Charging for Information

Under the Freedom of Information Act the Council may charge for providing information. 

The charges can include:

• Prescribed Costs, which the Council will incur in determining if the information requested is held, finding it and retrieving it.
• Disbursements, which include the cost of reproduction (paper, toner, etc.), postage, and providing information in a specific format if required.

The regulations give a figure of £25 per hour for the purposes of calculating prescribed costs.  This equates to around 18 hours of staff time.  If the prescribed costs are less than £450, information is provided free of charge.  If, however, prescribed costs exceed £450, the Council is not obliged to provide the information.

In most cases the fee which the Council will be able to charge will relate to disbursements only.

If you refuse to pay the fee stated by the Council, we do not have to make the information you have requested available.

Environmental Information

The council is entitled to charge "a reasonable amount" for making environmental information available.  The Council will normally seek to recover the disbursement cost of providing environmental information. However, where the information is subject to a statutory charging regime, those charges will be applied.

Charges for Information

Copying charges for providing information under both the Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations are as follows:

A charge may be associated with the production of large scale maps.