Purpose

Due to a national shortage of qualified Trading Standards Officers (TSOs) and the introduction of the new Food Standards Code Delivery Model 2023, many Unitary and Metropolitan local authorities have transferred the the food standards function over to their Environmental Health service. Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) have the necessary qualifications to enforce both food hygiene and Food Standards. In March 2026, after failure to recruit a qualified TSO it was agreed that the food standards function is transferred to the Environmental Health Service along with the budget to support the recruitment of an additional SEHO/EHO.

The new permanent post will help meet the anticipated demands on the Environmental Health service to fulfil the statutory food standards function.

Decision

The Director (Neighbourhood Services) in consultation with the Executive Director (Resources and Partnership) approve: -

·       The deletion of 1.0FTE x Senior Trading Standards Enforcement Officer (Grade O) post from within the Trading Standards service; and

·       The establishment of 1.0FTE x permanent Senior Environmental Health Officer / Environmental Health Officer (Grade L/M) post within the Environmental Health service using budget resources released from the above post deletion.

Alternative options considered

Readvertising for a new TSO was considered and rejected given previous failed attempts and the national shortage of qualified TSOs.