Form templates / Government & Public Services
Freedom of Information Request Form
A freedom of information request form serves both sides: it gets the requester an answer faster, and it gets the authority a request specific enough to answer without a clarification round.
For councils, agencies and public-sector teams.
Vague requests waste the requester's time most
An FOI request that asks for "all information about the roadworks" starts the clock and then stops it, because the authority has to write back asking what is actually wanted. That's weeks lost for the person who asked.
So this template prompts for what a usable request contains: the subject, a date range, the department if known, and the format wanted. It also states plainly that there is no need to explain why - which is a right people routinely don't know they have.
Get the details while they're fresh
Reports made verbally get shorter with every retelling, and the detail that mattered is the first thing lost. A form asked at the time captures what happened, when, and who was there - in the words of the person who saw it.
Accessible to everyone, including the people without an app
A public form has to work for the resident on a six-year-old Android with 200 MB of data left, and for the one using a screen reader. That rules out most modern form builders, which need JavaScript to render a text box.
These pages are ordinary HTML with real labels and native controls: they work with assistive technology, keyboard only, and with scripting switched off entirely.
Ask what has to be asked
Required fields for the facts that make a report usable, optional ones for everything else - so you're never left with a report that can't be acted on.
Yours to change, immediately
Nothing here is fixed. Rewrite a question, reorder them by dragging, add your brand colour, delete half of it. Save and the live form updates - there's no separate publish step and no deploy to wait for.
What this template asks
- Your name
- Email address
- Postal address
- What information are you requesting?
- Which period does it cover?
- Which department or service, if you know?
- How would you like to receive it?
- If we can only answer part of this, what matters most?
- You may contact me to clarify this request if needed
- I understand I don't need to give a reason for this request
More Government & Public Services forms
Questions
Do requesters have to say why they want the information?
No, and the form says so. Under most FOI regimes the motive is irrelevant, and asking for it discourages legitimate requests.
Does using a form change the legal deadline?
No - a request in writing is a request however it arrives, and the statutory clock starts the same way. The form just makes it more likely to be answerable first time.
Can reports be submitted anonymously?
Yes, if you make the name optional. Nothing about the submitter is recorded otherwise - no IP address, no account, no tracking.
Can this go to more than one person?
Yes. Notification recipients are a list, so a report can reach a manager and a safety lead at the same time.
Can I export everything for an audit?
Yes - one click gives you a CSV of every response with its timestamp, which is usually exactly what an auditor or insurer asks for.
Is it accessible, and does it track people?
Forms use semantic HTML, real labels, keyboard-navigable native controls and work without JavaScript. No cookies, no analytics scripts and no IP logging - so there's no consent banner between a resident and a public service.
Publish your freedom of information request form today
Start from this template and change anything you like. Free to begin.