Freedom of Information Act Request
Reference: ECC21429519 10 26
Response: 19 October 2026
I can confirm that Essex County Council does hold this information, and where we are able to release this, our response is listed below.
From: 2026-08-01
To: 2026-10-15
Freedom of Information Act Request Please could you kindly send me any information you may hold relating to Paupers funerals carried
(sometimes referred to as 'Public Health Act' Funerals) where persons who have died with no known next of kin (blood relatives) since 1/8/26 to the day of your reply (or as close as possible).
I confirm that this is a new request for new data only.
Please include:
1. full names of deceased persons,
2. dates of death,
3. marital status,
4. maiden surnames of married or widowed females,
5. dates of birth or ages at death,
6. last known addresses,
7. estimated value of estates,
8. date(s) when the information was passed (or information that is about to be or likely to be passed) to any third party, if so to whom, or confirmation that this will not be happening and the reason why.
Summary of Response
In summary, the Council is refusing this request because its scope is too large (this is explained formally below). Advice is set out below about how you may want to submit a new, more targeted request.
Why the request is being refused
Your request has been considered under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit. Regulation 3 of the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limits and Fees) Regulations 2004 (the Regulations) states that the Council is not required to respond to a request if it would cost more than £450 to respond to, costed at £25 per hour as per regulation 4 (which equates to 18 hours).
The information you have requested is spread across several different teams within the Council. The Council does not store the information you have requested in a format which is searchable or extractable electronically, meaning that data extraction would have to be manual.
The estimated time it would take Officers to carry out a search for the information requested is 10 minutes per individual case. Whilst this may not seem excessive, due to the number of cases which are potentially in scope of the request and the length of the request (i.e. anyone who has died from 2026-08-01 to 2026-10-15), Officers would be required to search over 1,000 individual records, which charged at £25 per hour, places complying with the request at over the £450 listed in the Act. In making this assessment, we have taken into account the time which we consider it would take to locate, retrieve and extract the requested information.
Having further considered your request, I am now applying s31 (1) (a) Law Enforcement – The Prevention or Detection of Crime. Section 31 is a prejudice-based exemption. This means that we must demonstrate that disclosing the information could be harmful. It is also subject to a public interest test as set out below.
Prejudice:
Our Fraud Team have made us aware that requests such as these are being used by scammers trying to claim the estates from deceased individuals. Whilst this may not be the case in this instance, any disclosure under FOI is considered a closure to the world at large which places legitimate heirs or other individuals at risk of harm from fraud.
Public Interest Test:
Factors in favour of non-disclosure:
· To protect the information of the residents of Essex
· To prevent the risk of fraud against individuals
In favour of disclosure:
· Informing public debate
Balancing Test:
Whilst the information of the deceased is not covered by the Data Protection Act 2018, and therefore not subject to the s40 exemption; we have a duty to protect any confidential data, or data about those deceased persons which may, if made public, harm a living individual. Having considered the above factors, I believe the public interest is in favour of upholding this exemption. This is our refusal notice in respect of your request.
Your Right to Know
Democracy and Transparency
Essex County Council
Telephone: 033301 38989
Email: YourRight.ToKnow@essex.gov.uk | www.essex.gov.uk
