At the start of this month, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published its annual report and accounts for the period April 2025 to March 2026. The annual report is the third published under its 10-year strategy Protecting People and Places.

The key takeaway from the report is that the HSE considers itself to be largely on track to deliver the objectives under that 10 year plan and reports in bullish terms that it has delivered or exceeded 93% of its commitments and milestones to date.

Headlines

• 265 criminal prosecutions completed, with an 88% conviction rate delivering over £34.5 million in fines. This shows a gradual increase on recent years, with figures for the preceding three years being 246, 248 and 216 respectively.
• Over 4,870 notices issued, consisting of approximately 3,690 Improvement Notices and over 1,100 Prohibition Notices.
• 83% of fatal investigations completed within 12 months of the HSE receiving primacy.
• Over 14,900 inspections completed, of which nearly 11,000 focused specifically on work related health. This is an increase on last year’s figure of 13,200.

• Staff numbers increased to 3,230 full-time staff with a turnover of 8.7%.
• Around 1.9 million workers suffered work related ill-health of which around 1 million related specifically to stress, depression or anxiety.
• Around 700,000 non-fatal workplace injuries.
• 124 worker fatalities.
• Total operating expenditure of £345 million.

Analysis

According to the HSE, it has maintained a high delivery against its 10-year business plan and early indicators show that enforcement action may be starting to increase, in contrast to the gradual decreases in regulatory action over the last decade or so.

The continued focus on workplace mental health and wellbeing persists and remains one of the key priorities and drivers for the HSE under its 10-year business plan. To date, however, there have been few notices issued and little enforcement action taken against employers in respect of their provision and management of workplace mental health. This may be due in part to the HSE continuing with what it considers to be an initial ‘education’ period, to help make employers aware of their duties before taking more focussed and significant enforcement action.

Whilst regulatory action in respect of failures to manage workplace stress has been limited to date, the direction of travel is clear and we anticipate that the next few years will show an increase in this regard.

The figures contained within the Annual Report also reveal that there has been an increase in the size of the HSE’s workforce. This is in part due to the emerging functions of the Building Safety Regulator, which is still established within the HSE, and the internalisation of the HSE’s legal function. Over recent years the HSE has recruited a significant number of solicitors to assist in this regard. Whilst anecdotally this appeared to result in initial delays and backlog of matters awaiting a decision on enforcement, early indicators show that the number of enforcement actions is increasing. There is, however, a long way to go before the HSE reaches its previous figures of upwards of 800 or 900 prosecutions per year.

The increased use of notices mirrors a trend in other regulators over recent years, most notably the CQC, to issue notices rather than incur the expense and time involved in preparing a matter for prosecution. The issuing of an improvement or more specifically a prohibition notice can serve to instantly negate any risk arising and therefore have a much more immediate impact on a business and improve the safety of operations. Compared with the use of criminal prosecution, the use of a notice might be seen as a much more efficient and cost-effective way of securing compliance with the law, with enforcement action being saved for the more high profile, complex or serious incidents.

Conclusion

All employers continue to owe obligations under the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and a downturn in recent years by the HSE in its enforcement activity cannot be seen as an opportunity for corners to be cut or for profit to be put before safety.

Rather, this latest Annual Report provides evidence of the beginning of a potential uptick in the frequency of HSE’s regulatory and enforcement action. All workplaces should therefore continue to prioritise the promotion of health and safety in their workplace – in respect of both physical and mental risks – and take action wherever it is considered that more could be done. To be seen as a regulator with real teeth and continuing fitness for purpose, the HSE is going to have to address the downturn in its regulatory action over the last decade or so.