Fees for Freedom of Information Requests

Central Government announced in Mid December (2005) the fees which can be charged for a request under the Freedom of Information Act. All fees except for disbursement charges have been set by The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (appropriate limit and fees) Regulations 2004.

We cannot charge for any request which costs us less than £450. If your request costs more than £450 then our FOI Champions will endeavour to re clarify your question so it can be answered under the £450 threshold. If above £450, the request may carry a charge and this will be at the Council's discretion.

South Cambridgeshire District Council Charging Scheme

Staff time

In terms of answering the requests, the time which is chargeable is to find, sort, edit or redact (blank out) information. It does not cover the time taken to consider whether an exemption applies and to apply the Public Interest Test.

For each hour which is spent answering a request there will be a charge of £25 as set by Central Government (this is the standard rate for Officer time). If a request takes more than 18 hours then the request cannot be completed. Under 18 hours, the request will be free of charge.

Consultative or Campaign Requests

These are two or more requests, which must be on the same or a similar subject made by one person or different persons in concert or in pursuance of a campaign.

When calculating whether the Appropriate Limit has be reached in complying with any one request, we will aggregate the cost of complying with all requests. However this must be two or more requests that relate to same or similar information and are received within any sixty consecutive working day period.

Guidance from the DCA regarding consultative or campaign requests (This link will open in a new window)

Disbursements

The full cost of printing, photocopying and posting will be charged to you, however if you request the information in an electronic format and the requested information is sent by email this will carry no disbursement charge.

Postal charge

Posting Charge - Optional charge depending on weight. Royal Mail Charges (This link will open in a new window)

Standard charges for printing and photocopying

Fee structure for various formats of information provision
Method of production	Format	Size	Charge
Photocopying	Black and White	A3	15p per sheet
Photocopying	Black and White	A4	10p per sheet
Photocopying	Colour	A3	60p per sheet
Photocopying	Colour	A4	50p per sheet
Printing	Black and White	A3	15p per sheet
Printing	Black and White	A4	10p per sheet
Printing	Colour	A3	60p per sheet
Printing	Colour	A4	50p per sheet
CD burning	Digital	Standard	30p per CD
Printing from Microfiche/Microfilm	Black and White	A4	10p per frame
Conversion to digital format	Digital	variable	Incurred costs
Conversion to microfiche or microfilm	Monochrome	Microfiche	Incurred costs

Copies of some official publications are available on payment of a fixed charge or fee. For example, some publications held by Development Services fall into this category. A list of such publications and charges will be published in due course. In the meantime, please contact the relevant service provider within the Council for details of any such charges.
Where the Council sets non-standard charges or fees (as opposed to charges set by statute), it will do so only where it can demonstrate that there is good reason for it to do so, and in considering whether any such reason exists, it will:

take due regard of government guidance; and
disregard any costs, including staff costs, associated with the maintenance of the information in question or its identification or extraction from storage; and
disregard any factors beyond the number and size of sheets to be copied.

Access to unpublished information under Freedom of Information Act, Environmental Information Regulations & Data Protection Act

Any printing or copying charges associated with access requests for unpublished information under the above legislation shall be charged in accordance with that legislation and official government guidance. Please refer to the Council's Freedom of Information Policy & Procedure Guide.