DWP Central Freedom of Information Team
Caxton House
6-12 Tothill Street
London
SW1H 9NA
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
Emily Silcock
request-1071476-
DWP Website
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Our Ref: FOI2024/03120
7 February 2024
Dear Emily Silcock,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FoI) request received on 14 January. You wrote:
“I would like to request the number of applications made for Universal Credit, at a daily
level, for each day 2013-2023 (inclusive), only including those applications that were
made in England.
To be clear, I would like the total number for each day separately, so a sample dataset
could have every date in 2013-2022 in the first column and the applications in the second
column. The date should be the date that the initial application was made, not the date of
the decision - and I would like all applications, whether or not they were successful.”
DWP Response
We can confirm that we hold 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. The reason being the time to produce
additional breakdowns for England exceed the cost limit. For information, the only geography
readily available for applications is postcode area but, as these do not align with country
borders, we are unable to breakdown statistics on applications to just England within the cost
limit.
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 you should narrow your request to ask for the number of
applications made for Universal Credit in Great Britain, at a daily level, for each day from 19
April 2013 to 31 December 2019. Please note we have already supplied the daily figures for
2020 to 2022 in our response to FOI2023/92348.
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.
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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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