Jay, this is being discussed at Martin Mulholland's post below re charging for Improvement Notices.

Pesky system went down just as I was to post a reply, so trying again. The comment is as follows: We are working on a proposal to charge those who create risks. A so-called: “fee for fault” principle. The idea being that those who are found not to be compliant with the law during an inspection should be charged for the work that HSE does following the issuing of a notice or other requirement for action to rectify the fault. We believe that this approach is fair and equitable and will be welcomed by the vast majority of businesses who are compliant and who see those who take short cuts as getting away with an unfair competitive advantage. Such an approach should be seen by business as a way of levelling the playing field. We do recognise that there will need to be safeguards built in to the process to ensure that such a scheme is transparent and open to scrutiny. On the basis of what is said it seems fair that after an improvement notice has been issued any cost to certify it as closed out is chargable to the person who the notice was issued to. However, there could be an increase in the number of notices issued (and a reduction of the point of them because they become a means of getting money in) which is a cause for concern.