An independent report on the Fee for Intervention scheme has found it to be effective and has concluded it should stay. Fee for Intervention is a scheme which was created to move the costs of regulating health and safety in the workplace from the public to those businesses breaking the law.
Since it started in October 2012 the independent body have found no evidence to suggest enforcement policy decisions have been influenced at all by its introduction.
The independent panel included representatives of the GMB trade union, the Federation of Small Businesses and the Department for Work and Pensions. The panel was chaired by Alan Harding, professor of public policy at Liverpool University.
The report went as far as to say the professional approach adopted by the Health and Safety Executive's inspectors had minimised any challenges raised by the scheme in the first 18 months. The report states that "generally inspectors and dutyholders continue to work together in improving health and safety management".
The conclusions from the report are as follows:
Chair of the HSE, Judith Hackitt praised the scheme commenting "both HSE and the Government believe it is right that those who fail to meet their legal health and safety obligations should pay our costs, and acceptance of this principle is growing. This review gives us confidence that Fee for Intervention is working effectively and should be retained. We will continue to monitor the performance of Fee for Intervention to ensure it remains consistent and fair."
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