Following its December 2022 consultation on whether its fee structure remains appropriate, PSR has published a policy statement setting out changes for 2023/24 onwards.
The existing structure has been in place since 2018 – PSR sought to retain this regime but update the way in which fees are allocated. The two main changes are:
- No fee will be charged to smaller firms, by introducing a minimum yearly fee threshold of £100 for regulated payment service provider.
- A special project fee will be charged for payment system operators with for-profit business models where work is related to or arises from their designation, for example, making sure an appropriate regulatory framework is agreed.
PSR has narrowed the scope of what will be classified as special project work as a result of consultation feedback highlighting concerns about how fees would be scoped under a broader mechanism: the fee as originally proposed related to the cost of “one-off significant activities” which may be time-limited and require additional resources, with this definition to include designation activity, as well as market studies or market reviews. Ultimately, PSR moved forward with the amended approach as above in line with other regulators, focussing on work relating to designation only.
Kate Fitzgerald, Head of Policy at PSR, said that these changes will “reduce the burden on smaller firms and fill an important gap in recovering the costs involved with this designation work”.
The new rules came into force on 28 April 2023.