FOI enforcement starved while ministers explore narrowing the Act

Monitored bodies received 94,526 FOI requests in 2025, a record and up 14 per cent, while the ICO's FOI budget fell 41 per cent in real terms over a decade as its caseload rose 46 per cent. FOI enforcement is funded through a sponsoring department rather than Parliament. In March 2026 ministers discussed lowering the section 12 cost ceiling, which makes refusal easier rather than access better. mySociety warns FOI risks sliding into obsolescence. The Act does not cover private contractors delivering public services, and ministerial use of WhatsApp and ephemeral messaging continues to evade records duties. openDemocracy exposed the Cabinet Office Clearing House vetting requests, and the Campaign for FOI and mySociety can campaign without being able to fix funding or scope.

FOI is the corruption-detection infrastructure every other actor depends on: the VIP-lane contracts, the Clearing House and successive lobbying scandals all surfaced through it. A regulator that cannot enforce timeliness, combined with a shrinking cost ceiling, deletes the public's primary audit tool quietly.

Direct parliamentary funding for FOI regulation, or a separately funded FOI arm of the Information Commission. Statutory extension to outsourced public services, an enforceable duty to preserve official communications including ephemeral messaging, and abandonment of the section 12 reductions complete the repair.

// State-led: Instrument: direct parliamentary funding for FOI regulation plus statutory extension to outsourced public services.

Ministers are moving to narrow the Act this year while its regulator's budget falls 41 per cent, and only NGOs currently defend the public's main corruption-detection tool.