ICO says Met Police FOI compliance has never risen above 75%

Writing in the notice issued last month, the ICO said: "The Commissioner is concerned that, since FOIA came fully into effect in 2005, MPS has never exceeded a compliance rate of 75.9% (achieved in 2015)."

The notice follows a previous enforcement notice issued in May 2024, which concerned the police force's "consistently low compliance rate" of between 60% and 67% in dealing with FOI requests within the statutory time limit in 2023/24.

The MPS complied with the previous notice ahead of the deadline. However, continued monitoring by the Commissioner found that the force failed to show "sustained improvement", with its compliance rate for responding to FOI requests within the time limit remaining below 70%.

The ICO said it had been provided with assurances that the force remains committed to improving its response times, including through exploring technology-driven efficiencies such as semi-automated redaction and AI-assisted FOI tools.

The Commissioner also acknowledged that request volumes have increased and that this has come amid staffing challenges.

However, he raised concerns that the force cannot commit to achieving a 90% compliance rate within a set timeframe, and pointed to more than 100 requests that were overdue as at February 2026.

The notice stated that senior leaders need to take ownership and responsibility for achieving compliance, as it is the responsibility of the force "as an organisation as a whole, including at its highest levels, to ensure that it is meeting its statutory FOI duties".

It added: "The Commissioner considers it unacceptable for the largest UK police force’s compliance with the timeliness obligations of FOIA to be so far removed from the law set by Parliament and his minimum expected standard for compliance."

The enforcement notice requires the MPS to ensure that by 1 October 2026 it has no requests open that are more than 20 working days past the date of receipt, excluding requests subject to a public interest extension under section 17(3) FOIA.

It must also achieve an average “in time” compliance rate of 90% for the three-month period from January to March 2027 and, by 1 October 2027, achieve a minimum monthly compliance rate of 90% for the period April to September 2027.

A spokesperson for the Met said: "The ICO rightly acknowledges the hard work of Met staff for the improvements made so far.

"We take our FOIA obligations seriously and we are investing in new technologies to help reduce the burden on staff and improve performance.

"We are engaging with the ICO to discuss these challenges, against the backdrop of tough choices we have made to plug a £260million funding gap, while protecting frontline policing and keeping communities safe."

Adam Carey