DWP Central Freedom of
Information Team
Caxton House
6-12 Tothill Street
London
SW1H 9NA
M Downing
freedom-of-information-
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
xxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
DWP Website
Our Ref: FOI2023/41299
16 June 2023
Dear M Downing,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FoI) request received on 27 May. You wrote:
“Thank you for your reply.
Could I please restrict the request to complaints made in February 2023?
[I am requesting the following recorded information about metrics measuring DWP
responses to complaints made to Universal Credit:
1. Proportion of complaints for which a final response is made.
2. Proportion of complaints which are acknowledged.
3. Proportion of complaints which are responded to within 15 working days.
4. Average time taken to make a response to complaints for which a final response is
made.]”
DWP Response
We can confirm that we hold some information falling within the description specified in your
request. However, we have estimated that the cost of meeting your request would exceed the
cost limit of £600 specified in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate
Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. This represents the estimated cost of one person
spending at least 3½ working days (equivalent to 24 staff-hours) in determining whether the
Department holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting it.
Under Section 12(1) of the FoI Act the Department is not therefore obliged to comply with
your request and we will not be processing it further.
It may be helpful to know in relation to acknowledgements, the DWP complaints recording
system allows colleagues to capture when an acknowledgement has been issued to a
customer complaint. However, there is no specific requirement to populate this field on every
case. Therefore, we would need to look at each individual case to determine if an
acknowledgement had been sent.
This also applies to average timescales. Our aim is to contact a customer within 15 working
days to tell them of the outcome of their complaint or when they can expect a response if it
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will take longer. We do not calculate average timescales or how long it takes the Department
to respond.
Under Section 16 of the FoI Act we should help you narrow your request so that it may fall
beneath the cost limit.
We feel that if you narrow your request to closed complaints in February 2023, for questions
1 and 3 only, we will be able to provide a response.
We will consider afresh any revised request however we cannot guarantee that any revised
request will fall within the cost limit as each FoI request is judged on its own merits.
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact us quoting the reference number
above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central Freedom of Information Team
Department for Work and Pensions
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Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act
If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx or by writing to: DWP Central FoI Team, Caxton
House, 6-12 Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NA.
Any request for an internal review must be received by us within 40 working days of the date
of this letter. Please note we are not obliged to provide a review if it is requested after more
than 40 working days.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you may apply directly to the
Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally, the Commissioner cannot make
a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Website
: ICO FOI and EIR complaints or telephone 0303 123 1113
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