The third batch of invoices sent out under the HSE’s controversial Fee for Intervention scheme has hit a new record.

A freedom of information request by law firm DWF has revealed that invoices during February and March topped the £1m mark.

The average charge for the period was £428 with construction seeing the largest increase in invoices as the HSE launched an industry inspection blitz

Steffan Groch, head of regulatory at DWF, said: “It is not surprising that the total has hit the £1m mark as the period included the HSE annual construction site blitz which resulted in one fifth of all sites visited receiving some form of enforcement action.

“Interestingly, the number of proactive inspections remained largely the same at 3,077, compared with the previous bi-month total of 3,062.

“On the face of it, it appears as though we are looking at a more efficient conversion rate, 82 per cent of proactive inspections resulted in chargeable time versus 59 per cent on the previous run.

“Does that show businesses are less compliant or that inspectors are more keen to recover costs for their time?”

The DWF Regulatory team are working on a number of FFI invoice queries on behalf of clients and urge organisations receiving invoices to check them for accuracy and consider the wider implications of automatic acceptance.