FOI and SAR Tool

Use this tool to write a Freedom of Information (FOI) request or a subject access request (SAR) in a few minutes. Choose the organisation, fill in the form, and the finished email appears at the bottom, ready to copy into your own email account.

Your privacy: everything happens in your own browser. Nothing you type is saved by this website or sent to HAC. Your request only goes anywhere if you send it yourself.

FOI or SAR?

FOI lets anyone ask a public authority, such as the GMC, the NMC, NHS England or an NHS trust, for recorded information it holds. You don’t have to say why you want it. Public bodies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are covered by the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Scottish public bodies, including NHS Scotland boards, are covered by the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. Either way, they normally have 20 working days to reply.

SAR lets you ask any organisation, public or private, for a copy of the personal data it holds about you, under Article 15 of the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. It is normally free. The organisation must reply within one month, and can extend this by up to two more months only if the request is complex or you have made several.

Private organisations such as the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), Labour Against Antisemitism (LAAS) and UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) aren’t public authorities, so FOI doesn’t apply to them. You can still send them a SAR.

1. Choose your request

2. Choose the organisation

The email addresses come from each organisation’s own FOI, privacy or contact pages (we checked them in October 2026). Where we couldn’t confirm an address, we link to the organisation’s own page instead. Always check before you send.

3. Your details

For a SAR, your role and registration number help the organisation find your records. For an FOI they’re optional – public bodies must answer whoever asks.

4. What do you want to know?

Tick any example requests you want to include, or write your own. Keep FOI requests focused: a public body can refuse if answering would cost more than the legal cost limit.

5. Your finished email

To:
Cc: hcwsagainstcensorship@gmail.com
Subject: 













Free-text boxes can’t include links, threats or offensive language. Requests that are polite and specific get better answers.







Tips


    

  • Be specific. Give dates, name the policy or team, and ask for numbers rather than “all information about”. Broad requests are more likely to be refused on cost grounds.
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  • Use the right route. FOI answers are treated as released to the world, so don’t put sensitive personal details in an FOI request. For information about you, use a SAR.
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  • Ask for spreadsheets. You can say how you want the information, and the public body should provide it that way if it reasonably can.
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  • Help them find your data. For a SAR, include your registration number, staff number or case reference. The organisation must make a reasonable and proportionate search. It can pause the clock while it asks you to clarify what you want.
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  • Keep a record. Save a copy of your email and note the date you sent it. Work out the deadline: 20 working days for FOI, one month for a SAR.
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  • If they’re late or you’re unhappy: for FOI, ask the organisation for an internal review, then complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). For Scottish public bodies, ask for a review within 40 working days, then apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner. For a SAR anywhere in the UK, raise it with the organisation, then complain to the ICO.
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Where the legal wording comes from





Not legal advice. This tool and page give general information only. Contact details change, so check the organisation’s own FOI or privacy page before you send. If you are facing a regulatory, employment or legal process, speak to your union, medical defence organisation or a solicitor.