Paying the Price of Online Safety – Actions Needed for Ofcom's Online Safety Act Fees Regime

As implementation of the UK’s online safety regime continues, Ofcom has operationalised its online safety fees framework under the Online Safety Act 2023 (“OSA”). Under the OSA, in scope services are required to:

1. Register and notify Ofcom; and
2. Pay an online safety fee to Ofcom based on the service’s qualifying worldwide revenue (“QWR”)

The notification window for the initial 2026/2027 charging year opened in December 2025. Fee-liable providers must register and notify Ofcom by 11 April 2026.

Who must pay?

The fees regime applies to services regulated under the OSA. These include providers of:

• User-to-user services (such as social platforms and file-sharing services);
• Search services;
• Certain regulated pornographic services; or
• Combined services containing elements of the above.

Providers who have met or exceeded the QWR threshold of £250 million within a qualifying period will be required to pay. However, providers that meet this threshold are exempt from the online safety fee if their UK-referable revenue in the qualifying period is less than £10 million.

How are the fees calculated?

For each qualifying period (the 12-month period which QWR is calculated from), the relevant online safety fee is paid within the subsequent charging period (normally two calendar years after the qualifying period). For example, tariffs for the 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 charging period are payable based on the QWR from the qualifying period of 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024. 

Tariffs for the 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 charging period are expected to be published in Q3 2026, with invoices for the online safety fee sent by September 2026.

A new tariff will be published for each charging period. Ofcom has indicated the fees payable will likely be between 0.02% to 0.03% of QWR. 

How to calculate QWR?

Service providers will be required to calculate the total revenue for each qualifying period deriving from its services which are regulated under the OSA. In calculating a provider’s QWR, Ofcom expects the following:

• Attributable Revenue: Total revenue arising from regulated services under the OSA. Calculations must conform to applicable accounting standards.
• Geography: Revenue deriving globally will be attributable.
• Corporate Structure: Revenue attributable to regulated services by other corporate group members is part of the QWR calculations.
• Currency: QWR must be calculated in GBP (£) using a “just and reasonable exchange rate”.

Apportionment

Where revenue cannot be apportioned between regulated and non-regulated services, apportionment must be conducted using a “just and reasonable method”. There is limited guidance on what is “just and reasonable”, practically, providers should be able to explain logically how the calculations arose. 

Ofcom has suggested examples of apportionment methods can be based on usage (pages viewed, time spent etc…), advertising revenue, costs as well as existing apportionment.

Registration with Ofcom

Once a provider becomes liable to paying online safety fees, they must register with Ofcom by completing their registration form on the Ofcom website and email it to osfeesmid@ofcom.org.uk. This provides access to the Online Safety Fees Portal where notifications to Ofcom are made.

Notifications to Ofcom

Once registered, there are three types of notification that may take place:

1. Initial Notification: The first year that the provider becomes eligible for paying the online safety fee.
2. New Fee Cycle Notification: Where a provider paid the online safety fee in the preceding year and is eligible for payment of the fee in the upcoming charging year.
3. Non Fee-Paying Notification: Where a provider paid the online safety fee in the preceding year but is not eligible for payment of the fee in the upcoming charging year. There is no requirement to submit a non fee-paying notification on an ongoing annual basis if the QWR threshold is not met for consecutive periods. 

As part of the notification, providers will be expected to provide details of the regulated services it operates, QWR for the relevant qualifying period as well as supporting evidence and documents. Evidence of QWR calculations is expected to be drawn from financial records. This may include: 

• a spreadsheet showing how QWR has been calculated;
• details of the underlying data sources;
• commentary explaining key assumptions, such as revenue allocation; and
• reconciliation with revenue reported in financial statements.

Providers should also expect “rolling RFIs”, a continuous cycle of request for information from Ofcom throughout the fee payment cycle to ascertain QWR and ensure providers apprise themselves of the notification and fee payment requirements.

What should providers do now?

Providers should ensure they are prepared should they cross the QWR threshold and become eligible for paying the online safety fee. Providers who may become eligible should:

1. Identify which of its services are regulated under the OSA.
2. Identify and monitor its QWR for each qualifying period, starting from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024, then for each calendar year thereafter.
3. Determine whether its QWR falls below, meets or exceeds the £250 million threshold for each qualifying period.
4. Register with Ofcom using the registration form if the threshold is met or exceeded.
5. Submit notifications to Ofcom where relevant and respond to any rolling RFIs sent by Ofcom.

With the fees framework now taking shape, providers should not ignore Ofcom’s communication nor its legal duties of notification and payment of the online safety fee.