The Financial Ombudsman Service has been rapped by The Information Commissioner’s Office over continued failings to meet its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The ICO said the Ombudsman Service has shown significant inconsistency in Freedom of Information (FOI) request response times.

It said that in 2022/23 only 65% of requests were responded to within the statutory timeframe.

Matters temporarily improved in 2023/24 but the number of requests responded to within the statutory time limits has been continually dropping since August 2023, reaching 23% in November 2023, the ICO said.

The FOS told the ICO of the challenges it was facing in relation to its level of performance, particularly in terms of its dropping response times to FOIA requests.

But after talking with FOS executives about the underlying reasons for the failings, the Commissioner decided that the FOS’ request handling practices do not conform to Part 4 of the section 45 Freedom of Information Code of Practice, issued by the Cabinet Office in July 2018 (the Code).

It has given the Financial Ombudsman Service until 31 May to confirm it has complied with its practice recommendations and how this has been achieved. Failure to comply could result in an enforcement notice.

The Information Commissioner John Edwards has written an open letter to public organisations to remind them that transparency is essential and resources must be dedicated to information access.

He wrote: "Transparency is fundamental to our democracy. Information delayed is information denied, and people have the legal right to promptly receive information they're entitled to.

“The Commissioner has been clear that public sector leaders should take transparency seriously. Where organisations fail to do this we will take enforcement action so people’s information rights are upheld.”

The ICO has taken action against four other public authorities at the same time.

Sussex Police and South Yorkshire Police have been issued with enforcement notices for their FOI failings, with the latter’s FOI request response rate being classed as “unacceptable on any level”. The Department of Education and Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office have, like the FOS, been given practice recommendations setting out improvements they can make to better comply with their legal obligations.

The ICO has now issued nine enforcement notices in the last 12 months.