FFI invoices average in excess of £700
In the latest update it has been revealed that the average cost of an invoice issued under the HSE’s Fee for Intervention (FFI) scheme is running in excess of £700, which shows an increase of 40% since the first bills were sent out nearly three years ago*.
The latest figures released show a total of 2,922 invoices were issued in April and May totalling just over £700 each. The main sectors receiving the highest total bills have been manufacturing, receiving invoices totalling over £750,000, construction with invoices totalling £591,500 and the service industry charged £565,600.
The Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations estimate that the cost recovery scheme could generate as much as £43.6million a year. Whilst the latest figures show a totals lower than predicted the HSE can expect to generate around £12.5million a year.
Steffan Groch, head of regulatory at the law firm DWF and chair of the UK Health and Safety Lawyers Association said “These figures clearly show that the HSE FFI regime is being most effective in three sectors: construction, manufacturing and services,”
“What is not clear is why these three sectors are being found in material breach more than other sectors. Perhaps it is simply down to their risk profile or perhaps it is a reality that those sectors find it difficult to ensure that health and safety legislation is complied with in full and that HSE inspectors can always find something that is a material breach”.
The increase and amount being invoiced is speculated to be down to inspectors paying closer attention to their time recording with more time being spent per notice of contravention.
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*Source: Health and Safety at Work