Corporate report

HSE KPIs report 2026 to 2027

Updated 29 July 2026

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

• Publication for Northern Ireland

1. Quarterly reporting for the period 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027

Effective performance management comes from a clear vision of the impact we want to have and how we will achieve it.

For HSE, performance management is about making the best use of our people and resources to help us protect people and places. It involves taking positive action to make outcomes better than they would otherwise be and providing a high-quality service to those we regulate.

This report details our performance for each quarter against a range of our agreed key performance indicators (KPIs) for the period 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027.

The figures are end of year outturn and will be subject to further evaluation and validation ahead of formal publication in HSE’s Annual Report and Accounts and as such may be subject to further refinement and change.

Below you will find our KPIs are grouped by strategic objective; more information on our historic performance can be found in our Annual Report and Accounts on www.hse.gov.uk.

Through our work on developing operational performance measures, we ensure that our regulatory activities are carried out efficiently and in a timely manner through refreshed processes and a renewed focus on timely, robust decision-making. This will help us maximise the use of our resources and support and ensure they remain focused on the highest priority areas. The performance measures will better inform where regulatory time is being spent and the timeliness of decisions, further improving the quality and service for our stakeholders.

2. Ratings

Each KPI is rated ‘Red’, ‘Amber’ or ‘Green’. The ratings are:

• Green: on track, the KPI is at or exceeding expected performance
• Amber: off track, but between 90% and 100% of expected performance
• Red: off track, below 90% of expected performance

3. Objective: reduce work-related ill health, with a specific focus on mental health and stress

We work with our partners in business and government to deliver shared objectives in preventing ill health at work, and particularly in relation to work-related stress.

We track our overall performance on inspection delivery against our annual performance target of 14,000. These inspections are delivered across a range of industrial sectors, and within this delivery envelope we will target areas of particular concern or where we believe we can have the greatest impact.

Key performance indicator	Target	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Rating
Deliver 14,000 proactive inspections	14,000 inspections in-year, including proactive inspections [footnote 1]	Delivered 3,655 inspections vs. 3,619 profiled (101%)				Green
Deliver targeted reforms to the Control of Asbestos Regulations	By the end of 2026/27	On track				Green
Percentage of respondents to duty holder survey saying the inspector provided practical advice that will improve health and safety at their workplace	80% or greater	90%				Green
Percentage of respondents to duty holder survey saying the inspection was conducted in an efficient and effective manner and the amount of time taken was appropriate	80% or greater	99%				Green

4. Objective: increase and maintain trust to ensure people feel safe where they live, where they work, and in their environment

We work to achieve the right regulatory balance between supporting safe business practices and protecting workers. We protect people and their environment by ensuring chemicals are used effectively and safely, granting permission for use only where we are sufficiently reassured by those seeking our consent. We rigorously assess and review those applications for both permissioning and authorisation activities.

Key performance indicator	Target	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Rating
Deliver planned permissions for pesticides [footnote 2]	840	Delivered 188 permissions vs. 155 profiled (121%)				Green
Deliver planned permissions for biocides [footnote 2]	190	Delivered 67 permissions vs. 83 profiled (81%)				Red
Deliver authorisation opinions under UK REACH	7	Delivered 2 opinions vs. 2 profiled (100%)				Green
Deliver a programme of domestic gas safety engineer competence checks through our commercial partner	45,000	Delivered 10,616 competence checks vs. 10,198 profiled (104%)				Green

5. Objective: enable industry to innovate safely to prevent major incidents, supporting the move towards net zero

Throughout the year we actively worked with other government departments, businesses and stakeholders on a wide variety of net zero, science and research programmes and projects. We deliver work to reduce our own carbon footprint.

Key performance indicator	Target	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Rating
Provide health and safety expertise to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) Hydrogen Delivery programme concluding the assessment of hydrogen blending evidence	By the end of Q3	On track				Green
Complete experimental investigation of CO2 release impingement onto steel components under load for CCUS operations	By year end	On track				Green
In our role as a statutory consultee, contribute to the justification of practice assessment for fusion technologies	By year end	On track				Green
Achieve our Greening Government Commitments against agreed baseline	By year end	On track				Green

6. Objective: maintain Great Britain’s record as one of the safest countries to work in

These KPIs represent just part of our major hazards regulatory activity. Using a combination of case management records, the offshore portal and firsthand inspection we robustly review and assess safety reports to ensure worker safety. Where interventions have occurred, we complete follow-up activity to ensure appropriate action has been taken. We also ensure we investigate swiftly to hold duty holders to account where serious accidents have occurred, to identify what went wrong and help duty holders understand what they must do to put it right.

Key performance indicator	Target	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Rating
Control of Major Accident Hazards  (COMAH) and Offshore and Gas Safety Permissioning safety report assessments completed within agreed timescales	75%	Delivered 46 assessments on time vs. 54 due (85%)				Green
Land use planning applications processed via Web App to published timescales (21 days)	95%	100%				Green
Complete fatal investigations within 12 months of primacy	80%	Completed 24 investigations on time vs. 27 due (89%)				Green
Complete of non-fatal investigations within 12 months of incident date	90%	Completed 1,189 investigations on time vs. 1,271 due (94%)				Green

7. Objective: ensure HSE is a great place to work, and we attract and retain exceptional people

We continue to make HSE an excellent place to work, by building a more diverse and inclusive workplace, where everyone feels valued and is treated with dignity and respect.

Key performance indicator	Target	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Rating
Average time taken to recruit new colleagues	15 weeks or fewer	14.6 weeks				Green
Percentage of successful recruitment campaigns	80% or greater	83%				Green
Ensure average working days lost does not exceed 6.5 days per FTE	6.5 days or less lost (per FTE)	6.9 days				Amber

8. Enabling activities and customer service

To maximise our potential to affect positive change in supporting the delivery of our strategic objectives, we will use our resources efficiently and effectively, while investing in capability and supporting infrastructure as key enabling activities. The majority of our enabling activity is measured via a series of initiatives, projects or endeavours that we are delivering through the year. The full summary of our performance in this space will be available in our Annual Report and Accounts.

Key performance indicator	Target	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Rating
Engage 25,000 delegates through training and events	25,00	Engaged 6,119 delegates vs. 6,207 profiled (99%)				Amber
Usefulness rating of our information and guidance on hse.gov.uk	70% (average)	80%				Green
Percentage of Freedom of Information requests responded to within deadlines	90% or greater	Responded to 362 requests within deadline vs. 622 due (58%)				Red
Percentage of calls answered in the contact centre	95%	Answered 7,577 calls vs. 7,971 received (95%)				Green
Percentage of Tier 1 complaints responded to within 15 working days of receipt	80%	Responded to 35 complaints within deadline vs. 48 received (73%)				Amber

9. Further information

There is more information about our mission, priorities and performance on HSE’s website, including our strategy, Annual Report and Accounts, and business plan.

1. In addition to proactive sector inspections we also undertake a planned programme of onshore and offshore major hazard inspections within Chemicals, Explosives and Microbiological Hazards Division (CEMHD) and Energy Division (ED). ↩

2. Planned permissions refers to the overall mix of applications that are either due and received in year or we are dealing with that year that we know we have to process ↩ ↩²