From the 1st of April 2023, there has been a change to the HSE’s recovery rates.
Fee For Intervention (FFI) is a fine that no business wants to receive.
HSE’s hourly recovery rate under Fee for Intervention has been increased from £163 to £166.
This is an inflationary increase to make sure they continue to recover the full cost of any relevant activity.
If the HSE visit your workplace and find that you are in a material breach of the health and safety law, you will have to pay for the time it takes them to identify what is wrong and to help put things right. This is called a fee for intervention (FFI).
If you don’t breach the law you won’t pay anything. Dutyholders who comply with the law, or where there is no material breach, will not be charged FFI for any work that the HSE does with them.
An FFI applies to dutyholders where the HSE is enforcing authority (employers, public and limited companies, self-employed who put others at risk, general, limited and limited liability partnerships, crown and public bodies).
A fee is payable to the HSE if:
- A person is contravening or has contravened health and safety law
- An inspector is of the opinion that the person is or has done so, and notifies the person in writing of that opinion
What is material breach?
A material breach is 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. If the inspector gives you a notification of contravention (NoC) after their visit, you’ll have to pay a fee. The NoC must include:
- the law that the inspector considers has been broken
- the reason(s) for their opinion
- notification that a fee is payable to HSE
Where an inspector simply gives you advice, either verbal or written, you won’t have to pay anything for this advice.
How much it costs
It currently costs £166 an hour. The fee will include the costs covering the time of the entire original visit. The total amount recovered will be based on the amount of time it takes HSE to identify the breach and help you put thing right (including associated office work), multiplied by the hourly rate.
Your fee may include time at your business/workplace, preparing reports, getting specialist advice, talking to your workers and talking to you after the visit. However, the fee can vary depending on how long the original visit was, the time spent helping you put things right, the time it took to investigate your case and anytime spent on taking action against you.
How to avoid FFI?
Stay on top of your obligations and comply with the Health & Safety law. At Prestige Safety Services our health and safety advisors can offer you advice to keep you on the straight and narrow and away from Health & Safety fees and fines.
We could help protect your business by supporting you with practical Health and Safety knowledge and documentation. We also offer various training courses such as: Emergency First Aid at Work, Working at Height, Fire Safety Awareness and many more which can be made bespoke to your company. This helps promote a safe working environment for you employees and keep you on the right side of the law. We work with our clients, form a long-term relationship and become a trusted safety partner to your business.
By getting the right Health & Safety practices in place you could avoid the fee for intervention fine!
Get in touch today!
Email: info@prestigesafetyservcies.com
Phone: 0800 246 5014
