Statement: Online Safety - fees and penalties

Statement published 26 June 2025

Today we are publishing our policy statement on the implementation of the online safety fees and penalties regime. We have carefully considered responses to our public consultation, which ran from October 2024 to January 2025, and today set out our final decisions and the reasons for reaching such decisions.

We will continue to engage with stakeholders through further consultations on Notification Guidance, Qualifying Worldwide Revenue (QWR) Guidance and a Statement of Charging Principles later this year ahead of the regime coming into force.  

The Online Safety Act 2023 (Act) requires that Ofcom’s operating costs for the online safety regime are recovered through fees imposed on certain providers of regulated services. In particular, providers whose QWR is above a threshold set by the Secretary of State (following advice from Ofcom) and which are not exempt from the duty to pay fees.  

Whilst the Act requires that Ofcom set fees by reference to a provider's QWR, the Act does not define QWR and gives Ofcom the power to do so in regulations. The Act also stipulates that the same definition of QWR for fees should apply to calculate the maximum penalty that can be imposed by Ofcom on a provider in breach of its duties under the Act, although we have the power to adopt a different definition where we find joint and several liability.   
  
This Statement sets out our final decisions regarding implementation of the fees and penalties regime under the Act. It includes our decisions on:

• The definition of, and approach to calculating QWR for the purpose of online safety fees;
• The definition of QWR which should apply to determine penalty caps where there is joint and several liability;
• Exemptions to the fees regime;
• Our advice to the Secretary of State on the QWR Threshold; 
• Our approach to the Statement of Charging Principles;
• The evidence, information and supporting documents to be supplied by providers as part of the QWR Notifications process. 

Today, the Government is also expected to lay Ofcom’s QWR and Notification Regulations in Parliament (Annex 3 and 4 to this statement). 
  
We have also submitted our advice on the QWR Threshold to the Secretary of State as required under the Act. The Secretary of State is required to make regulations setting the QWR Threshold figure, which are expected to be laid in Parliament in Q4 2025. Liable providers will then have to submit their QWR notifications to Ofcom. For the first charging year, notifications need to be submitted within four months of the date on which the threshold regulations come into force. 
  
In accordance with the Act, we have also submitted to the Secretary of State our decision on the UK referable revenue exemption for approval. A formal announcement on the outcome of the approval process will be published on our website. 
 
If you have any questions about this statement, please contact us on osfeesregime@ofcom.org.uk.