Primary Authority Partnerships: A Blueprint for Multi-Site Food Businesses

If you run a food business across more than one site, you can end up with a different Environmental Health Officer giving different advice at every location, sometimes contradictory advice. Primary Authority is the scheme built to fix that. Launched in 2009 and opened to every business regardless of size from 1 October 2017, it lets you form a legal partnership with a single local authority that then acts as your one point of contact for regulatory advice, including food safety. This blueprint explains how it works and whether it is worth pursuing.

What Primary Authority actually gives you

• Assured advice: Written advice from your primary authority that every other local authority enforcing officer must respect, protection against enforcement action based on a different interpretation, provided you followed it.
• Inspection plans: A plan, approved by the Secretary of State, that sets out how enforcing officers at any of your sites should carry out inspections, replacing ad hoc, inconsistent visits from officers who do not know your business.
• One relationship, many sites: A single named contact who understands your business, rather than starting from zero explaining your operation to a new officer at every site.

Direct partnership vs coordinated partnership

There are two ways into the scheme, and the right one depends on your size and structure.

• Direct Partnership: Your business partners directly with one local authority. Suits businesses with more complex, higher-risk or larger multi-site operations.
• Coordinated Partnership: Your business joins a group of similar businesses managed by a coordinator, often a trade association. Suits smaller businesses with simpler needs, and shares the cost across the group.

Who administers it

The scheme sits under the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), which reviews partnership applications, coordinates Secretary of State approval for inspection plans, and maintains the national Primary Authority Register.

What it costs

A primary authority can charge to cover its own costs of running the partnership, advice, inspection plan maintenance, but cannot profit from it. Fees vary by local authority and the scope of work, and are usually charged as a fixed fee or hourly rate.

The blueprint: is it worth it for your business?

1. Map every site you operate and how much regulatory advice already varies between EHOs today.
2. If you are one larger business with complex, multi-site operations, look at a Direct Partnership with a local authority local to your head office or main production site.
3. If you are a smaller producer, or part of a trade body, check whether a Coordinated Partnership already exists for your sector before starting from scratch.
4. Before applying, make sure your HACCP-based food safety management system is solid, assured advice is only as good as the system it is advising on.
5. Use the Primary Authority Register to find and approach a candidate authority, or ask your trade association about its existing coordinated scheme.

A HACCP-based system that can support Primary Authority advice needs the same foundations as a certification-ready one. Our HACCP service builds one around your menu, and if you are already working toward SALSA, BRC or another GFSI-recognised standard, our accreditation gap assessment checks the same ground. If you want an honest read on where your compliance stands first, start with our free risk assessment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Primary Authority cost anything?

Your primary authority can charge to cover its own costs, but it cannot profit from the partnership. Costs vary by local authority and the scope of work, and are usually a fixed fee or an hourly rate.

Can a single restaurant or café use Primary Authority?

Yes. Since 1 October 2017 the scheme has been open to every business, not just multi-site operators, though the benefit is largest where you deal with more than one local authority today.

Does Primary Authority replace the need for a HACCP plan?

No. Primary Authority gives you assured advice and consistent inspection treatment, it does not replace your own food safety management system. Assured advice is only as reliable as the operation and documentation behind it.