Freedom of Information charges
Free information
Information on our website is free to view and copy.
Most Freedom of Information (FOI) and Environmental Information requests (EIR) are free.
You will not usually be charged unless there are significant printing or postage costs.
Printing and postage charges
We may charge if we need to print or post information to you.
If costs go above £10, we may ask you to pay before we process your request.
Typical charges include:
- A4 black & white: 10p (single), 20p (double-sided)
- A3 black & white: 20p (single), 40p (double-sided)
- A4 colour: £1.00 (single), £2.00 (double-sided)
- A3 colour: £1.50 (single), £3.00 (double-sided)
- Postage, packaging, photos, maps and plans are charged at cost
We will always tell you the cost first. You can then choose to continue or withdraw your request.
Time spent charges
Freedom of Information (FOI) requests
We may refuse or charge for a request if it takes more than 18 hours (2.5 days) to complete.
- Time includes finding, retrieving and extracting the information
- If we charge for time, it is £25 per hour
- Example: 18 hours = £450
- These costs are added to any printing or postage costs
We will try to help you narrow your request to reduce time and cost.
We may combine related requests from the same person or group.
Environmental Information requests (EIR)
Under the Environmental Information Regulations, the Council may charge for providing information. We use the same charging rates as for Freedom of Information requests. However, we will not refuse a request based on the time it takes to process. Instead, we consider each request individually and decide whether a charge is appropriate. If a charge applies, it must be paid before we process your request.
