Dealing with vexatious requests (section 14)

About this detailed guidance

This guidance discusses section 14(1) of FOIA, the provision for vexatious requests in detail and is written for use by public authorities. Read it if you have questions not answered in the Guide, or if you need a deeper understanding to help you apply section 14(1) in practice.

In detail

• What does section 14(1) of FOIA say?
• What does vexatious mean?
  • Clearly vexatious requests
• What are the four broad themes?
• How do we assess value or serious purpose?
  • Factors which may reduce the value or serious purpose
• How do we consider burden, motive and harassment?
  • Burden   
  • Number of requests
  • Pattern of requests
  • Duration
  • Breadth
  • Motive
  • Harassment or distress (to your staff)
• Does the value and purpose of the request justify its impact?
  • Context and history
• How do we deal with a single burdensome request?
  • Requests where collating the requested information will impose a significant burden
  • Requests which would impose a grossly oppressive burden but are not covered by the section 12 cost limits
  • Advice and assistance
• Are round robin requests vexatious?
• Are random and speculative requests vexatious?
• Can a request for published information be vexatious?
• Are requests made as part of a campaign vexatious?
• What actions are recommended before making a final decision?
• Are there alternative approaches?
  • Allow the requester an opportunity to change their behaviour
  • Refer the requester to the ICO’s ‘Your Data Matters' webpages
  • How to handle unclear requests
• What do we do once we’ve decided to refuse a request under section 14?
• Section 17(6) and refusal notices
• What will the ICO expect from an authority?
  • Gathering evidence
  • The cut off point for evidence that a request is vexatious
  • How does the ICO handle complaints?
• Further Reading
• Annex of example tribunal decisions
  • Burden - pattern of request making
  • Lack of value and purpose of the request (reopening issues that have been resolved) and motive
  • Lack of value and purpose of the request (reopening issues that have been conclusively resolved)
  • Harassment of member of staff (due to volume of requests)
  • Burden and harassment of staff
  • Value and purpose justifies the burden
  • Burden when seen in context of previous requests
  • Not vexatious when viewed in context