Section 25: Monitoring: fees
107.Section 25 makes further provision relating to fees required to be paid under section 24(1)(d). During the first five years that monitoring is functioning, the Secretary of State will be able to take into account the costs of the Vetting and Barring Scheme over the whole of that period when setting the level of the monitoring fee. This will mean that he can set a fee that will not vary significantly over the first five years of the scheme, and that will enable the scheme to break even over the first five years. This is intended to avoid the risk of excessive fluctuations in the level of the fee that might have occurred in the early years if the fee had to provide income to meet the scheme’s costs in each year.
108.Subsections (2) and (3) ensure that in setting the fee the Secretary of State can take into account the cost of funding IBB and other expenditure incurred in connection with his functions under the Act. In other words, fees need not be limited to what is necessary to recoup expenditure incurred in connection with monitoring.
109.Subsection (3) is also intended to ensure that after the first five years, the fee will be set on the basis of meeting costs incurred each year.