Meat suppliers say FSA is ignoring High Court ruling on charges

Meat suppliers have accused the Food Standards Agency of being “in denial” of a recent High Court ruling that some of its charges are unlawful, criticising it for pressing ahead with reforms to its meat inspection charging structure.

In particular, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) is said to be changing the way discounts for charges are applied, despite the fact there is now a legal question mark hanging over the whole basis of charging.

See also: High Court finds FSA slaughterhouse charging system unlawful

That follows a ruling by the High Court on 3 June which found that only costs directly linked to official controls carried out by official veterinarians (OVs) or meat hygiene inspectors (MHIs) could be recovered from industry.

Management, supervision and governance costs linked to OVs and MHIs should not be included,  and neither should charges for novice and temporarily registered OVs.

Further legal arguments will determine what the FSA must do to remedy the situation.

But, with legal question marks hanging over the charging structure, the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (Aims) says the FSA should not now be altering its system of discounts for medium-sized abattoirs.

Overcharging 

“The FSA board has previously described discounts as a ‘subsidy’ to industry,” said Aims veterinary director Peter Hewson.

“Following the judgment, that is clearly not the case; the discounts have been partially recompensing industry for FSA overcharging. 

“The sensible thing for FSA to do now is to park its work on the discount system until it has got its house in order.”

According to Aims, the current charge out rates are “grossly over-inflated”, with OVs paid just £20 to £30 an hour, while abattoirs are charged nearly £80 an hour. 

“Taking an actual example of a medium-sized Aims member, killing about 10,000 livestock units a year, the current FSA charges of £220,000 a year are approaching the equivalent of half the plant’s wages bill, and are greater than the total costs of business rates, energy and water,” said Mr Hewson.

FSA plans to remove all discounts for such plants will inevitably lead to abattoir closures, he added.

Aims is therefore advocating a headage basis for future inspections rather than the FSA’s time-based charging system.

‘Not in dispute’

FSA director of operations Junior Johnson said he agreed that the High Court ruling had created uncertainty, but said many of the FSA’s charges were not in dispute.

“Reinstating the headage rates set out in legislation, which have not been updated in many years, would lead to a very significant increase in taxpayer-paid support, with most benefit going to the largest businesses,” he added.

“Our discount reform work is clear that it is smaller businesses that need support most.”

Mr Johnson added that the FSA is also seeking leave to appeal the recent High Court ruling.