On 6th April the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) increased the Fee For Intervention (FFI) charge.
The original fee back in 2012 was £124 per hour which then went up to £129 in 2016, which is a small adjustment. However, this time the charge has increased by almost 20% to £154 per hour.
The HSE released a statement explaining that the scheme has operated recently at a deficit:
“HSE’s cost recovery rate for FFI will increase to £154 per hour with effect from 6 April 2019. This means that businesses that are found to be in material breach of health and safety law will be charged at this new rate. As is currently the case, those businesses that meet their legal requirements will not pay anything for HSE’s regulatory activity.
“HSE must set the FFI rate with the aim of recovering its full cost and in recent years it has operated at a deficit (i.e. cost more than recovered in income). A combination of this and cumulative inflationary pressures support the increased hourly rate.”
A material breach is defined by the HSE as “something which an inspector considers serious enough that they need to formally write to the business requiring action to be taken to deal with the material breach”.
The HSE will only recover the costs of businesses that are found to be non-compliant.
For more information, you can go to the HSE Website.
