Fee for Intervention (FFI): HSE’s Cost Recovery Scheme

Since 1st October 2012, under the Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations 2012, employers who break health and safety laws can be held liable for HSE-related costs, including inspections, investigations and enforcement actions. This shifted some of the health and safety regulation costs from the public to the businesses and organisations that are found noncompliant with health and safety laws. The Fee for Intervention (FFI) scheme charges an hourly rate of £124. FFI applies to dutyholders where the HSE is the enforcing authority, including employers and self-employed people who put others at risk.

General Overview

A HSE inspector’s duty is to inspect work activities and investigate accidents and complaints in the workplace. When an inspector visits a business and finds a material breach of health and safety law, the business will be required to pay a fee (the FFI). The FFI is calculated on an hourly rate, based on the amount of time the inspector spends identifying, correcting, investigating and taking enforcement action upon the material breach. If the business is compliant with health and safety law or does not commit a material breach, a FFI will not be charged for any work that the HSE does.

A material breach of health and safety law occurs when a HSE inspector forms an opinion that there is or has been a contravention of health and safety law that requires written notification of the opinion. Written notification can come in several forms, including a simple notification of contravention, an improvement or prohibition notice, or a prosecution and must include the following:

  • The law that the inspector’s opinion relates to
  • The reasons for the opinion; and
  • Notification that a fee is payable to the HSE

HSE inspectors use existing principles and enforcement decision-making frameworks, such as the Enforcement Management Model (EMM) and the Enforcement Policy Statement (EPS), when deciding whether a material breach occurred.

Recoverable Costs for Associated Work

FFI is payable for all costs the HSE reasonably incurs during regulatory work associated or related to a material breach. This includes all necessary work to identify the material breach and ensure that the breach is remedied. When a material breach is identified on a visit, costs for the entire visit are recoverable, from entry to point of leaving. Some examples of associated work include:

  • Writing notifications of contravention and reports
  • Preparing and serving improvement or prohibition notices
  • Follow-up work and reviewing investigations to ensure compliance
  • Taking statements and gathering information
  • Specialist assistance
  • Assessing the findings and documenting procedures
  • Recording conclusions and inspection, investigation and enforcement information
  • Necessary research related to the material breach

Exemptions and Disqualifications

While FFI applies to the majority of employers and businesses, there are exemptions in place for certain work activities and circumstances, such as self-employed people who do not put others at risk, those who are already paying fees to the HSE for the work through other arrangements and those who deliberately work with certain biological agents. Section 24 of the Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations 2012 sets out these exemptions in detail.

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