The Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations SI 2012/1652 have been published, and will come into force on 1 October 2012.

They set fees payable to the HSE for carrying out certain functions relating to licensing, equipment approval, inspection and approvals regimes and will revoke and replace the Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations SI 2010/579. Almost all of the fees in the previous Regulations are reproduced by these Regulations without increase.

Two new fees are however introduced:

• a fee payable in respect of certain functions contained in the Borehole Sites and Operations Regulations SI 1995/2038; and
• a fee for intervention (FFI) payable by those who are found to be in material breach of relevant statutory provisions to enable the HSE to recover costs which it incurs as a result of carrying out functions in relation to those breaches.

The fee for intervention reflects the cost of the HSE performing its functions; this is currently £124 per hour. An explanation of how the hourly rate has been calculated and further information on the cost of the fee can be found in HSE47 - Guidance on the application of Fee for Intervention (FFI).