The Freedom of Information Act (FOI) 2000 entitles anybody to ask a public authority in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including Government departments, for any recorded information that they keep.
This is in addition to individuals' rights of access to information about themselves under the Data Protection Act 2018. If you are seeking personal information about yourself, you can find out how to exercise this right by checking our data protection page.
The general right of access under the Freedom of Information Act is subject to some exemptions and the act places a number of obligations on local authorities.
Your request will be dealt with under FOI Act or the access rights applicable under other legislation, such as the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. The Environmental Information Regulations give statutory access to environmental information held by public bodies. Further information is available on the Information Commissioner's website.
If you would like to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 please use our online form.
If your request(s) relates to Business Rates recorded information, please see the published Business rates open data before submitting an application.
To send a request by post, please send to the address listed below.
The council may only withhold information if it falls under one of the exemptions in the act.
We will ask for clarification if we are unclear about your request. We will either provide the information you asked for within 20 working days or let you know if we:
If some or all of the information you have requested is exempt it may take us longer than 20 working days to assess where the public interest lies but we will usually tell you how long we think this may take, within 20 working days.
There will normally be no charge for making a request for information. However, the council reserves the right to apply charges for any significant amounts of work or copying for requests for information included in the Publication Scheme.
For information requested outside of the Publication Scheme any charges will be calculated in accordance with the FOI Act 2000 fees regulations. See the Information Commissioner’s Office website for more information.
Complaints about an FOI response will be considered as a request for an internal review.
Email Information Governance or send a letter to:
Information Governance team
Salford City Council
Salford Civic Centre
Chorley Road
Swinton
M27 5DA
You should receive the results of the internal review within 21 working days, or if the investigation is not completed, the likely timescale for its completion.
All Internal Review responses are reviewed and approved by the council’s Data Protection Officer.
Applicants who are not happy with the outcome of the internal review may ask the Information Commissioner to review the request and the way the council has dealt with it. The council will provide assistance and information to the Information Commissioner.
Further advice and information, including a full list of exemptions, is available on the Information Commissioner’s Office website.
This page was last updated on 4 March 2024