Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

The complainant submitted multiple requests on the topics of discountable pension entitlements and audio recording equipment. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is entitled to aggregate the requests by topic and consider them as two requests as provided by section 12(4) of FOIA. The Commissioner also finds that DWP is entitled to rely on section 12(1) to refuse to comply with the requests. The Commissioner does, however, find that DWP failed to provide adequate advice and assistance in accordance with section 16 of FOIA. DWP also responded outside of the statutory timeframe and so breached section 17(5). The Commissioner requires DWP to provide the complainant with advice and assistance on how to refine each of the two (aggregated) requests. The public authority must take these steps within 30 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of FOIA and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.