WIREDGOV

On 26 June 2025, Ofcom published its final policy statement on the implementation of the fees and penalties regime under the Online Safety Act 2023. The statement follows a public consultation held between October 2024 and January 2025 and confirms how the regulator will recover the costs of delivering its online safety duties. 

Key Documents: 

• Ofcom Policy Statement on Online Safety – fees and penalties 
• Annex 3 – Ofcom’s QWR regulations (statutory instrument) 
• Annex 4 – Ofcom's Notification Regulations in Parliament (statutory instrument) 

Key Takeaways for Business: 

• Fees Based on Revenue: Providers of regulated online services will be required to pay annual fees to Ofcom if their Qualifying Worldwide Revenue (QWR) exceeds a threshold set by the Secretary of State. Ofcom has recommended this threshold be set at £250 million. 
• UK Revenue Exemption: Ofcom has proposed that providers with less than £10 million in UK-derived revenue will be exempt from fee-related duties, even if their global revenue exceeds the QWR threshold. 
• Definition of QWR: QWR will be calculated based on global revenues referable to the relevant parts of regulated services – those that host user-generated content, search functions, or pornographic content. Ofcom will issue further guidance in late 2025 to help companies calculate and apportion revenue where needed. 

Full QWR definition 

“We define QWR as the total revenue of a provider referable to the provision of the following parts of regulated services anywhere in the world: first, the parts on which regulated user-generated content may be encountered; second, the parts on which search content may be encountered; and third, the parts on which regulated provider pornographic content may be encountered. We refer to these parts of a regulated service as the ‘relevant parts’ in the remainder of this statement.” 

• Penalties: The same QWR definition will be used to determine maximum financial penalties for non-compliance (up to 10% of QWR or £18 million). Where companies are jointly and severally liable (e.g. parent and subsidiary entities), Ofcom will use a broader definition encompassing full group revenues. 
• Charging Principles and Notification: Ofcom will consult on its Statement of Charging Principles (SoCP) in Q4 2025 and expects to adopt a tariff in the region of 0.02 – 0.03%. Companies will need to notify Ofcom of their QWR within four months of the QWR Threshold regulations coming into force, which is expected in Q4 2025. 

Next Steps: 

Ofcom have also submitted advice on the QWR Threshold to the Secretary of State as required under the Act.  

The Secretary of State of DSIT is required to make regulations setting the QWR Threshold figure, which are expected to be laid in Parliament in Q4 2025.  

Liable providers will then have to submit their QWR notifications to Ofcom. For the first charging year, notifications need to be submitted within four months of the date on which the threshold regulations come into force.