Sheffield Council's Freedom of Information request backlog almost doubled during Covid-19

Prior to Covid-19 anyone could submit a request for recorded information from public bodies such as councils, and by law they would have to respond within 20 working days.

But the pandemic disrupted operations across public authorities, causing many to put a temporary suspension on handling Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and redeploy staff to other teams.

Sheffield Council began reinstating its service in July and dealing with the build up of requests but is still warning of delays.

An FOI request submitted by The Star revealed the details of this backlog and how FOI in the time of Covid-19 compares to previous years.

As of September 1 there were 309 open requests at the council. This is more than double since the start of March, before the pandemic hit, when the figure was 132.

As a result, between March 1 and September 1, only 43.4 percent of the 640 FOI requests recieved were responded to within 20 working days and 220 have still not been responded to.

This is a significant drop compared to 2018 and 2019 when there were nearly double the requests and around 97 percent were responded to within the legal time frame.

FOI officers said: "We are responding to the majority of new requests received, while simultaneously working to respond to the backlog of requests.

"We are aiming to respond within legal timescales wherever possible, although we anticipate that there will still be some delays due to the reduction in resources across the council caused by the pandemic.

"We would like to reassure requesters that all requests will be dealt with but we kindly ask for their patience as this may take slightly longer than normal in some cases."

For more information on how to submit requests to the council, visit: https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/home/your-city-council/freedom-of-information-request

Thank you to all who support local journalism with a digital or print subscription to The Star. The events of 2020 mean trusted, local journalism is more reliant than ever on your support. We couldn't do it without you. Subscribe here www.thestar.co.uk/subscriptions so we can keep campaigning on your behalf. Stay safe.