should know they will receive responses in a timely manner. We’ll hold organisations to account when they are failing to meet their basic duties.

Making transparency the default: water companies

We made transparency the default for water companies providing sewage services. They now proactively report on sewage spills, empowering communities by giving them the facts.

In December 2024, we wrote to 12 water companies that provide sewage services across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. They all committed to regular reporting on sewage discharges. The good practice we’ve seen since our intervention marks a significant shift towards environmental transparency. Millions of people across the UK now have easier access to vital information about pollution in their local rivers, lakes and coastal waters.

We will continue supporting the sector and monitoring complaints to ensure water companies follow through on their commitments. Where we see regression, we won’t hesitate to take further action.