A watchdog that cannot keep up risks turning a legal right into a theoretical one
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has acknowledged that complaints may now take around 40 weeks simply to be assigned to a case officer. When added to the statutory process — 20 working days for a response and up to 40 working days for an internal review — the practical reality is stark:
A requester may now wait close to a year before the regulator even begins examining a complaint.
Yet the ICO’s own Performance and Impact Report Q1 2025/26 recorded allocation delays rising from 9 weeks to 16 weeks during 2024/25, warning that the situation would “continue to worsen”. It appears that warning has already been overtaken by events; allocation times now appear to be around 40 weeks, suggesting the deterioration may be accelerating.
If the trajectory continues, delays could exceed one year by the end of 2026.
That raises a simple question:
- How did a problem that was being monitored reach this point — and does the situation now warrant wider examination?