Islington Council has been fined for revealing personal information in a freedom of information response by mistake.

The council accepted the fine from the Information Commissioner’s Office.

They responded to an FOI request asking for information including the ethnicity and gender of people the council had rehoused. It responded with an Excel spreadsheet with personal information concealed behind the summary tables, however the council accepted the information should not have been disclosed and apologised to residents.

The council has said it intends to take advantage of an offered 20% discount for prompt repayment, reducing the penalty to £56,000.