How to Use Freedom of Information Requests in Local Campaigns

A local campaign is stronger when it can replace rumours with documents, dates and figures. Freedom of information requests give residents and campaign groups a lawful way to obtain recorded information from public authorities.

Used properly, an FOI request can test a council’s claims, reveal delays and show how public money is being spent. Used badly, it can produce a vague refusal or a pile of paperwork nobody can use. The difference comes down to choosing the right target, asking a precise question and checking the evidence before publishing it.

Key Takeaways

• FOI covers existing recorded information held by councils and other public authorities.
• Narrow requests with clear dates are more likely to receive useful answers.
• Most authorities must respond within 20 working days.
• A refusal can usually be challenged through an internal review and then the ICO.
• Documents become campaign evidence only after careful checking and fair presentation.

What Freedom of Information Can Reveal Locally

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 allows individuals, campaign groups and organisations to request recorded information from public authorities. You don’t need to explain your political views or prove a personal interest in the subject.

Local councils are the most obvious targets. However, requests can also go to police forces, NHS trusts, maintained schools and some publicly owned organisations. The information might include emails, committee minutes, spreadsheets, contracts, maps, photographs, presentations, audio files or reports already held by the authority.

A local campaign could use FOI to examine:

• Council spending on consultants, communications or temporary staff
• Planning delays and correspondence about a major development
• Empty homes, social housing repairs or homelessness placements
• Road safety complaints and traffic enforcement data
• Waste collection performance and missed-bin records
• Council-owned land, leases and procurement decisions
• Meeting records connected to a local policy

The Act covers information held by the authority, not answers that officials would need to create from scratch. Asking, “How many complaints were recorded about missed collections between January and June 2026?” is sensible if the council holds that data. Asking, “Why has the council failed local residents?” asks for an opinion rather than an existing record.

Check the council website first. Agendas, spending disclosures, contracts and performance reports may already be available. The ICO’s guidance on FOI coverage explains which bodies fall within the law.

Individual councillors and MPs aren’t covered in their personal capacity. Election returning officers and electoral registration officers also have specific exemptions, so don’t assume an FOI request will obtain every election-related record. A council may still hold relevant information, such as published spending returns, but check the correct authority before sending your request. Scottish public authorities operate under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Choose a Campaign Question Before You Write

The best requests begin with a campaign question, not a document hunt. What decision needs checking? Which public claim needs testing? What information would help residents understand the issue?

Suppose residents are concerned about a proposed housing scheme. A weak request might ask for “all information about the development”. That wording could cover thousands of records across several years. The council may ask for clarification, refuse it as too broad or say the cost of searching would be excessive.

A stronger request identifies the subject, time period and records:

Please provide electronic copies of correspondence between the planning department and the developer concerning affordable housing provision at the Park Road development, covering 1 January 2025 to 30 June 2025.

You can ask for several related items, but keep each one numbered and precise. Include:

1. The exact subject or project name
2. A sensible date range
3. The department, team or role likely to hold the information
4. The type of record requested
5. Your preferred format, such as electronic PDF copies

A narrow date range reduces the work required and helps the authority locate the material. It also makes the result easier to analyse. If you need a longer history, divide it into separate requests rather than asking for every record from the past decade.

Use the authority’s FOI email address or online form where possible. Addressing the request to the FOI officer avoids delays caused by a general inbox. You must provide your real name, a contact address and a clear description of the information. An email address normally works as the contact address. You don’t have to cite the Freedom of Information Act, although naming it can make your purpose clear.

The guide to making FOI requests offers further practical advice on scope, wording and delivery.

Avoid asking for personal information about residents, complainants or individual council employees. Personal data is commonly protected, and a campaign has no right to expose private details simply because they appear in a council file. Ask for anonymised totals, categories or redacted documents instead.

Submit, Track and Calculate the Deadline

Most FOI requests are free. An authority may charge reasonable costs for postage or photocopying, particularly if you request paper records. Requesting electronic copies usually avoids those charges.

The authority normally has 20 working days to respond. That means weekends and bank holidays don’t count, so the deadline is usually about four calendar weeks. Keep a simple record of the date sent, the authority, the wording used and the expected response date.

Save proof that your request arrived. For an online form, take a screenshot of the confirmation page. For a letter, keep the proof of postage. These records matter if the authority misses the deadline or later disputes receipt.

WhatDoTheyKnow allows campaigners to submit and track requests publicly. It also provides a searchable archive of previous requests and responses. Before writing a new request, search the site for the council and subject. Someone may already have obtained the figures you need, or their wording may help you frame a better question.

Public authorities can refuse requests that would exceed the appropriate cost limit. For most local councils, that limit is £450, based on the estimated time and cost of locating and extracting the information. Central government departments generally use a £600 limit. A broad request is therefore risky, even if the information would be useful.

The authority may ask you to narrow the request before refusing it. Treat that as a chance to improve the wording. Remove unrelated departments, shorten the date range or identify one document type. A smaller answer received promptly is often more useful than a sweeping request that never produces anything.

Challenge Refusals and Missing Answers

A refusal doesn’t always mean the information is permanently out of reach. Read the refusal notice carefully. The authority should explain whether it relied on cost, an exemption, missing information or a failure to describe the request clearly.

Common exemptions cover personal data, national security, commercial interests and health or safety. Some exemptions require a public-interest test. The council should identify the relevant section of the Act and explain how it applies.

If the request is too broad, send a refined version. If you think the authority applied an exemption incorrectly, ask for an internal review. This review should be carried out by the same authority, but by someone who can reassess the original decision. Follow the council’s stated review process and deadline. If no deadline appears, request the review promptly, preferably within two months of the refusal.

Keep the original request, response, attachments and your follow-up correspondence together. Campaign teams should store documents in a shared folder with clear file names, such as Council-planning-emails-Jan-Jun-2026.

If the internal review doesn’t resolve the matter, complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. The ICO can assess whether the authority handled the request lawfully and may require it to reconsider disclosure. There is no fee for an ICO complaint.

An authority’s silence also needs a measured response. Send one reminder after the 20-working-day period, quote the original submission date and ask when the response will arrive. If there is still no reply, request an internal review or contact the ICO, depending on the authority’s procedure.

Don’t promise supporters that every challenge will produce a disclosure. Some exemptions are valid, and a partial response may be lawful. The aim is to test the decision properly, not to turn every refusal into a political accusation.

Turn Documents Into Useful Campaign Evidence

Receiving documents is only the middle of the process. Before publishing anything, read the full response and check what the authority has withheld. Compare the figures with published budgets, committee papers and official performance reports.

Dates matter. A spending figure from one financial year cannot automatically prove what happened in another. Emails may describe an early proposal rather than a final decision. A document can show that officials discussed an option without proving that the council adopted it.

Create a short evidence note for the campaign team. Record the request wording, response date, documents received, key figures and any limitations. Quote the source accurately, keep the original files and distinguish facts from conclusions.

A strong public briefing might state:

• What the council was asked
• What records it released
• The clearest verified finding
• What remains unknown
• The specific action the campaign wants

Give the authority a fair opportunity to correct a genuine factual error before publication. Don’t publish personal details that aren’t relevant. A document dump can damage trust, while a concise explanation helps residents understand why the information matters.

FOI works best alongside other campaign activity. Use the findings in a public meeting, a letter to councillors, a local press briefing or a focused social media post. Supporters can also follow this guide to influencing local policy between elections when deciding how to present the evidence and seek a response.

For people building a local Reform UK campaign, the guide to starting a Reform UK local group provides useful advice on organising supporters around clear local issues. Campaigners can also find the party’s public policy material on the Reform UK website.

Conclusion

Freedom of information requests give local campaigns a direct route to the records behind council decisions. The strongest results come from narrow questions, clear dates, proper tracking and careful reading of the response.

Use FOI to establish what the documents show, not what you hoped they would show. When campaigners publish accurate evidence and connect it to a clear local demand, a routine council record can become a credible case for change.