Online Safety Act fees start 2026/27: £250m threshold

Here’s the update in plain English. On 18 November 2025, the Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary, Liz Kendall, wrote to Ofcom confirming the Online Safety Act fee plan: a £250 million Qualifying Worldwide Revenue threshold; an exemption for providers with less than £10 million in UK‑referable revenue; and 2026/27 as the first charging year. She will lay a Statutory Instrument to set the threshold, ask Ofcom to keep options for lower‑risk sectors (such as vertical search) under review, and review figures after the first year.

Why this matters for you and your students is simple: this is about how the regulator is funded and which services contribute. Setting the headline numbers gives companies clarity to plan, and it helps us discuss fairness-who pays, how much, and when-using real figures rather than guesswork.

If you build or study digital services, think of the threshold as a high bar aimed at very large firms. Most small or new platforms will not pay under these figures, and the UK‑income exemption is designed to give time to grow before fees kick in. That creates space for start‑ups while making sure the biggest players help fund user safety work.

A quick glossary to teach with. Qualifying Worldwide Revenue is defined in law; in plain terms, it looks at a company’s global income from services that fall under the Act. UK‑referable revenue is the share linked to UK users or sales. A Statutory Instrument is the legal tool ministers use to fix details like thresholds once Parliament has passed the main Act.

Try this classroom example. Imagine a community app turning over £55 million globally with £6 million from UK users. On those numbers, it sits below both figures signposted in the letter, so no fee would be due in the first year. A large platform with hundreds of millions from UK users would likely contribute. This frames good discussion on proportionality and competition.

There’s also a research angle here. Ministers support Ofcom looking at evidence for targeted exemptions where risks to users are lower-for example, in some vertical search services. That invites students to examine how we balance safety goals with innovation in different parts of the online world.

Dates to note for your lesson plan: the letter is dated 18 November 2025 and was published by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 20 November 2025. The first charging year is 2026/27, with the threshold kept under review after that initial year under section 86(3) of the Act.

What happens next. Watch for the Statutory Instrument that sets the threshold in regulations and Ofcom’s detailed guidance on how fees will be calculated and collected. If you teach or build in this space, keep records of where revenue comes from, especially the UK share, so you can map yourself against the rules as they firm up.