Rulebook · Time limit
Response to a freedom of information request
A public body such as the council must say whether it holds the information and, unless an exemption applies, provide it. This covers policies, criteria and statistics, not personal information. Working days leave out bank holidays in any part of the UK.
- How it is counted
- Promptly, and no later than the 20th working day after the day the request was received: not counting that day, weekends, Christmas Day, Good Friday or bank holidays anywhere in the UK.
- Whose date it is
- The organisation that received the request
- What starts it
- A freedom of information request was received
- Type of rule
- Law (Act or Regulations)
- Rule id
foi_response- Rules version
- england-2026.10
- Law as at
- 30 September 2026
Sources
- Freedom of Information Act 2000, s 10Law (Act or Regulations), to verifyStill to confirm against the text of s 10(6): that a working day excludes Christmas Day, Good Friday and bank holidays under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 in any part of the UK. Plenda adds the Scottish (2 January, first Monday in August, St Andrew's Day) and Northern Irish (17 March, 12 July) days, with substitute days as gov.uk lists them.
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