ICO Service Standards

Service Standards

December 2008

Written complaints and enquiries - how we deal with them

How long it takes us to deal with your case will depend on whether we are able to accept your complaint or enquiry and how complex it is. We have produced the attached guide to help explain the different types of cases we deal with and how we progress them.

Below is information about how long it currently takes us to deal with ALL the complaints we receive under the legislation we regulate.

Written complaints about DP and PECR

Type of complaint	% of complaints dealt with within 30 calendar days of receipt (Mostly dealt with by our Case Reception Unit)	% of complaints dealt with within 90 calendar days of receipt	% of complaints dealt with within 180 calendar days of receipt
Data Protection Act or Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations	7	82	95

Written complaints about FoI and EIR

Type of complaint	% of complaints dealt with within 30 calendar days of receipt (Mostly dealt with by our Case Reception Unit)	% of complaints dealt with within 180 calendar days of receipt	% of complaints dealt with within 365 calendar days of receipt
Freedom of Information Act or Environmental Information Regulations	44	71	81

Calls to our helpline

Our helpline advisers aim to provide a helpful and knowledgeable service and in the most cases your enquiry will be dealt with by the first person you speak to.

Where this is not possible we may need to transfer your call to someone better placed to help you. If we need to call you back we will aim to do so the same business day or at a time more convenient to you.

	Average number of seconds
Average waiting time before speaking to a helpline adviser	60

Requests regarding notification under the Data Protection Act

Type of request	Turnaround time in working days
For a new notification	10-14
To renew a notification	4-7
To change or alter a notification	4-7

Complaints about our service

If you are unhappy with any aspect of the service we have provided, please see our case review and service complaints policy. This is available from our website, or you can ask our Helpline to send you a copy on 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 545 745 if you prefer to call a national rate number.

Explaining the different complaints and enquiries we deal with

We are able to deal with a great many of the complaints and enquiries we receive quickly. However, for a variety of reasons, some cases take longer.

Complaints and enquiries under the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations (EIRs).

Cases we can deal with quickly

These include:

most enquiries about the application of the FoIA or EIRs;
complaints where we need more information from you;
complaints about a public authority failing to respond to your request for information on time or in an appropriate fashion; and
complaints that fall outside the Information Commissioner's remit and we are not required to investigate.

Cases of this nature are dealt with by our Case Reception Unit. Our aim is to deal with these cases within 30 calendar days of receipt. The percentage of all the cases we complete which are dealt with in this way is shown in column 1 of the FoI and EIR complaints table. This information is updated on the first day of every month.

Non-complex cases or cases where a precedent exists

If your case is accepted but cannot be dealt with by our Case Reception Unit we will write to you to confirm this and your case will be passed to one of our FoI casework teams. We will then consider whether the issues in your case can be dealt with using previous case law or precedent.

We expect cases of this nature to be dealt with in between 30 and 180 calendar days of receipt. Most of these cases are represented in column 2 of the FoI and EIR complaints table.

Complex cases

If your case raises issues for which there is no previous case law or precedent, it will be placed in a queue to be allocated to a caseworker.

Regrettably, the number of cases in this queue is unacceptably high at the moment. We are doing all that we can with the resources available to reduce the number of cases in this queue and therefore reduce the length of time we take to deal with each case and reach a decision.

The average wait time for one of these cases to be allocated to a caseworker is currently over 180 calendar days from the date we receive it. These cases represent approximately 20% of the complaints we receive. If your case falls into this category our FoI Casework Team will write to you to explain this and will keep you updated. Most of these cases are represented in column 3 of the FoI and EIR complaints table.

Complaints and enquiries under the Data Protection Act (DPA) and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECRs).

Cases we can deal with quickly

These include:

most enquiries about the application of the DPA and PECRs;
cases where we need more information from you;
cases where an assessment can be made relatively quickly and we do not feel the matters raised require further consideration or investigation by the ICO in line with our corporate aims and priorities; and
cases that fall outside the Information Commissioner's remit and we are not required to investigate.

Cases of this nature are dealt with by our Case Reception Unit. Our aim is to deal with these cases within 30 calendar days of receipt. The percentage of all the cases we complete which are dealt with in this way is shown in column 1 of the DP and PECR complaints table. This information is updated on the first day of every month.

Complex cases

If your case cannot be dealt with by our Case Reception Unit it will be placed in a queue to be allocated to a caseworker. Cases of this nature usually take between 30 and 180 days to deal with and are therefore represented in columns 2 and 3 of the DP and PECR complaints table.

ICO Service standards December 2008