1. FHRS ‘Brand Standard’ (Revision 3) – ensuring a consistent approach
Food Team briefing
FHRS ‘Brand Standard’ (Revision 3) – ensuring a consistent approach
Note for local authorities
This PowerPoint presentation has been designed to facilitate Food Team briefings on the Brand Standard as a reminder of what it requires. This version has been issued to coincide with the publication of Revision 3 of the Brand Standard (July 2014) and highlights where there has been changes to policy.
The presentation may also be used with new staff to give them an overview of key features of the guidance.
Any feedback is welcomed and should be sent to
Speaker’s notes – general introduction
This presentation will help us as a Team to remind us of what the FHRS Brand Standard requires and highlight, in particular, changes introduced as part of Revision 3 of the guidance that was issued in July 2014.
It will help us identify areas where we may need to consider things in more detail, and to identify issues that we may want to take back to the FSA for further clarification or explanation.
The Brand Standard is important as its purpose is to ensure consistency in implementation and operation of the FHRS by local authorities. This is so that businesses that receive ratings and consumers using these to inform their choices about where to eat out or shop for food can be confident that the local authority is operating the FHRS as the Food Standards Agency intends.

2. What does the briefing cover?
Which businesses should be rated?
How does the scoring & mapping work?
When and what needs to be notified to food businesses?
What goes on the website?
How does the appeal process work?
What does ‘right to reply’ involve?
How does the requested re-visits safeguard work?
How can we ensure consistency?
Any questions or comments?
What does the briefing cover?
The briefing cowers…
Read through the bullet points on the slide.

3. Follow the decision tree and answer the key questions
Which businesses should be rated?
Follow the decision tree and answer the key questions
Key question
Is the establishment subject to registration requirements or is it an approved establishment with a retail element?
Excluded from scope - no food hygiene rating No
Yes
Next key question
Which businesses should be rated?
Detailed guidance is given in the Brand Standard at Section 2, on Scope.
This identifies three broad categories of food businesses:
Those that supply food direct to consumers (fall within scope of the FHRS) and should be rated.
Those that supply food direct to consumers (fall within scope of the FHRS) but are not rated because specific circumstances apply
Those that do not supply food direct to consumers (fall outside the scope of the FHRS) and are therefore not rated.
A decision tree approach is taken to identifying which of these categories a business falls into and we can go though that now.
Just a reminder that this is just about deciding if the business should be given a rating or not – we will cover the IT status tags later. These tags determine what will be published on the FSA website.
The decision tree follows a series of key questions which we will go through now.
The first Key question: Is the establishment subject to registration requirements or is it an approved establishment with a retail element?
If the answer is ‘No’, the business is excluded from scope and should not receive a food hygiene rating. This will include approved premises where the FSA is the responsible for official controls and approved premises that do not have a retail element.
If the answer is ‘Yes’, then the next key question applies.

4. Follow the decision tree and answer the key questions
Which businesses should be rated?
Which businesses should be rated?
Follow the decision tree and answer the key questions
Examples
Primary producers, manufacturers, packers, importers and exporters, distributors (including wholesalers), transporters, and other inter-business suppliers.
Key question
Does the establishment supply food directly to consumers for consumption on or off the premises?
Excluded from scope – no food hygiene rating No
Examples
Restaurants, pubs, cafes, takeaways, sandwich shops, B&Bs, guest houses, hotels, mobile traders, market stalls and occasional markets, supermarkets, fruit & vegetable shops, off-licences, schools, nurseries and residential care homes, armed forces, police and Crown establishments, wholesalers or cash & carries selling food direct to consumers, other places that people eat food prepared outside of the home.
Yes
Which businesses should be rated?
The next question then is: Does the establishment supply food directly to consumers for consumption on or off the premises?
If the answer is ‘No’, the business is excluded from scope and should not receive a food hygiene rating.
This includes, for example, manufacturers and packers.
The FSA is keeping this under review and these business to business traders may be included at a later date.
As things stand, though, they are excluded and cannot opt in.
If the answer to the key question is ‘Yes’ – as in the examples given here – then the next key question applies.
Next key question

5. Follow the decision tree and answer the key questions
Which businesses should be rated?
Follow the decision tree and answer the key questions
Examples
Visitor centres & similar establishments selling tins of biscuits or other wrapped goods amongst a range of goods, leisure centres with only food vending machines (with only drinks or low-risk foods), newsagents selling only pre-packed confectionery, chemist shops, off licences selling only drinks and wrapped goods..
Key question
Is the establishment 'low-risk' and not generally recognised by consumers as being a food businesses?
Yes
No food hygiene rating
Important change to Revision 3
Businesses in this category can no longer ‘opt in’ to the FHRS. No
Next key question
Which businesses should be rated?
That question is: Is the establishment 'low-risk' and not generally recognised by consumers as being a food business?
If the answer is ‘Yes’, then no food hygiene rating should be given. This includes, for example, a visitor centre selling wrapped biscuits or sweets only, or a newsagent selling only pre-packed confectionery.
It’s not always easy to know which businesses a ‘Yes’ applies to here but we can discuss these on a case by case basis at Team meetings and we can raise queries at the Food Liaison Group and, if need be, with the FSA.
If businesses in this group consider that the lack of a rating disadvantages them, they used to be able to ask to ‘opt in’ to the scheme – this is no longer the case. Businesses that request to 'opt in' should be advised that they are outside of the FHRS and will not be rated.
This change in policy ensures consistency with the statutory FHRS scheme operating in Wales and it means that all businesses in these categories are on a level playing field in the three countries operating the scheme.
Where a business has previously ‘opted in’, the current rating may be retained as long as it is valid. This means until a new inspection, partial inspection or audit is undertaken or, in Northern Ireland, until the proposed statutory scheme is in place.
If the answer to the key question is ‘No’, then the next key question applies.

6. Follow the decision tree and answer the key questions
Which businesses should be rated?
Follow the decision tree and answer the key questions
Key question
Is the establishment operating from a private address?
Key question
Is the establishment a childminder or are other caring services being provided in the home environment as part of a family unit ?
Yes
Yes
No food hygiene rating
Important change to Revision 3
Businesses in this category can no longer ‘opt in’ to the FHRS. No No
Give food hygiene rating
Which businesses should be rated?
That question is: Is the establishment operating from a private address?
If the answer is ‘Yes’, then the next key question is whether the business is a child- minder or other caring service being provided at home. If it is, then no rating should be given.
The change in policy about ‘opting in’ is relevant here too – i.e. businesses in this group may no longer choose to ‘opt in’. Businesses that request this should be advised that they are outside of the FHRS and will not be rated.
Again, where a business has previously ‘opted in’, the current rating may be retained as long as it is valid. This means until a new inspection, partial inspection or audit is undertaken or, in Northern Ireland, until the proposed statutory scheme is in place.
If the business is operating from a private address but is not a child-minder or caring service, then a rating should be given.
Going back to the first key question on this slide - is the establishment operating from a private address? - if the answer is ‘No’, a food hygiene rating should be given. This will include restaurants, cafes takeaways, supermarkets and other shops etc.

7. Basis – Annex 5 of Code of Practice
How does the scoring & mapping work?
Basis – Annex 5 of Code of Practice
level of (current) compliance with food hygiene and safety procedures
level of (current) compliance with structural requirements
confidence in management/control procedures
Brand Standard has descriptions of standards that might be expected for each Annex 5 score - Section 3: Scoring
Rating at inspection, partial inspection or audit (only exception is requested re-visits)
Ratings cannot be given on the basis of self-assessment questionnaires
How does the scoring and mapping work?
Next we are going to talk about how the scoring and mapping works for the FHRS.
The scoring, of course, is based on Annex 5 of the Code of Practice and, in particular, the three compliance elements of this: compliance with food hygiene and safety procedures; compliance with structural requirements; and confidence in management/control procedures.
The descriptions at Section 3 of the Brand Standard give an idea of what the Annex 5 scores might be expected to look like in practice.
These serve to illustrate and complement the Code of Practice but not to supplement or replace it.
We won’t go through those in detail here but just to highlight that the ‘at a glance table’ provides a useful summary.
Given that ratings are based on Annex 5, they may only be given on the basis of an inspection, partial inspection or audit. The only exception is a requested re-visit.
Where the FBO has requested a re-visit, an inspection, partial inspection or audit certainly can be undertaken, and the intervention rating and FHRS rating changed.
In other cases a verification visit may be undertaken and be sufficient to establish if the required improvements have been made. In these cases, the FHRS rating may be changed but not the intervention rating.
In no case can a rating be based on a self assessment questionnaire.

8. Multi-site businesses
How does the scoring & mapping work?
Multi-site businesses
In assessing ‘confidence in management’ at multi-site business outlets, both company-wide management systems and procedures and the implementation locally form part of any assessment.
Where there is a Primary Authority Agreement, enforcing authorities should have regard to any Primary Authority Inspection Plan so that HACCP-based procedures are not subject to unnecessary further assessment.
Local implementation of the HACCP-based procedures should be considered in the same way as for independent ‘single outlet’ businesses.
How does the scoring & mapping work?
There are a few points that we should take into account when rating outlets that are part of a multi-site business.
Multi-site businesses may have company-wide management systems and procedures that individual outlets are required to operate under. In considering confidence in management for individual stores, the company-wide management system and procedures are a key element of this but local store level management is also important as that will influence how these systems and procedures are applied.
As more Primary Authority partnerships are set up, it is important to know which local business outlets have entered into these and whether an inspection plan for food safety has been produced. In some cases an indicative CIM score may be included in Primary Authority Inspection Plans based on corporate management systems being properly implemented.
Enforcing authorities must follow the requirements of Primary Authority Inspection Plans so that HACCP-based procedures are not subject to unnecessary further assessment. Enforcing authorities should, however, consider implementation of the HACCP-based procedures in the same way as for independent single outlet businesses.

9. How does the scoring & mapping work?
Mapping of numerical scores from the intervention-rating scheme at Annex 5 of the Food Law Code of Practice to the six FHRS food hygiene ratings
Total Annex 5 scores
0 - 15 20
> 50
Additional scoring factor
No individual score greater than 5
No individual score greater than 10
No individual score greater than 15
No individual score greater than 20 -
Food hygiene rating
Descriptor
Very good
Good
Generally satisfactory
Improvement necessary
Major improvement necessary
Urgent improvement necessary
How does the scoring and mapping work?
The mapping of the Annex 5 scores then gives the FHRS rating. This is covered at Section 4 of the Brand Standard.
The key thing is that it is not only the total score that is considered but also the individual scores – the Brand Standard refers to this as the additional scoring factor.
This means that if a business scores poorly in one or two areas, the rating will be lower.
On the next slide we’ll go through some examples of how this works.

10. How does the scoring & mapping work?
Examples
Individual Annex 5 scores
Total Annex 5 score
Highest score – additional scoring factor
Food hygiene rating
5, 5, 5 15 5
0, 5, 10 10
5, 5, 20 30 20
How does the scoring and mapping work?
Go through each example on the slide.

11. When and what needs to be notified to food businesses?
At the time of the intervention OR after but without undue delay and within 14 days of the intervention
Our policy is to [include policy]
What information?
Food hygiene rating
Details of why it was rated as it was
If less than a 5, the actions needed to achieve compliance for each of the three Annex 5 elements
Indication of when the rating will be published
Information on the safeguards including a weblink to food.gov.uk/ratings
Contact details
When and what needs to be notified to food businesses?
The next step then is about the notification of a rating to the FBO. This is covered in Section 5 of the Brand Standard.
[You may wish to amend the slide based on the LA policy on timing of notification – which must be either at the inspection or within 14 days]
Read through the points on the slide.
For When to notify, after first bullet add,… Notifying the FBO of their rating at the intervention and issuing the sticker at the same time provides a good opportunity to highlight to the FBO the advantages of displaying the rating in a prominent position so that potential customers can see it.
For multi-site businesses, the food hygiene rating must also be communicated to the head office, sending a copy of the notification letter together with a copy of any separate inspection report, left at or sent to the outlet. The sticker should be sent to the outlet rather than the head office.

12. When and what needs to be notified to food businesses?
What display material?
A sticker should be provided at the time of intervention or with the notification of the rating
Certificates should no longer be issued.
Unless the ‘new’ rating is a 5, ‘old’ stickers should not be removed as the ’old’ rating remains valid until the end of the appeal period
Important change to Revision 3
Certificates are no longer part of the FHRS and should not be provided to businesses
When and what needs to be notified to food businesses?
In terms of display materials that should be provided, an important change was made with Revision 3 of the Brand Standard.
Policy has been revised such that certificates are no longer part of the scheme – they should not be provided to businesses that receive a new rating now but rather, only a sticker should be provided.
Certificates that have been issued previously remain valid until a new rating is given.
The sticker should be authorised by completing the back.
Where there is a sticker (and a certificate) for the previous rating or an ‘awaiting inspection’ sticker these can be removed at the time if a rating of 5 is given.
Otherwise, the sticker should not be removed as the ‘new’ rating does not become valid until the end of the appeal period.
Removal of the sticker potentially compromises the FBOs right to appeal so the business should be requested to remove and destroy it at the end of the appeal period and reminded that continuing to display it may constitute an offence under trading standards legislation, e.g., the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
If standards were very poor, we’re likely to be going back anyway and we can take the sticker down then assuming the appeal period has elapsed.

13. What goes on the website?
Operation
Examples
Status tag
Does not supply direct to consumers
Manufacturers, packers, exporters
Excluded
Supplies consumers direct, is rated, and can publish full address
Supermarkets, restaurants, cafes, pubs, hospitals, schools
Included
Supplies consumers direct, is rated, but sensitivities about publishing full address
Home caterers and mobile traders
Included and private
Supplies consumers direct but not rated as ‘low risk’ and not recognised as a food business, and can publish full address
Visitor centres selling biscuits, newsagents selling only pre-packed confectionary
Exempt
What goes on the website?
Now we’ll cover what goes on the website and how we ensure what is published is correct and in line with Section 10 of the Brand Standard.
What is published is determined by the ‘status tag’ that we assign for the business record on our own IT system.
Read through for each group on the slide.

14. Awaiting inspection and private
What goes on the website?
Operation
Examples
Status tag
Supplies consumers direct, is rated but sensitivities about publishing any address
Military establishments, child-minders and other caring services provided in home environments
Sensitive
Supplies consumers direct but not rated as ‘low risk’ and not recognised as a food business, but sensitivities about publishing full address
Exempt and private
Businesses that have yet to receive an inspection and to be given a rating
Awaiting inspection
Businesses that have yet to receive an inspection and to be given a rating and where there are sensitivities in about publishing full address information
Awaiting inspection and private
What goes on the website?
Read through for each group on the slide.

15. What goes on the website?
Status tags
Excluded
Nothing
Included
Business name and full address
LAEMS business category
Date of inspection OR date of revised food hygiene rating
Food hygiene rating OR revised food hygiene rating OR ‘awaiting inspection’ OR ‘awaiting publication’
Included and private
Business name and partial address
LAEMS business category
Date of inspection OR date of revised food hygiene rating
Food hygiene rating OR revised food hygiene rating OR ‘awaiting inspection’ OR ‘awaiting publication’
What goes on the website?
The ‘Status Tag’ will tell the FSA IT system what should be published so we’ll go through this for each tag now.
Read through for each status tag on the slide.
Where only the partial address is published, the website will show that the business is ‘Registered with [NAME OF LA]’ and the first part of the postcode (where supplied) e.g. for WC2B 6NH, ‘WC2B’ will be published.

16. Awaiting inspection and private
What goes on the website?
Exempt
Business name and full address
LAEMS business category
‘Exempt’ in place of a food hygiene rating
Exempt and private
Business name and partial address
LAEMS business category
‘Exempt’ in place of a food hygiene rating
Sensitive
Nothing
Awaiting inspection
Business name and full address
LAEMS business category
‘Awaiting inspection’ in place of a food hygiene rating
What goes on the website?
Read through for each status tag on the slide.
Awaiting inspection and private
Business name and partial address – local authority name and first part of postcode only
LAEMS business category
‘Awaiting inspection’ in place of a food hygiene rating

17. How does the appeals process work?
FBO can appeal if s/he considers rating is unjust
Try to resolve informally first
Appeals must be lodged within 14 days of date of notification of rating
Appeals should be determined by Lead Officer for Food or deputy, or an officer from another authority
Applies to ratings at planned interventions and ratings given at requested re-visits/re-inspections
Template forms available
If FBO remains dissatisfied s/he can challenge by judicial review
How does the appeals process work?
The Brand Standard also provides guidance on each of the business safeguards and we’ll briefly go through each of these now.
We’ll start with the appeal process.
Read through the bullet points.
After the second add… where the FBO raises a potential dispute with the inspecting officer and wishes to discus things informally, such discussion does not form part of the formal appeal process so does not change the deadline within which an appeal must be lodged. This should be made clear to the FBO so that they may lodge an appeal, and may subsequently withdraw it, if they so wish.
After the third add… an appeal has to be made in writing within the period of 14 days beginning with the date of notification – this includes weekends and bank holidays.
After the fourth add… the FSA is content for a neighbouring authority to determine an appeal.
After the last add… the FBO can also follow the authority’s corporate complaints procedure if they consider the service has not been properly delivered, but the FSA’s Independent Business Appeals Panel is not a route for redress in cases of disputed food hygiene ratings.
The flow chart in the Brand Standard in Section 6 provides a useful summary of the process and this is shown on the next slide.

18. How does the appeals process work?
Inspection, partial inspection, or audit or requested re-inspection/re-visit
No ‘appeal’ lodged within 14 days of notification
FBO notified of rating at time of intervention or within 14 days
FBO disputes rating and raises matter with ‘inspecting’ officer
‘food hygiene rating’ published
Dispute resolved
FBO still disputes rating and appeals within 14 days of date of notification
Shown as ‘awaiting publication’
How does the appeals process work?
Go through flow chart.
Appeal determined and decision communicated to FBO within 7 days

19. What does ‘right to reply’ involve?
Provides FBO with an opportunity:
explain unusual circumstances at time of inspection
highlight actions taken since inspection to improve standards
May submit electronically or in writing – template forms available
LA reviews text and edits to remove offensive, defamatory or clearly inaccurate or irrelevant remarks
LA should process and publish as soon as possible and without undue delay
Comments published at food.gov.uk/ratings
What does ‘right to reply’ involve?
FBOs also have a ‘right to reply’.
Read through the bullet points.
After the first add… The ‘right to reply’ is intended to apply only to those businesses that do not achieve the top rating.
After the third add... If the text is amended, a copy should be provided to the FBO so that they have an opportunity to comment on the changes prior to the publication.
After the fourth add... This has been included in Revision 3 to make sure the safeguard is operated fairly.

20. How does the requested revisits safeguard work?
FBOs can request a revisit when improvements identified at inspection have been made
Revisits between three and six months after inspection and generally unannounced
Only one revisit between planned interventions
If inspection/partial inspection/audit, the risk rating also changed
Ratings may go up, down or remain the same
Template form available
How does the requested revisits safeguard work?
Where improvements have been made, the FBO can request a re-assessment of their rating.
Read through the points on the slide.
Add.. Just as a reminder, if we are carrying out enforcement re-inspection, it is possible to give a new intervention rating and new FHRS rating.

21. Operate our FHRS consistency framework Apply the FHRS ‘Brand Standard’
How can we ensure consistency?
Operate our FHRS consistency framework
Apply the FHRS ‘Brand Standard’
Implement FSA ‘Top tips’
Monitoring and auditing
Training requirements and participation in consistency exercises
Officer competency
Food business database management
Carrying out inspections and other interventions
Interpretation of Annex 5
Maintenance of intervention records and correspondence
Service monitoring and related record keeping
Operation of FHRS safeguards
How can we ensure consistency?
Consistency is key to success of the scheme.
There are a range of tools we need to use to achieve this:
Read through the points on the slide.

22. Increasing FHRS visibility Ensuring a fair and consistent approach
How can we ensure consistency?
Top tips
Increasing FHRS visibility
Ensuring a fair and consistent approach
Improving data accuracy
Business growth
Multi-site outlets and primary authorities
How can we ensure consistency?
The Top tips’ can be found on the FSA website.
They give tips on:
increasing display of ratings,
ensuring consistency,
improving accuracy of data quality,
supporting business growth and making the most of your website, and
ensuring a consistent approach to multi-site businesses.
Others will be added from time to time.

23. Regularly review and discuss cases within the Food Team meetings
How can we ensure consistency?
Consistent scoring
Take account of the basic principles for applying Annex 5 of the Food Law Code of Practice
Regularly review and discuss cases within the Food Team meetings
Participate in FSA Annex 5 consistency training and other relevant training and cascade the learning
If there is a Primary Authority agreement, make sure any Primary Authority inspection plan is followed
How can we ensure consistency?
Some particular things for us to consider when scoring are listed here:
Read through the points on the slide.

24. Consistent and accurate data
How can we ensure consistency?
Consistent and accurate data
Check records on the database each time a new rating is given to ensure the LAEMS category is correct (see examples/definitions in the guidance at
Check status tags are correct (child-minders should always have a ‘sensitive’ status)
Check that the business name is still correct and that the address details are up to date and the full postcode is included
Upload data to FSA system as regularly as possible but at least every 27 days
If notified of possible errors on business details by Transparency Data (Scores on the Doors), only make appropriate amendments to your own database system
How can we ensure consistency?
Making sure our data is accurate and up-to-date is important to so we should be:
Read through the points on the slide.
Regarding Scores on the Doors, the website operated by Transparency Data uses the open data from the FSA website, as other third parties also do.
This means that you need to make amendments on your own database, then when you upload data to the FHRS portal, the changes will be reflected on the Scores on the Doors site and any other site that uses the data.
Only changing the details on the Scores on the Doors system means that there would be inconsistency in the information available on different websites.

25. Consistent messages for businesses
How can we ensure consistency?
Consistent messages for businesses
Explain the improvements needed under the three Annex 5 headings
Use the FSA template letters for notifying ratings and template letters and forms for dealing with safeguards.
Use FSA leaflets
How can we ensure consistency?
Making sure we give consistent messages to businesses is important too so we should…
Read through the points on the slide.

26. Any questions or comments?
Any comments on the Brand Standard to feed back to the Food Hygiene Ratings Team at the FSA?
Any question or comments?
Read through the points on the slide.
[Local information can be included]