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Food Premises Hygiene Scores "Scores on Doors"

A Rating Scheme for Food Businesses in the Counties of Worcestershire and Herefordshire

Local authorities in Herefordshire and Worcestershire are working together to ensure consistency and transparency of information relating to food hygiene inspections, by publishing the scores that food businesses receive following a food hygiene inspection.

In our scheme caterers will be awarded from 0 to 5 stars based on the results of a food hygiene inspection. The star rating is available to view on this website and a certificate, for voluntary display, is provided to the food business.

From its launch date on 28th January 2008, the results for all caterers inspected since 1st April 2007 are available. We plan to add inspection results for other categories of business, such as retailers, in the future (subject to introduction of a national scheme).

The score is only an indication of the conditions found on the day of inspection and takes into account compliance with food hygiene rules, the structure of the premises and our confidence in the management of the business.

The star ratings are as follows:

Click here to search for a star rating

Level of Compliance	Number of Stars
Excellent	*****
Very Good	********
Good	*******
Broadly Compliant	**
Poor	*
Very Poor	None

Full guidance on the scheme is available below

Introduction

Local authorities have a duty under food safety legislation to inspect food businesses in their areas to ensure that food hygiene standards are maintained. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 has introduced the opportunity for local authorities to provide this information to the public. This document provides information to businesses, consumers and officers on the way in which we will make the information available.

Aims

The overall aim of the scheme is to improve food safety and hygiene standards among businesses providing food and drink to consumers living, working or visiting Worcestershire or Herefordshire.

The individual aims of the proposed scheme are:

To provide consumers with a user-friendly way to access the information they need to make informed choices about where to eat in the two Counties.
To encourage food businesses where deficiencies are found to improve their standards of food hygiene leading to safer food.
To ensure that those food businesses achieving consistently high standards of food hygiene are publicly recognised and rewarded.

Currently there is no national scheme or format for publishing information about individual businesses. Our scheme involves publishing the results of recent inspections on our internet sites and providing a certificate to premises which they may choose to display showing their ‘score’ in the form of a star rating. This document is designed to inform users about the background to the system.

Consultation

As responsible councils we have consulted to ascertain the views of those groups affected by this scheme.

Food hygiene inspections

Our qualified officers rate all food businesses for food safety during routine inspections and inspections following complaints, using a national scheme. We score each business against 8 main criteria, 3 of which are under the direct control of the business and impact on food safety standards. They are:

Food hygiene and safety
Structural requirements
Confidence in management

We therefore consider it reasonable to base any score on these 3 criteria. The better the business, the lower the combined scores for these three criteria will be.

Rating methods

The Herefordshire and Worcestershire Council’s scheme turns the total score for a business (see above and below) into a simple star rating – from 0 stars for the worst performing businesses to 5 stars for the best.

Score	Level of Compliance	Number of Stars
Up to 5	Excellent	*****
6 - 15	Very Good	****
16 - 25	Good	***
26 - 30	Broadly Compliant	**
31- 45	Poor	*
46 +	Very Poor	None

Excellent	- very high standards of food safety management. Fully compliant with food safety legislation.
Very Good	- good food safety management. High standards of compliance with food safety legislation.
Good	- good level of legal compliance. Some more effort may be required.
Broadly Compliant	- broadly compliant with food safety legislation. More effort required to meet all legal requirements.
Poor	- poor level of compliance with food safety legislation, much more effort required.
Very poor	- a general failure to comply with legal requirements. Little or no appreciation of food safety. Major effort required.

Legal implications

The publication of ratings could have a very negative impact upon the turnover and profitability of those food businesses with a poor score. However we are obliged to disclose information held on any business under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The proposed scheme provides the information in a format which can be simply accessed and interpreted by consumers so that they may make an informed choice about where to purchase food.

It is a criminal offence for businesses to mislead customers by displaying a ‘Scores on the Doors’ certificate that does not apply, as a customer may decide to use that business instead of somewhere else because they have seen the higher star rating. For example, displaying or advertising, a 4 star certificate when you are a 2 star premises would be an offence under the Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

Therefore, if you have a changed star rating you must remove the certificate with the old star rating and, if you wish to display a certificate replace it with your current star rating.

Re-rating

We will revise the rating of food premises, if appropriate, when we visit. This may be for a number of reasons including full inspections, to check compliance with legal notices, on complaint or to carry out a check on food safety management systems. We will always publish the most recent rating, which will reflect the conditions found at the time of the visit and the track record of the business. You can find further information on the frequency of inspection of food businesses and the rating policy on the Food Standards Agency website.

Scope of the scheme

Ultimately we we aim to apply the scheme to all food businesses in Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Initially the majority of caterers will be involved in the scheme. We expect a national scheme to be published in the next year or two and we will revise our scheme to take account of any such scheme when it is published.

Need for consistency in inspections

Any scoring system needs to be fair, robust and consistent. We hold consistency meetings and exercises within each Council and between authorities in Worcestershire and Herefordshire. Consistency will be actively monitored and any problems addressed.

Business ownership changes

A change of ownership may result in standards improving or falling. We will endeavour to only publish scores relating to current owners and to inspect new businesses when they register with us. It is the responsibility of businesses to inform us of changes and to maintain an up-to-date registration with us.

Appeals procedure

Businesses that wish to discuss the results of an inspection are encouraged to do so by contacting the officer concerned or the Business Compliance Manager on 01905 822799. If informal discussion fails to resolve the issue a business may formally appeal their rating by writing to:

Head of Regulatory Services
Wychavon District Council
Civic Centre, Queen Elizabeth Drive
Pershore WR10 1PT

Where the appeal is upheld and the original score is judged incorrect following the investigation, an amended score will be given.