How to respond to your food hygiene rating

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is a national scheme designed to help people make informed choices about where they eat or shop for food, and encourage food businesses to keep good hygiene standards.

Read more about how food businesses are rated:

Following an inspection you have the right to respond to your rating in one of the following ways:

Appeal your rating

If following a hygiene inspection you think your rating is wrong or unfair, you can appeal it with the Lead Food Officer (or designated deputy, in their absence). If the person who conducted your inspection is the Lead Food Officer, your appeal would be handled by a lead food officer from another local authority.

The first part of the process involves speaking to the inspecting officer who carried out your inspection. The aim of this is to give you a chance to discuss the rating you received and understand how it was decided. By doing this you may be able to resolve any disputes informally and avoid resorting to the appeal procedure.

If you do decide to lodge a formal appeal please first read:

To lodge an appeal please complete the form below and return it within 21 days of receipt of your ratings notification letter:

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Request a revisit

If you have made the improvements we suggested at our inspection, you can request a revisit.

We offer two options for a FHRS rescore revisit:

  • 'standard' requested FHRS revisit: this is a full inspection which will be carried out unannounced, within 12 weeks of the formal request and received payment.
    The fee is £185.
  • 'urgent' requested FHRS revisit: this is a full inspection which will be carried out unannounced, within 35 days of the formal request and received payment.
    The fee is £235.
  • To request a revisit of your choice, please complete the correct form below and return it to us, along with the correct payment.
  • Prices from 1st April 2024 to 31st March 2025. Prices are subject to an annual increase in April, prices correct as at 1st April 2024.

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) Urgent Request for a Revisit will take place within 35 days providing that an officer is available to carry out the visit.

On the rare occasion when an officer is unable to visit within 35 days (due to resources available to carry out the Food Hygiene Delivery Service), a partial refund will be returned (for the urgent request for a revisit) and the standard fee for a request for a revisit will remain. The resulting requested revisit will take place within 12 weeks.

For businesses that had been issued with a FHRS of 0-2 at their initial inspection, the FHRS Urgent Request for a Revisit visit, does not remove the option for an enforcement revisit to be carried out at a suitable date by an officer, before the next routine inspection, if there were significant contraventions relating to cleanliness, pest control and food safety management.

Please note that ratings of less than a 5, are uploaded to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) ratings website after 35 days from the date of the inspection. (As the FHRS enters the public domain at this point, any delivery partners that you may have (such as Just Eat, Deliveroo etc.) can become aware of your FHRS).

If a FHRS of 5 has not been issued at the FHRS Urgent Request for a Revisit visit and the new score is urgently required to be uploaded to the FSA ratings website, an application to consent to an early publication of the FHRS will be required. Please see the link below for the consent for early publication of rating score:

When completing the form you need to explain what you've done to address the issues from your last inspection. Include supporting evidence, like receipts or photos to show you've done the work.

To request a revisit of your choice, please complete the correct form below and return it to us, along with the correct payment (see prices above).

Standard request form:

Urgent request form:

Paying for your rescore request:

  • On your selected rescore form provide your email address in the email address box. Once you have submitted your request form, our technical support team will send you an email containing an electronic link for payment. This link allows you to make a secure payment using a debit or credit card.
  • If you do not have an email address that can be used for payment, please contact us on telephone number 01273 263331 so that an alternative payment method can be arranged for you.

Please note that your rescore request can only be processed once payment has been received.

For the 'standard' requested revisit you can request a revisit at any time after the statutory inspection and there is no limit to the number of revisits you request. However, as you need to pay for each revisit, we recommend you make sure you address all issues raised following your inspection before submitting a request.

Please be advised that the inspecting officer can return to carry out enforcement revisits also, which are outside the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme to ensure any legal requirements have been met within a set time period.

If you have any queries regarding requesting a revisit you can contact your inspecting officer or contact us directly:

What happens after a revisit

We will write to you within 14 days of the revisit to let you know what your new food hygiene score is. The score could stay the same, or it could go up or down.

As with your original hygiene rating you have the right to appeal if you feel your score is unfair. You can also:

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Request a right to reply

The right to reply allows you to explain to customers what you have done to improve hygiene standards. It is not an opportunity to make complaints or criticise the scheme or process.

Your comments will be reviewed to check for any offensive remarks before being published alongside your rating online.

To submit a right to reply please use the form below:

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Page last updated: 12 April 2024

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