The Information Commissioner's Office has warned of a growing backlog in FOI complaints as it struggles to deal with "unprecedented" demand.
The ICO currently has an active caseload of 4,476, as of July 2026, up from 1,595 in April 2025.
The data watchdog said it has insufficient resources to tackle the number of FOI complaints after its bid for more funding was rejected at the 2025 Spending Review.
The ICO – which is transforming to become the Information Commission later this year – said FOI complaints have increased at an unprecedented rate of 40% in just one year, rising from 7,639 in 2024-25 to 10,713 in 2025-26. The ICO added that it expects this to go up to more than 12,000 this year.
Responding to an FOI request, the watchdog said historic data suggests that volumes of this kind “were not expected until the early 2040s”.
The ICO said it bid for more resource to recruit more staff at the 2025 Spending Review but this was not successful.
"We continue to engage with government on this issue, but as a result, we currently anticipate allocation and wait times will continue to grow as approximately 400 excess cases a month are being added to our caseload," the ICO said.
The ICO noted that it has received funding to “explore IT solutions that will support more efficient ways of working”.
“Identifying the most effective way of utilising this funding is our focus for the rest of this year, and we are building the business case for this now,” the watchdog said.
The ICO also pointed out that it has delivered significant efficiencies in FOI casework in recent years, noting improvements to processes through transformation work have increased the number of complaints closed per caseworker by almost 40% and the number of statutory decisions issued by almost 60%.
The watchdog said it has also absorbed almost a third more full merit appeals at the First-tier Tribunal, despite an almost static number of permanent caseworkers and lawyers compared with pre-pandemic levels. It said these improvements meant that, up to the end of 2024-25, the ICO had been delivering "record levels" of FOI performance over the previous three years.
The watchdog said it does not currently have a firm timeframe for any backlog recovery.
"We know our current operational performance is not what people expect, however, we have simply not received the resources required to tackle the rapid and unanticipated level of intake we have seen over the last 12 months," the ICO said.
"We will continue highlighting the impact of the funding levels we have been provided to government and parliament whenever we can."
The ICO is currently being led by chief exec Paul Arnold after information commissioner John Edwards quit in June after an investigation found that "his behaviour fell short of the conduct expected from a public official".