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Comment by Hnrobert42 | Hacker News Reader

That surprises me. When I worked in the Uk in a regulated industry, I observed it is very risk averse and process focused. I'm surprised the government can consistently turn around a response in 30 days.

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> I'm surprised the government can consistently turn around a response in 30 days.

They don't, e.g. [0], [1], [2], etc.

[0] https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-centre/news-and-blogs...

[1] https://neilwilby.com/2026/04/02/when-delay-becomes-denial-a...

[2] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/foi-department-for-int...

Those exceptions prove the rule. They're about what happens when they don't do what they're supposed to.

The UK FOIA law only requires the government to acknowledge the request within 30 days. Not to actually fulfill it. In reality it is much, much slower and incomplete than the OP suggested.

As they said in "Yes, Minister": "under consideration" means we've lost the file; "under active consideration" means we're trying to find it.

Looked it up and it's actually _20_ days they have to comply, not 30. Not to acknowledge, but actually finish the request

https://www.ukjournohub.com/foi/foi-deadlines

I've also experienced this many times personally. Acknowledgement is immediate, and the request is done just under the 20 day mark.

They are as you describe, but ironically have strict processes to follow for FOI requests too, which makes it go faster.

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