Councils call for legislative changes to charging regime for ground safety certification

The Local Government Association has called on the Government to amend the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 and linked regulations from 1987 which set out what councils can charge for.

It claimed that these “outdated” charging regulations mean the local taxpayer is having to foot the £1m annual bill for sports clubs to have ground safety certification.

Councils are responsible for sports ground safety certification for the 92 English Premier League (EPL) and English Football League (EFL) clubs, and other sports clubs, but the 1975 law limits how much they can charge them. 

Research by the LGA estimates councils pay an average cost of £5,869 per sports ground to oversee sports safety.

The LGA is arguing that the cost of a licence and compliance monitoring should be met by the businesses that benefit, as with other areas where councils regulate.

The 1975 Act requires all EPL and EFL stadia with a capacity exceeding 5,000 to have a safety certificate. 

The LGA says that while it recognises some smaller clubs might find it challenging to pay for certification, it will be down to the football pyramid and other sports collectively to consider how they can support such clubs to pay.

Cllr Heather Kidd, Chair of the LGA’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said: “The current charging regulations are outdated and in need of reform. It is perverse that with the revenue in some sports, particularly football, that clubs are not meeting the costs of this vital work, unlike other businesses councils regulate, which rightly pick up the costs of regulation through the licence fees they pay. 

“Some of our top clubs are paying their players hundreds of thousands of pounds a week, while at the same time councils face significant financial pressures to provide vital local services, and this is an extra cost they shouldn’t have to pick up. 

“It is only fair that clubs pay the fees involved to cover the full cost of issuing safety certification, rather than for this to fall to the taxpayer.”

Cllr Kidd added: “While these fees would not be huge, we do recognise this might be a challenging additional cost for some smaller clubs also struggling financially. However, there is enough collective wealth within the game to ensure that clubs, rather than taxpayers, should fund this.”