ECO4 scheme investigations 648/2026

FOI Reference: 648/2026

Request:

Please supply all the information you may have on any investigations with links to the ECO4 scheme. 

I would like the number of queries coming in to the force related to ECO4, any investigations carried out with links to ECO4 (for example, but not limited to, money laundering), which other organisations were contacted in relation to these investigations, and what was the result of each of these queries and investigations. 

Please break down the figures per year, for the years 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. 

Response:

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1(1)(a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Section 1(1)(b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held. 

I can confirm that the cost of determining whether any information relative to this request is or isn’t held is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond therefore we are withholding the whole of the requested information since we consider that the Section 12 (2) exemption the Cost of Compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit applies to it. 

Where exemptions are relied upon Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Dyfed Powys Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies. The following exemption has been applied to the whole of the information you have requested: 

Section 12(2) – The cost of compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit 

Section 12(2) states: “…Subsection (1) does not exempt the public authority from its obligation to comply with paragraph (a) of section 1(1) unless the estimated cost of complying with that paragraph alone would exceed the appropriate limit.” 

The cost of determining what information is held, if any, relevant to your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the “appropriate level” as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004. It is estimated that it would exceed 18 hours (i.e. minimum of 1657 hours) to comply with your request. The regulations can be located @ https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/3244 

The Freedom of Information Department has been advised that the information in respect of your request is not held in an easily retrievable format. Therefore, in order to establish what information, if any, is held in relation to the request would require the individual interrogation of all incidents under the category of ‘fraud’ over the time frame specified to identify if the incident in question related to your request. It has been established that for the period as specified within the request there are a total 9940 reports that would require researching. It has been estimated that it would take a minimum of 10 minutes to research a single incident for relevance to your request as outlined above, resulting in the following time estimate. 

2022: 2576 fraud incidents x 10 minutes each = 429 hours  

2023: 2181 fraud incidents x 10 minutes each = 364 hours

2024: 2213 fraud incidents x 10 minutes each = 369 hours

2025: 2161 fraud incidents x 10 minutes each = 360 hours

2026 (to end of June): 809 fraud incidents x 10 minutes each = 135 hours

Total of 1657 hours to complete task 

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for the WHOLE of this request under Section 17(5) A public authority which, in relation to any request for information, is relying on a claim that section 12 or section 14 applies must, within the time for complying with section 1(1), give the applicant a notice stating that fact. 

You may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the time shown above to fall within the 18 hours, however with due regard to the time estimate provided above it is unlikely that refining your request will fall under the 18 hours as the same method and format will have to be undertaken. Should you require any further advice in relation to this matter please don’t hesitate to contact the Freedom of Information Unit. 

Please also be advised that should the request be refined, it does not remove the Force’s right to cite exemptions if relevant.

This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 30/07/2026.