Downloading Data as a Contractor

Created: 31 October 2023 Updated: 24 June 2025

If you have registered as a Defra-body Contractor, then all your download requests for restricted data will first need to be approved by the Project Manager of the Defra funded project you are working on.

When you make a download request (for a restricted dataset), you will be asked to enter the name of the Defra-body funded project you are working on, the name of the Defra Project Manager who will approve your request and your Defra Project Manager’s email address. An automatic approval request will be sent to your Defra Project Manager for review and you will be notified of the outcome via email. It is your responsibility to make sure these details are valid, otherwise your request may not get approved.

Details for Natural England Contractors

If you are a Defra-body Contractor downloading data for a Natural England project, please enter the following information in the download request box:

• Project Name or ID = Natural England Job reference no. e.g. NE190122-1347-255

• Project Manager Name = Name of Data Services team adviser assigned to your request

• Project Manager Email = Data.Services@naturalengland.org.uk

Approving download requests

You will be notified by email if your restricted data download request has been approved or rejected. If approved, you will be notified and prompted to download your data.

The Project Manager may reject your order if they do not think you need the data to carry out the contracted work, for example if you have ordered an irrelevant dataset, or data for too large a geographical area. If you disagree, you must discuss this with your project manager.

An order may also be rejected if you have named the wrong person as the project manager. If you provide the details of the project manager from your own organisation and not that of the Defra Project Manager, your order will not be progressed. In this case, you will receive an email informing you that the download request was rejected.

Managing, tracking and cancelling Contractor data orders

As a Defra Contractor, you can manage your restricted data orders, review their status and access the data you have requested using the Orders tab. This tab will only be available if you are logged into the service as a Contractor. You can also cancel orders using this functionality.

The Orders tab provides a list of all orders you have made to date. For each request, the reference ID, dataset name and current status are shown. The download link will be available for 30 days.

NB. If your requested download is too large to handle via the Data Services Platform interface, a pop up window will prompt you to Request a Large Dataset via our Service Desk. Please note that you will need your Order ID to complete the download request ticket.