HSE nets £2.7 million from fee scheme

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has raised over 5,700 invoices and nearly £2.7 million in revenues through its Fees for Intervention (FFI) scheme in its first six months of operation.

The FFI scheme is based on the principle that the taxpayer should not foot the bill for the HSE’s efforts in putting right failures by business over health and safety regulation, providing an incentive for businesses to comply.

Under the Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations 2012, organisations which are in sufficiently serious breach of safety rules are to be billed by the HSE for the work it does in regulating them.

HSE inspectors can charge out their time at £124 an hour. And the sums that the HSE can bill organisations include the costs of inspection, investigation and taking enforcement action.

The HSE has revealed that 5,766 invoices were raised in the first six months of the scheme’s operation. There were 1,418 invoices in October/November, 1,807 in December/January and 2,541 in February/March.

The revenues raised in these three periods were £727,645, £857,254 and £1,088,874 respectively. As invoices are issued every two months, the figures do not represent the final sum received from businesses.

A breakdown shows that there were six invoices for over £10,000 in the six-month period, but two out of five invoices were for less than £200.

The manufacturing sector accounted for £1.2 million or around 42% of the total invoiced; construction accounted for just over a quarter (27.2%).

www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/meetings/hseboard/2013/260613/pjunb1362.pdf