FOI Fest Keynote 1: Warren Seddon, ICO
FOI Fest was a one-day conference that took place in London on 19th February, 2026. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be putting each session out as a separate podcast.
In this keynote, Warren Seddon, Director of FOI and Transparency at the Information Commissioner’s Office , gave a frank assessment of the current challenges of dealing with an unprecedented backlog of requests.
This session can also be watched as a video, on YouTube.
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Transcript:
0:00 [Gavin Freeguard] Welcome to FOI Fest 2026!
0:04 It’s my pleasure to welcome to the stage our morning keynote, that is Warren Seddon from the ICO.
0:09 [Warren] Thank you everyone for having me speak today. First of all, I feel like we start with an apology to Alex, who’s been involved in the organising for today, because I wrote my remarks, and then I looked at his email and I realised he sent me a brief for my remarks that talked about being energising and peppy, and you probably didn’t say peppy, and to get the day off on a footing.
0:32 I am afraid I’m going to build on some of the remarks that John has already touched on in terms of some of the challenges that we face, but I’m hopefully going to pepper it with some solutions as well, and a plea for your engagement, support and help as part of that process.
0:48 I am really excited to be here today, having said that, I’m about to depress you all a little bit. I think it’s a great opportunity for the inaugural — inaugural, that’s the right word, isn’t it? — FOI Fest.
0:59 It’s a really good opportunity to bring everybody together to celebrate the legislation, which we probably don’t do enough of it, is really important, as John said, and it’s a great opportunity for us, as we care about FOI, to come together and talk about it and think about how it can be improved, having touched on the solutions we’re looking for in the future.
1:23 I did just want to reflect a little bit on kind of the journey we’ve been on from a regulatory perspective, kind of to the start of this year.
1:33 In ’22-’23 we have that covid backlog that John mentioned, and we knew that we needed to address that. It was taking us nine months to even allocate cases before we got to them, and we knew that wasn’t good enough, but we did want to do something beyond just addressing a backlog.
1:50 We wanted to fundamentally change how we delivered the service, and we did that with basically no help from technology. All at that stage, our caseworker productivity went up by 37% per caseworker, and we embedded that.
2:03 It wasn’t just about dealing with the covid backlog, and that made a real difference in the service that we’ve been able to offer people. Over the last couple of years, we’ve been closing more than 95%of our cases in less than six months, and that’s the best performance the ICO has ever delivered in the history of the legislation.
2:22 Still not perfect, we know. We know that we wanted to get it better, but it was a real improvement on where we before: we went from delivering under 1,500 statute decision notices each year to over 2,000; we started doing more enforcement notices and practice recommendations to tackle backlogs and the systemic issues we were seeing, and that was one of my personal objectives when I came into this role.
2:45 I started my career in FOI 20 years ago in central government, and that was one of the things that I always thought could add benefit to the system to do that kind of work. And I’m really proud of the team for achieving it, alongside dealing with those kind of individual casework issues that we’ve started doing so well.
3:05 So I want you to understand from that context that I am as disappointed as everyone else in this room, reflecting on what John was just saying about the challenges that we’re facing at the moment, coming into this year.
3:20 So by year, I’m talking about financial year. So April 2025 we knew it was always going to be really difficult. We’d had a recruitment freeze in the ICO, got flat cash settlement for one year from the government, which meant that we basically, we were almost 10% down in our casework team coming into this year.
3:39 And although we delivered really good performance over the last few years, what you see in FOI up until this year had been basically a 20 to 25% increase in the number of cases that we received, the number of complaints that we received over a five year period, and we’d basically been absorbing that alongside delivering the increased productivity that we’ve achieved.
4:01 So we knew this year was going to be a bit of a tipping point anyway, and the performance was likely to start struggling as a result.
4:09 What we didn’t quite anticipate and was was genuinely unexpected coming into the start of this year was what we saw with our intake. So in quarter one, April through to June, our intake rose by 15% in that quarter.
4:23 That was a big jump for us, and it basically was going straight into the caseload. Because we were at that tipping point, we couldn’t absorb those cases quickly enough.
4:32 And in the second quarter, it was 38% higher. In the third quarter, it was 61% higher. So October to December in the last in this financial year was 61% higher than the year before. In January, we just received our first ever month of more than 1000 complaints in a single month.
4:50 And again, for context, that’s half of what we received in the full quarter of the equivalent last financial year. We can’t absorb that with the workforce we’ve got at the moment.
5:02 So what that means in practice is we’re on track, as John’s mentioned, to get over 10,000 complaints this year. Last year, we got just over seven and a half thousand in a year. We’re going to receive above what we would normally expect to receive in five to 10 years, in percentage terms, in total volume terms, we’re receiving a bigger increase this year than we received between 2010 and 2020.
5:25 So just to give you a sense of the scale of the challenge that we’re facing: of covid, at the peak of our caseload is around 22,200.
5:35 Right now, as of this morning, it’s over three and a half thousand, and we’re up to seven months for allocating cases. Again, there is some positive news. So the prioritisation process that we put in place is still making a difference, still taking us longer than we’d like, so it’s taken us six to eight weeks to allocate those cases, compared to the less than four that we had aimed for when we set out the scheme.
6:00 But that’s still obviously significantly better than what we’re seeing across the caseload as a whole. One thing I do want to mention in this context as well is that actually we’re talking about FOI today. This isn’t actually an FOI thing.
6:14 Our data protection team are experiencing exactly the same thing. They were up 100% in quarter three last year, so they got 10,000 complaints in quarter three a year ago. They got 20,000 in quarter three this year. So we’re seeing on the data protection side as well.
6:28 Martin Rosenbaum is in the room. Some of you will follow his blog assiduously, I’m sure, on SubStack, and he did a piece of work recently, we’ve showed that actually this is a complaints thing. It’s not about FOI, it’s not about DP, it’s the whole system that’s dealing with complaints is seeing these types of increases within it.
6:46 So it’s not a matter of just funding goes problem solved. There’s something systemic going on here, and I think today is a good opportunity, and I’ll come back to this for us to talk about that a little bit and think about, well actually, in the FOI context, what are the ideas that will help the system deal with it in a world where doesn’t feel like there’s a huge amount of solution when it comes to public finances, particularly when you think of the scale of a problem across multiple sectors in terms of drivers.
7:15 David might touch on this a little bit later as well, and he’s far more expert in it than I, but it does feel like AI is part of it. I don’t think it’s just that the FOI system started falling over by itself in April. I think that AI is helping people to make requests, and we know that the front end of the system is under pressure as well.
7:35 It’s helping people to make complaints. We’re starting to see that in some kind of generic type of complaints that we get, and it’s worth noting that with that comes complexity as well, because they tend to be longer, they tend to be more detailed. They do tend to make things up.
7:48 Sometimes it’s just more information for people across the system to try and absorb, to understand what people actually want.
7:56 And I guess one plea from me thinking that a lot of you make requests, a lot of you help other people, but make requests as well. It’s not to be a downer on AI as a tool that can be really helpful, but think about how it’s being used.
8:09 Think about what you actually want. Think about what the people you’re supporting actually want, and try and get them to focus on that, because that’s the only way the system is going to sustain itself and to actually help people in the way that it’s designed to, and I’m sure that’s a theme we might come back to over the course of today.
8:27 As John mentioned, we do have some extra funding from government in this financial year. We’re using that experiment with tech. We’ve got some temps in as well, who are helping us a little bit with some of that volumes.
8:40 We’re looking, for instance, at Copilot licenses, which we’ve got across the team. We’re thinking about how we can use that to aid research when we get novel issues that come up from different policy areas where caseworkers might not be as experienced with thinking about how it can help with drafting and other templates that we can develop.
8:56 We’re exploring with other departments or the public bodies, how they’re using technology, and are there tools that they’ve developed, but we can basically pinch and see how they will work in our system.
9:07 And we’re not going to keep that just to ourselves, so as and when we’re identifying ways, but we think the system could be helped more generally, we’ll be sharing that. So again, through our upstream work, we’ll try and highlight where we think are helpful ways that technology can help organisations deal with the increase in volume that we’re seeing.
9:26 I appreciate that’s all depressing, but I did just want to be clear today, in a day that’s about celebration, but also actually is about thinking about the future of FOI to contextualise what we’re seeing in the system, because there’s a lot of challenges in there, and I guess with those challenges will come opportunities, but also some risks, and I’ll come back to that in a moment.
9:51 But the other thing that I did just want to touch on, I’m conscious that I run the risk of sounding like the start of a cheesy Instagram reel when I say this, that one of the things that will come with this pressure is frustration.
10:05 And one thing that I would say to everybody in this room that’s making requests, that’s helping others to make requests, is, don’t forget to be kind, to be respectful. The people that are working in the system, my team, as I’ve mentioned, well, they’re doing a huge amount more work than they were doing five years ago.
10:19 It is not their fault that this volume has come into the system. And some of the abuse and treatments that people receive in dealing with those complaints is unacceptable. Our staff survey tells us that people are experiencing bullying and it’s coming from outside the organisation a lot of the time.
10:37 I just want to be really clear, and it’s one of the things we’re going to be doing more of visibly externally. I think that that’s unacceptable, and we’ve got a code of conduct for complainants as well as for our staff, and we’ll be applying that, and we’ll just be kicking complaints out, to be honest, if people don’t treat staff with respect.
10:55 So I did just want to take the opportunity today to highlight that as well, because I think it’s really important, but it doesn’t mean we don’t understand that people are frustrated when there’s really important information that they want to get hold of, and that they don’t think it’s acceptable to wait seven months for a case even to be allocated.
11:11 As I’ve said, I don’t disagree with that, but it is the problem with dealing with in the system at the moment, and it still means that people need to be treated well as part of the process moving on from that, though, I did just want to touch on the themes about what we can do to tackle some of these issues.
11:31 And this is where I think today is a really exciting opportunity. This is where I’m happy eyes, and we can get some energy in the room and just get the kind of creativity flowing.
11:42 But I think is is really needed, because I do think there are risks when we see this amount of volume coming into the system, when we know public finances are stretches as kind of tightly as they are, when we know, but it’s not just an FOI thing. It’s happening across multiple sectors.
11:58 You know, policymakers will start thinking about what the potential options are. There are some interesting and potentially quite exciting developments in that space. Gavin touched on at the start the white paper that made the commitment to extend FOI.
12:13 We’d really welcome that — sounds a bit mad, considering what I’ve just said about the amount of intake that we’re seeing, but we think that would be a positive thing.
12:20 We laid a report before Parliament on it, and I think 2019 which called for it, there’s been lots of activity in that space in Scotland that hasn’t happened across the rest of the UK. And I think if government is going to do that, it’s a really positive step in the right direction.
12:35 We’ve said to them that we stand ready to engage with them in that process, and would really welcome the opportunity to feed into it. We’ve not heard what the next steps are on that, but we stand ready to to help it.
12:49 The covid inquiry, which we called on to look at record keeping as part of its terms of reference and and did do and covered quite helpfully in its report. I think some of the similar issues that that we identified in behind the screens has made recommendations around what needs to be done to make sure that things like codes of conduct, that things like codes of practice, that the guidance internally keeps pace with the technological changes it’s happening so that there’s the right types of rules in place for public servants, elected politicians to make sure proper records are being kept, decisions are being recorded.
13:25 So I think there’s some really positive discussion in the system at the moment. There’s also the work of the Independent Commission on FOI from 10 years ago that made some really positive recommendations, one of those, which would help in terms of the volumes of the system.
13:40 Won’t surprise Maurice and others to hear me say this, but the abolition of the first tier two tribunal double regulation doesn’t exist in other jurisdictions. You can retain points of law to the upper tribunal, but it would take some of the volume and pressure out of the system and allow us to focus, for instance, on getting through cases more quickly. I think that would be a positive development.
13:59 I appreciate that others have potentially different views on that, but I think it’s a discussion that it’s worth us having over the coming months. As these ideas potentially come to the table, there’s also things in there that I think would help increase improve the system as a whole.
14:14 And then again, we’re actively looking to explore so the funding we’ve got from central government, we’re exploring how we can use that to pretty quickly set up an external monitoring system looking at what the kind of statistics are for performance outside of central government bodies, which is an area that we’ve we’ve always kind of struggled in.
14:32 We’re hopeful we’ll be able to get something set up as a proof of concept. But watch that space. Watch this space in that area, because again, we’ll be doing some kind of promotion and outreach in relation to that in the coming months.
14:45 If we’re able to get something done within this financial year, it’s important we do it in this financial year at the moment, because we just don’t know what the funding picture is yet for the next three years, which is when the next CSR is for we bid for growth.
14:58 I’ve got to say the mood music, for what it’s worth, isn’t particularly positive, but we get the extra resources we’ve said that we need. And it’s mid February. We don’t know what budget is going to be for April yet, but again, I think the voices of the people in this room to help raise the profile of the importance of FOI, to use opportunities like this to share insight and ideas and think about how you can make clear that it’s really important.
15:26 The system works as efficiently, as effectively as it can. It’s obviously played a key role in work. I know some people in this room will have been involved in from the Post Office and infected blood scandals through to covid and all the various issues related to that.
15:39 FOI is really important, and the information that comes out from FOI is really important, and it helps journalists, citizens and others to challenge and put pressure on where it’s needed to make sure that things are done properly.
15:55 So think about that, please, whether, when we’re discussing today about how we can kind of challenge the system to be able to operate as effectively as possible. We’ve got some really exciting sessions today, which I’m hoping we’ll get the opportunity to touch on some of these ideas. I also think we need to think about what the risks are.
16:16 You know, we have seen in other countries that there’s been talk about fees. Australia is somewhere that happened recently. From a personal perspective, I’m not sure that that would be the answer, but you can see how, with the pressure in the system, it’s the type of thing that might be put onto the table.
16:33 What’s the response of the people in this room to that? And if that’s not the answer, what are the answers that we think are the right ones that would help the system work as effectively as possible?
16:43 So I’m going to leave it there. I think for now, hopefully there’s some really interesting and exciting discussion to come.
16:53 We’ve got a Q & A now, so I look forward to kind of expanding on this a little bit more and hopefully hearing some of those early ideas. But yeah, my challenge for today is to be creative, to be energised, to ignore some of the depressing stuff I’ve said, and keep the energy up through the day.
17:09 But do keep that at the back of your mind, because the challenges in the system are pretty fundamental, and from what we can tell, they’re not going away. And I do think we need to have that in mind when we’re thinking about how the system could be improved over the coming years.
17:23 So thank you very much, and I’ll hand over to Gavin now.
17:26 [Gavin] Thank you very much indeed, Warren. But we do have a few minutes for questions.
17:30 [Louise Crow] Thank you so much for that, Warren. I guess a question on the increasing volume in complaints, are you also seeing qualitative differences in what they are, or is it just volume and it is very much the same that you’ve previously been getting?
17:45 [Warren] Yeah, I mean, to a certain extent, kind of, as I’ve indicated, the honest answer is, we’ve not got to them yet, most of them, just because the kind of scale of increase has been so rapid.
17:55 But you know that that 61% extra that came in October to December, we’ve not really opened the emails relevant to logging on the system. We have done some dip sampling, and you can see that there are, I would say, some generic approaches to how the complaint has been framed, but it’s a lot longer than they used to be, but probably show some quite clear traits of generative AI drafting.
18:20 We have heard from people on the front line as well that they’re getting particularly internal review stage, really lengthy arguments back citing cases and legal positions that actually are irrelevant when you look at them, but you have to look at them.
18:36 So I think that you’re getting added complexity in addition to just volume, what I can’t point to is the research and evidence that really tells that story at the moment, because I think it’s just happened too rapidly at this stage.
18:48 [Audience member] Thanks.
18:49 Do you know, are you able to drill down into the data in terms of the case load and say how many of those are section 10 breaches? Has there been an increase in Section 10 breaches which is higher than the increase?
19:03 [Warren] I don’t do case work, just to set everyone’s minds at rest, most of the time, but section 10 is about breaching the time limit for compliance. So that’s more straightforward for us to deal with. So we do try and pull those out of the queue as well, to put people’s minds at rest, where we can see that it’s not always easy to see, particularly as complaints get longer, because what we’re seeing some of the examples I’ve mentioned are a section 10 breach case.
19:29 There’s a load of extra stuff that they’re talking about that seems to be about the information, but at the stage they’re at, actually it’s just a section 10 case.
19:37 But what we’re seeing through case mix, actually, at the moment, there’s not massive differences now again, because we’ve not got to a lot of them yet. And when things are logged in the first instance, they don’t capture all the new ones. They just capture what they think the key theme is from an initial look at it, and to do the prioritisation elements of it about what type of issue is it about .
20:01 We don’t have the data on it yet, but I would say is robust and accurate. What we are seeing in terms of case mix for sectors, interestingly, is when it is still pretty spread.
20:11 So we’re still about 40% local government, we’re still about 20 to 25% central government, we’re still about 10% health and justice. So the spread of cases feels pretty consistent.
20:23 I was just wondering if all these sections have breaches in terms of percentage of the overall caseload could be brought down if the ICO were just a little bit stricter in terms of enforcing that pass is legal breach, and there seems to be a lot of public authorities that have no fear of the ICO taking any action against them, and I wondered if that could alleviate some of the case pressure that you’re dealing with right now, and you did historically.
20:49 So part of the changes that we made three four years ago was to become stricter on that so we don’t engage in multiple correspondent usually, public authorities. Now we move to decision notices kind of as quickly as possible once we’ve made the initial contact with them, if it is just a clear section 10 breach.
21:08 So there is a lot less of that than there used to be, and also we’ve been doing the work through more enforcement notice and practice recommendations to really hone in on organisations that we can see as struggling, that aren’t performing effectively, but are consistently breaking the law to try and tackle that systemically as well.
21:25 And that, you know, the feedback we’ve had from organisations on that is actually about that is helpful for them and the FOI teams, it does put senior focus on the situation. It does mean they may have a better opportunity to have investment discussions in the organisation to make sure FOI teams are properly staffed.
21:39 So I think that bit of a system is something that we are aware of, and we’ve done a lot more work on I don’t think it’s driving the volumes that we’re seeing. I don’t think proportionately, it’s just seeing more of that type of case.
21:50 But like I say, I don’t want to make too many commitments around data, because I don’t think we’ve got the data yet, but certainly not our impression.
21:57 [Gavin] Great. Thank you. One final question from online, because we’ve got some great online questions coming in, and I’m sure we’ll get to a lot of these through the day. The Scottish FOI regime is often cited as more progressive, particularly regarding the scope of bodies covered. What can we learn from it?
22:16 [Warren] So it is, I think I mentioned it. You know, there is work to do, I think, in the rest of the UK, to catch up with the scope of the regime in Scotland. And I’m hoping that that commitment in the white paper from 2024 is one of the ways that we’ll do that.
22:32 And certainly there’s opportunities to learn from David and his colleagues about then how we can support those sectors as they come in. One thing I would say, and not to steal any of David’s thunder later on, is that actually, when the Act has been expanded, my understanding is that actually the burden of it actually isn’t, isn’t really significant, but organisations are able to manage but performance levels have stayed pretty high in most sectors.
22:58 But the Act has been expanded to in part because of the way that David’s office and his predecessors office have helped support those sectors they come in. So it’s something that feels eminently doable, and I’d like us to learn do.