The Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMS) has launched a judicial review into “inflation busting” charge rises for vet appointments against the Food Standards Agency.
In a statement released 19 February, AIMS said official veterinarian charges to industry were “going up by £10m in the coming year”, an increase of nearly a quarter, despite the current rate of inflation standing at 3%.
According to AIMS, the hourly rate for an official vet will increase by 20.8% to £79.60 an hour from April whilst, at the same time, the FSA will reduce its discounting by more than £3m.
The organisation stressed the charges were being levied for vets who often did not have “sufficient English to practice as a vet in the UK”.
AIMS does not believe the FSA charges are lawful and its members as well as those of the British Meat Processors Association have funded the review, which will be heard in the High Court in April.
“The FSA blames an increase in contractor costs and reduced number of chargeable hours, whilst at the same time reducing its discount by over £3m,” said AIMS veterinary director Peter Hewson. “We have been pressing the agency to introduce the obvious efficiencies available in view of the reduced requirement and limited value of official controls in slaughterhouses, but the FSA has flatly refused to engage while it played with changes to a discount system that should not be required if FSA charges were lawful.”
The FSA has denied it has refused to engage and said it has discussed “delivery of controls and charges with industry bodies frequently at all levels”.
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Despite asserting the review would focus on the charge increases, Hewson said the issue had come to a head mostly due to the reduction of the discounts which are applied to some meat control charges.
All but the smallest abattoirs will recieve a 90% discount on 20 hours a month of official controls and 75% on the next 46 hours a month. This means large abattoirs are expected to pay over £900k a year according to AIMS.
Last year the taxpayer-funded discounts amounted to £14.9m, according to the FSA. This will reduce to £11.8m in the 2025/27 year, which is still a taxpayer contribution of 18% towards total estimated charges of £66m.
The agency said it would be continuing to focus its discounts on smaller businesses and that it will be consulting to reform how discount support is distributed.
Concerning the charges, the FSA said the costs to deliver its assurance were rising, and added a global vet shortage meant the UK must pay more to recruit and retain them.
“The judicial review is before the court and will be heard in April,” said Junior Johnson, director of operations at the FSA. “In the meantime, our priority remains ensuring that British meat is safe, protecting public health, and upholding high standards of animal welfare, helping to ensure people have confidence in the food they eat.”
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