Liverpool City Council has been hit with a contempt of court warning.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued an enforcement notice to the local authority over how it processes Freedom of Information requests.
Public bodies have to respond to FOI submissions within 20 working days but the council was found to have missed that deadline almost half of the time.
According to the ICO, the council only met its requirement on requests between January 1 and July 31 in 56% of cases and has a backlog of 75 overdue requests.
LCC was previously warned in 2023 about its need to improve responds to FOIs and now has until January 8 next year to resolve all outstanding requests.
Failure to comply with this week’s enforcement notice risks the threat of legal action which could result in the council being found in contempt of court.
Local Liberal Democrat leader Carl Cashman has claimed that the issue has seen some people left waiting up to 18 months for a response to their FOI request.
He said: “Residents deserve answers, journalists deserve access, and opposition councillors deserve scrutiny.”
A council spokesperson acknowledged their need to improve the response rate.
They said: “We support the rights of people to have appropriate access to information held by the council and recognise the need to improve the consistency of response times to requests under the FOI Act.
“We are implementing a comprehensive plan to improve performance and will respond positively to all the requirements set out by the Information Commissioner.”