Know the deadline. Know what to do next.
Practical guidance for subject access requests, other data-protection rights, Freedom of Information and Environmental Information requests.
Start with what happened
You should not need to know the legislation before you can find the right route.
I want a copy of my personal data
Subject access requests (SARs/DSARs), what you can ask for and how organisations should respond.
I need the SAR deadline
One calendar month, ID, clarification, extensions and shorter-month calculations.
My data-rights request is late
Check the clock, complain to the organisation and decide when to involve the ICO.
Information was withheld
Understand SAR exemptions, third-party information and manifestly unfounded or excessive requests.
I want data corrected, erased or restricted
Other UK GDPR rights, their limits and the usual one-calendar-month response period.
I asked a public authority for information
FOI and EIR requests, 20-working-day rules, extensions and refusal notices.
I need an internal review
Challenge an FOI or EIR response before escalating to the Information Commissioner.
I need to make a data-protection complaint
The organisation-first complaint route introduced by the DUAA and when the ICO becomes relevant.
Key response times
These are headline limits. The detail matters where ID, clarification, an extension or a public holiday is involved.
Use the site as a focused information-rights toolkit
When Will They Respond? now concentrates on access to personal data, data-protection rights and public-information requests. Broader consumer-law disputes are outside this site's scope.
SAR & data rights
Access, correction, erasure, restriction, objection, deadlines and complaint handling.
FOI & EIR
Public information, environmental information, working-day deadlines and review.
Problems & escalation
Late responses, refusals, complaints, reviews and ICO escalation.
Reference
Definitions, deadline rules and plain-English summaries of the legislation behind the guides.