UK Online Safety Act fees regime kicks off – initial notifications due by 11 April 2026

The UK's OSA fee regime came into force on 11 December 2025. The fee regime is intended to cover Ofcom's costs in regulating online safety.

Who has to pay?

Regulated services are required to calculate their Qualifying Worldwide Revenue (QWR). Where they meet or exceed the QWR threshold of £250 million in a particular charging period, fees will be payable unless relevant UK revenue is less than £10 million or another exemption applies.

How much are the fees?

Fees are not intended to result in a profit and any surplus will be carried over to the following year. This means the exact amount payable is determined each year although Ofcom has indicated it will be 0.02-0.03% of QWR.

How do you calculate QWR?

The process is set out in the Online Safety Act 2023 (Qualifying Worldwide Revenue) Regulations 2025. Broadly, Ofcom says service providers must aggregate revenue from the relevant parts of all their regulated services ie the part of the service where user-to-user generated content, search content or pornographic content may be encountered. Ofcom has produced guidance on making the calculation.

What is the notification requirement?

If QWR meets or exceeds the QWR threshold, providers must notify Ofcom in relation to a charging year for the initial charging year, a new fee cycle (after a previous non-paying year), or a non-paying year (after a paying one). Once an initial notification has been given, providers will receive rolling requests for information on an annual basis. Notification should be made through the online fees portal.

What information must be included in a notification?

Initial fee-paying notifications should include:

• details of the providers' regulated services and QWR with supporting evidence

• a declaration by a senior manager that the information provided is accurate and complete

• where relevant, a statement that this is the first fee-paying year.

Further information on what to include in notifications is provided in Ofcom's notification guidance.

What does this mean for you?

Providers of regulated services under the OSA whose QWR meets or exceeds £250 million must (unless they are exempt) notify Ofcom by 11 April 2026, under s83 OSA for the initial 2026/27 charging year via the Online Safety Fees Portal.

The notification must contain details of the regulated services and details of QWR for the period between 1 January-31 December 2024.

Ofcom will publish tariff tables on or before 31 March 2026. These will be updated in August-September 2026 once QWR returns have been processed.

Providers should expect invoices by September 2026.