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Charges

Most Freedom of Information requests will be handled for free but there are circumstances when you may be charged.

We will discuss charges with you in order to keep them to a minimum and issue a fees notice outlining the cost.

The Freedom of Information Act allows us to charge you for the following:

  • Photocopying, printing or reproducing documents
  • Posting or sending the information to you another way
  • Providing information in a format you specify - We can refuse to do this if it is not reasonably practical to do so

We can refuse requests for information if costs exceed the appropriate limit of £450.

However, in assessing whether this is the case we will take into account the costs involved in the following:

  • Finding out if we hold the information requested
  • Locating information or documents
  • Retrieving information or documents
  • Extracting, editing and blanking out exempt information from documents

An hourly rate of £25 is set by the Act which obliges us to spend up to 18 hours on these activities before the appropriate limit is exceeded.

If we think the appropriate limit may be exceeded by your request we will contact you to discuss the options.