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Fines & enforcement

What the EA's 10-Point Plan on Waste Crime Means for Your Permit (2026)

11 min read

The fine is not the thing that ends a waste business. Losing the permit is. And the Environment Agency's 10-Point Plan on waste crime is aimed squarely at the permit - who holds it, who can be handed it, and how quickly a poor performer can lose it.

The scale is why the pressure is real. The government's own Waste Crime Action Plan says "20% of all waste estimated to be illegally managed" and that "waste crime is costing the English economy £1 billion each year" (Waste Crime Action Plan, 2026). A legitimate, permitted site is not the target of that crackdown. But you sit inside the same regime, you are the easy site to inspect, and the plan tightens the rules that decide whether you keep operating.

So here is the short answer. The 10-Point Plan does not hand the EA new arrest powers overnight, and it does not invent a new fine you have never heard of. What it does is put more money behind enforcement, sharpen the fit and proper person checks that sit on your permit, and make your compliance band a public, permit-risk score rather than just a line on your annual charge. This guide walks through what actually changed and what a permitted operator should do about it.

Key takeaways

  • The plan commits "an additional £45 million for the Environment Agency to spend on waste crime enforcement over the next 3 financial years" (Waste Crime Action Plan, 2026).
  • Police-style powers are being explored, not granted: Defra and the Home Office "will explore" using measures in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and Proceeds of Crime Act (Waste Crime Action Plan, 2026).
  • New "fit and proper permit checks" are aimed at stopping permits being transferred to unscrupulous operators (Waste Crime Action Plan, 2026).
  • Your compliance band sets your annual charge and your permit risk: Band F sites pay 300% of the baseline subsistence charge and are "more likely to have their permit revoked" (Assessing and scoring environmental permit compliance, 2026).
  • The EA has published a public watchlist of high-priority waste sites - 117 of them at launch (New watchlist published to put a spotlight on waste, 2026).

What is the EA's 10-Point Plan on waste crime?

The 10-Point Plan is the enforcement half of the government's Waste Crime Action Plan, published in March 2026. It sets out how the EA intends to squeeze illegal operators out of the sector: more funding, tougher checks on who can hold a permit, faster action against poor performers, and more public transparency about problem sites.

The money is the part that reaches your gate first. The plan commits "an additional £45 million for the Environment Agency to spend on waste crime enforcement over the next 3 financial years, on top of the £5.6 million increase for this financial year announced previously" (Waste Crime Action Plan, 2026). That is £45m spread across three years, not a one-off cheque - but it still means more officers, more inspections and more appetite to act.

For a legitimate operator, more enforcement resource is not automatically bad news. It is aimed at the rogue sites undercutting your gate fees. The risk is that a well-run site with a scruffy paper trail gets caught in the same net. The way to stay on the right side of it is to make your records defensible before an officer asks. Our guide on how to prepare for an EA inspection covers what they check on the day.

Does the Environment Agency now have police powers?

No - not yet, and this is the point most trade coverage overstates. The plan does not grant the EA arrest or search powers. It says the government will look into it.

The exact wording matters here, because a reader who knows their permit will spot the difference. The plan states that "Defra, with the support of the Home Office, will explore how the Environment Agency's powers to address waste crime can be bolstered. Together, they will consider how additional measures within the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, Proceeds of Crime Act or other relevant legislation could achieve this" (Waste Crime Action Plan, 2026).

"Will explore" and "will consider" are not the same as "now has". So if you read that the EA has been handed police-style powers to raid your yard, treat it as a direction of travel, not today's law. What is real today is the money, the fit and proper checks, and the way your compliance band is used.

A formal typed official letter on a worn wooden desk in a UK waste-site portacabin office, next to a hi-vis vest, a bunch of iron yard keys, a mug and a battered permit ring-binder.

How the plan tightens fit and proper person checks

Every environmental permit sits on a "fit and proper person" test: the EA has to be satisfied that the people running the site are competent, financially sound and not disqualified by a relevant record. The 10-Point Plan sharpens where that test bites.

The plan says the EA "is also taking action to stop permits being transferred to unscrupulous operators with new fit and proper permit checks" (Waste Crime Action Plan, 2026). The target is a known dodge: a problem operator quietly taking over a clean permit rather than applying for their own and failing the check. Tightening the transfer route closes that door.

For an honest, long-established site this is not a threat - it is protection for the value of your own permit. But it is worth knowing that a permit transfer, a change of directors, or bringing in a new technically competent manager can now attract more scrutiny than it used to. If you are planning a succession, a sale, or a restructure, budget time for the fit and proper check rather than assuming the paperwork is a formality.

Why your compliance band is now a permit-risk score

The quietest but most important change is how your compliance band is used. Every non-compliance an officer records scores points under the Compliance Classification Scheme, and those points roll up at year end into a band from A to F. That band has always set your annual subsistence charge. Under the enforcement push, it is increasingly the number that decides whether your permit is safe.

The bands and what they cost are fixed and published:

Your compliance band sets your charge - and your risk Subsistence charge as a % of baseline. Source: Environment Agency, 2026. A 0 pts 95% B 0.1-10 100% C 10.1-30 110% D 30.1-60 125% E 60.1-149.9 150% F 150+ pts 300% Bands E and F "must significantly improve" and are "more likely to have their permit revoked" unless they show timely progress.

A Band F site pays three times the baseline subsistence charge of a Band A site, and the guidance is blunt about the bigger risk: sites in bands E and F "must significantly improve in order to achieve permit compliance. These sites are more likely to have their permit revoked unless there is substantial evidence that they are working towards achieving compliance in a timely manner" (Assessing and scoring environmental permit compliance, 2026).

That is the real cost of a sloppy year. A cluster of avoidable non-compliances - a broken paper trail, miscoded loads, a stockpile over its limit - drops your band, lifts your charge, and moves you up the enforcement queue. Keeping your band high is now permit protection, not just fee management. Much of that comes down to the everyday records: your waste transfer notes and your duty of care checklist are exactly what an officer scores.

What the public waste site watchlist means for your site

The plan also made enforcement visible. In May 2026 the EA published a public watchlist of high-priority waste sites - "117 known waste sites across England causing concern for local communities" - describing it as "a deliberate act of transparency" so that "communities need to know that we are acting" (New watchlist published to put a spotlight on waste, 2026).

To put that in proportion, the EA says "there are currently around 700 known waste sites across England" (Waste site watchlist: improving transparency with communities, 2026), so the watchlist covers roughly one in six:

The watchlist names about 1 in 6 known sites High-priority sites vs all known waste sites in England. Source: Environment Agency, 2026. 117 on the public watchlist ~700 known sites Being named is reputational, not automatically enforcement - but it puts your site under community and officer scrutiny.

Being on the watchlist is not the same as an enforcement notice. It is a signal that a site is causing concern and is being watched. For a legitimate operator the lesson is defensive: the things that get a site noticed - odour, dust, fires, fly-tipping nearby, run-off, complaints from neighbours - are the same things that drive your compliance score down. Managing your community relationship and your nuisance controls is now part of protecting your permit, not just good manners.

What should you actually do about it?

You cannot control the plan. You can control whether your site is an easy or a hard target. A practical response for a permitted operator:

  • Read your own permit conditions again. The officer scores you against your bespoke conditions, not the generic rules. Know your tonnage limits, storage caps and monitoring duties cold.
  • Fix the paper trail first. Missing or wrong waste transfer notes and consignment notes are the easiest non-compliances to record. Make sure every load in and out is documented and findable; our guide on whether you still need paper waste transfer notes covers where that duty is heading.
  • Get your EWC coding right. Miscoded loads are a visible description error the officer can see at a glance. Check the six-digit code on every load matches what you actually receive.
  • Be ready for Digital Waste Tracking. From 1 October 2026 permitted receivers in England and Wales must record every load received digitally; Scotland and Northern Ireland follow in January 2027. A clean digital record is one less gap for an officer to find. See what Digital Waste Tracking is for the scope.
  • Watch your band, not just your fee. Treat every avoidable non-compliance as a step towards Band F and a permit review, because that is now how it is used.
  • Manage the neighbours. Complaints feed watchlist decisions. Keep dust, odour, noise and run-off under control and log how you respond.

The single biggest lever is making your records defensible without a scramble. If every load is captured once, cleanly, as it is weighed - and the digital receipt files itself - then an inspection is a filing exercise, not a fire drill. That is the job software built for the weighbridge is meant to do; it is not a substitute for running the site well, but it removes the paperwork gap that drops your band.

Frequently asked questions

When did the EA's 10-Point Plan on waste crime start?
It forms part of the government's Waste Crime Action Plan, published in March 2026, which sets out the enforcement measures the Environment Agency is taking against illegal waste activity (Waste Crime Action Plan, 2026).

How much extra money is going into waste-crime enforcement?
The plan commits "an additional £45 million for the Environment Agency to spend on waste crime enforcement over the next 3 financial years, on top of the £5.6 million increase for this financial year announced previously" (Waste Crime Action Plan, 2026). It is spread across three years, not a single lump sum.

Does the Environment Agency now have police powers to raid my site?
No. The plan says Defra and the Home Office "will explore" whether powers under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, the Proceeds of Crime Act or other legislation could strengthen the EA's hand (Waste Crime Action Plan, 2026). That is an exploration, not a power the EA holds today.

What are the new fit and proper person checks?
The plan introduces new checks aimed at stopping permits being transferred to unscrupulous operators (Waste Crime Action Plan, 2026). In practice, expect closer scrutiny of who is behind a site when a permit is transferred or the people running it change.

Could I lose my permit because of my compliance band?
Potentially, if you sit in the lowest bands. The guidance says sites in bands E and F are "more likely to have their permit revoked unless there is substantial evidence that they are working towards achieving compliance in a timely manner" (Assessing and scoring environmental permit compliance, 2026).

How much does a bad compliance band cost?
The subsistence charge is banded: Band A pays 95% of the baseline, Band B 100%, Band C 110%, Band D 125%, Band E 150% and Band F 300% (Assessing and scoring environmental permit compliance, 2026). A Band F site pays three times a Band A site.

What is the waste site watchlist?
It is a public list of high-priority waste sites the EA considers to be causing concern - "117 known waste sites across England" at launch - published as "a deliberate act of transparency" (New watchlist published to put a spotlight on waste, 2026).

How does a site end up on the watchlist?
The EA identifies sites causing concern within local communities. That concern is usually driven by nuisance and complaints - odour, dust, fires, run-off - and by poor compliance, which are the same signals that lower your compliance band (New watchlist published to put a spotlight on waste, 2026).

Does the plan change what I have to do for Digital Waste Tracking?
No. Digital Waste Tracking is a separate mandate: permitted receivers in England and Wales must record every load received from 1 October 2026, with Scotland and Northern Ireland following in January 2027. The 10-Point Plan is about enforcement, but a clean tracking record makes an inspection easier.

Is a legitimate, well-run site the target of the 10-Point Plan?
No. The plan is aimed at illegal operators behind the estimated "20% of all waste" that is illegally managed and the "£1 billion each year" cost of waste crime (Waste Crime Action Plan, 2026). The risk to a compliant site is being caught in the wider net through avoidable record-keeping failures, which is entirely within your control.