The Austerity Enforcement Gap – Health and Safety

Strong rules help to make sure that the air we breathe and the water we drink is clean, that our food is safe and correctly labelled, our natural spaces are being looked after, and the products we buy are safe. Strong rules protect the most vulnerable in society and provide a level playing-field for British businesses. They allow us to get on with all the things we want to do in life, and they are part of what we have come to expect, and it’s common sense to maintain them. But over the years, the agencies which enforce the rules have had their budgets substantially reduced. Strapped for cash and short on staff, many watchdogs no longer have the tools for the important jobs they do.

Unchecked is a new campaign which investigates the UK’s shrinking enforcement capacity and exposes the real-world costs of the failure to properly enforce the rules. This briefing outlines some of their finding, which has been publishing over the last couple of weeks.

Overall, from 2009/10 to 2016/17, real-terms funding for the environmental and social protection work of ten key national regulators1 fell on average by 50%. The total number of full-time staff working at these regulators fell by 30% in this period. And from 2009/10 to 2016/17, spending by Local Authorities and fire authorities in England on key services which protect the health and wellbeing of citizens and the environment fell on average by 35%

 

Proactive health and safety inspections by Local Authorities in England, Scotland and Wales have fallen by 94%

 

The task of ensuring that businesses and other establishments are meeting the law on health and safety is shared between the Health and Safety Executive and Local Authorities. There are other important ways that these bodies keep us safe from harm, such as checking up on industrial operators which may be causing pollution. Fire authorities oversee the delivery of fire and rescue services.

 

Safety and Health

• The Health and Safety Executive’s funding fell by 53%
• Health and Safety Executive staff fell by 32%
• The number of Health and Safety Executive frontline inspectors fell by 27%
• The number of Health and Safety Executive construction inspectors fell by 40% Local authorities
• Spend on Health and Safety by English Local Authorities fell by 41%
• The number of Local Authority health and safety inspectors fell by 48% Fire authorities
• Funding for fire authorities in England fell by around 30%
• Fire and rescue staff numbers in English authorities fell by 21%
• Frontline firefighter strength in England fell by 20%
• Fire-control operator numbers in England fell by 31%

 

Enforcement activity

• Routine air pollution inspections by Local Authorities in England and Wales fell by 37%
• Proactive health and safety inspections by Local Authorities in England, Scotland and Wales fell by 94%
• Prosecutions by the Health and Safety Executive in England and Wales fell by 25%
• Total health and safety enforcement notices issued by the Health and Safety Executive and Local Authorities in England, Scotland and Wales fell by 25%
• Fire safety audits in England fell by 30%
• From 2010/11 to 2016/17, the number of staff hours checking fire risk in homes fell by 11%
• From 2010/11 to 2016/17, unannounced inspections by the Health and Safety Executive fell by 40%
• Total Local Authority health and safety visits in England, Scotland and Wales fell by 71%
• The number of health and safety Improvement Notices served by Local Authorities in England, Scotland and Wales fell by 70%
• The number of health and safety Prohibition Notices served by Local Authorities in England, Scotland and Wales fell by 28%

 

Statistics source – Unchecked ‘Enforcement Gap Report‘

 

 

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