Legal operator and competence requirements: environmental permits
Find out the legal, financial and professional requirements for operators and managers, including extra duties for waste activity operators.
Applies to England
You must meet certain criteria if you want to apply for and keep an environmental permit.
For all environmental permits you must be:
- the ‘legal operator’ of the facility
- considered to be a ‘competent operator’ by the Environment Agency
If you operate a waste activity you also need to:
- have appropriately qualified managers for your waste activity who are members of a government-approved technical competency scheme
- keep records of your operating hours
- have your manager be on site in person for a specified amount of time a week
This guide explains how to meet these criteria.
What a legal operator is
You must be the legal operator of the activity or facility that you want a permit for.
This means you must have ‘sufficient control’ of the activity or facility. You must, for example:
- have day-to-day control of the facility or activity, including the manner and rate of operation
- make sure that permit conditions are complied with
- decide who holds important staff positions and have incompetent staff removed, if required
- make investment and financial decisions that affect the facility’s performance or how the activity is carried out
- make sure your activities are controlled in an emergency
If contractors work at your site, you can still be classed as the legal operator if you have sufficient control of the activities carried out by your contractors. But if things change and the contractor takes over sufficient control of the activities, you must apply to have the permit transferred to them.
A remote holding company is unlikely to have sufficient control.
As the operator, you’re legally responsible for the activity whether or not it’s in operation.
If you’re no longer the operator, you must apply to formally transfer your permit to the person who is the operator.
If you continue to operate an activity when you’re no longer the legal operator, the Environment Agency may take enforcement action against you or revoke your permit. Find out more about enforcement and how you’ll be regulated by the Environment Agency once you have your permit.
You must apply as a ‘legal entity’ that can be legally responsible for the permit and can accept liability.
Your application can be refused if the Environment Agency does not consider you to be the operator or a legal entity.
Examples of legal entities
An individual can be a legal entity.
A group of individuals can be a legal entity, such as:
- individuals acting jointly
- individuals that are partners in a general or limited partnership (but not a limited liability partnership)
- unincorporated charities, trusts and associations (unless recognised as a legal entity)
A ministerial government department is a legal entity, such as:
- Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- Department for Transport
- Ministry of Justice
As is a public body, such as:
- a local authority
- an executive agency
- a non-departmental public body
- a non-ministerial government department
And a registered company, limited liability partnership or other incorporated body is a legal entity, such as:
- a private limited company
- a public limited company
- a limited liability partnership
- an incorporated society
- a charitable incorporated organisation
- a community interest company
Joint operators of one activity
If your activity has more than one operator acting together, you need to make one joint application for all the operators. For example, if several people jointly operate an intensive farming activity, the Environment Agency will name them all on the permit.
You must demonstrate that the applicants have joint control of the activity.
Separate operators of one activity
If different operators separately run different parts of an activity (such as a large factory plant where different activities or processes on site are managed and operated by separate companies), each must apply for a separate permit. Each application must demonstrate that the operator is in control of that part of the facility.
In the case of an installation, all the applications must:
- be made at the same time
- identify any inter-relationships between the different operators and their facilities
For example, if one operator’s output material feeds into a process run by another operator on the same site, then the point where the responsibility for the material moves from one to the other must be made clear in the information supplied by both applications. There should be no ambiguity over which operator has responsibility for which part of the regulated facility.
What a competent operator is
When considering your application for a permit, or to transfer or change (vary) a permit, the Environment Agency will look at whether you’re competent enough to comply with the conditions that are likely to be included in your permit.
Your permit application will be refused if the Environment Agency thinks you will not be able to comply with the conditions.
Once you have your permit, if the Environment Agency thinks you’re no longer a competent operator it may take enforcement action against you or revoke your permit.
Technical competence
You must demonstrate that you have the technical competence to carry out your activity.
For example you know how to:
- operate the necessary equipment
- comply with the law and government policies
- minimise risk and the impact of your activity on people and the environment
In most cases you can demonstrate this through your management system.
If you carry out an activity that involves the recovery or disposal of waste (including waste activities carried out by certain installations), it is government policy that you must also be a member of a government approved scheme. (See the section ‘Qualifications required by waste activity managers’.)
Environmental record
When considering your application, or reviewing your competence once you have a permit, the Environment Agency will look at your environmental record. They will look at:
- how you responded to any accidents at sites that you’ve operated in the past
- if you have any previous convictions for environmental offences
- your record of compliance with your permit or other permits (for example whether you’ve received warnings or enforcement notices and how you responded to them)
Financial competence
You must have the finances to carry out your operations and meet your permit conditions.
If you’re applying for a waste, mining waste or installation permit, the application form will ask if you’ve ever been bankrupt or insolvent.
Financial provision
You need to make ‘financial provision’ (a guarantee) if you operate:
- a landfill
- a Category A or hazardous waste mining facility
If your business stops operating, you will then have enough money set aside to carry out the actions needed before you can surrender your permit.
Financial provisions for Category A or hazardous waste mining facilities
Your financial guarantee must ensure that:
- obligations arising from a permit are fulfilled
- it’s sufficient in monetary terms, secure and available when required
- all aftercare costs will include a contingency sum that will remain after the period covered by detailed costings - in case additional expenditure is required
- amounts of financial guarantees will be calculated based on third party costs and a contingency element
Qualifications required by waste activity managers
If you have an environmental permit for a waste operation, or certain installations, you must join and comply with the requirements of one of these 2 government approved schemes:
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the Energy & Utility Skills (EU Skills) competence management system - a scheme run jointly by EU Skills and the Environmental Services Association
You must say which scheme you’re part of on your application form. The Environment Agency will check your application with the scheme you identify. Once your permit is issued, you must also give this information when you submit your waste returns.
Each scheme operates in a different way.
CIWM and WAMITAB scheme
If you join the CIWM and WAMITAB scheme, your managers will need to work towards gaining the scheme’s qualifications.
You’ll already be part of this scheme if the following apply:
- the Environment Agency assessed you as technically competent before qualifications for your activity existed
- you were ‘deemed’ competent when the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 came into force because you were already managing a waste site
The Environment Agency assessment, or the ‘deemed’ competency, are still valid and you can be named as the technically competent person for that same activity on new applications.
In all cases, if you’re part of this scheme you need to pass a continuing competency assessment every 2 years.
You must include the names of your managers and the qualifications they hold in your management system if you’re part of this scheme.
EU Skills scheme
The EU Skills scheme considers the competence of your business as a whole. To join this scheme you need to have a competence management system in place and this must be certified by one of the scheme’s approval bodies.
Deadline for meeting scheme requirements
Your company needs to have WAMITAB qualifications or the EU skills certified competence management system in place before you can apply:
- to have a permit varied or transferred to you
- for a new permit for a landfill site
If you’re applying for a new permit for a waste site that’s not a landfill site, you have up to 12 months to put these things in place as long as you meet the minimum requirements set out in either of the 2 schemes.
Record the operating hours of your waste facility
These requirements do not apply if you are a member of the EU Skills scheme.
Each day you must record:
- the hours of operation of your site
- when your manager arrives and leaves
Your site is operational when you’re carrying out any activity covered by your permit.
You will need to use these records to make sure your manager meets the attendance requirements explained in the next section.
You must make the records available to the Environment Agency on request.
How much time your technically competent manager must be on site
These requirements do not apply if you are a member of the EU Skills scheme.
Your technically competent manager must be on site for the required time each week (also called ‘attendance requirement’). If they take time off, you must arrange cover for them.
For your manager to be ‘technically competent’ they must join and comply with one of the government approved schemes. (See the section ‘Qualifications required by waste activity managers’.)
The attendance requirement in the first 6 months of operation depends on what permit you have. At the end of the first 6 months you’ll need to agree your manager’s attendance with the Environment Agency.
Check what permit you have
Your manager must attend the site at least 20% of the operating time in the first 6 months if you’ve got:
- a standard rules permit
- any other permit applied for before 1 April 2018 that had a fixed application charge
Attendance in the first 6 months for other permits
In the first 6 months after you start operating or carrying out a new permitted activity, your manager’s attendance requirement depends on the environmental risk posed by your site.
Work out the attendance requirement by following these steps.
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Look up your Opra complexity, location and emissions bands in the Opra risk appraisal guidance.
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Use the lists below to see how many ‘attendance points’ you get for complexity, location and emissions.
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Add the points and check the final list to see how much time your manager needs to be on site each week.
Note your points for complexity if you run a waste operation:
- band A - 1
- band B - 2
- band C - 2
- band D - 3
- band E - 4
Note your points for complexity if you run an installation:
- band A - 2
- band B - 3
- band C - 3
- band D - 4
- band E - 4
Note your points for location:
- band A - 1
- band B - 2
- band C - 2
- band D - 3
- band E - 4
Note your points for emissions:
- band A - 1
- band B - 2
- band C - 3
- band D - 4
- band E - 4
Using your total attendance points, note the percentage of site operation time your manager needs to be on site each week:
- 3 points - 5%
- 4 points - 10%
- 5 points - 15%
- 6 points - 20%
- 7 points - 25%
- 8 points - 30%
- 9 points - 35%
- 10 points - 40%
- 11 points - 45%
- 12 points - 50%
- more than 12 points - 55%
If you operate 2 separate facilities on the same site, calculate your attendance points total for both activities, and use the higher number.
If you carry out more than 1 waste activity on your site, calculate your complexity score for each activity, then 1 location and 1 emissions score and add them all together to get your attendance points total.
48-hour attendance cap
Your manager does not need to attend a site for more than 48 hours per week, regardless of how long your plant is operational, or your points total.
Attendance requirements during normal operation
After the first 6 months of operations, if it feels you have a satisfactory management system in place, the Environment Agency will agree with you what your continuing attendance requirements will be.
If you get a compliance rating score of more than 16 in any quarter, you must return to the attendance requirements of your first 6 months of operation. You must keep to that initial attendance requirement until the Environment Agency informs you otherwise.
Your compliance rating score is based on the Environment Agency’s compliance classification scheme. For example, your score would be over 16 if you have either:
- 5 or more category 3 breaches in the same quarter
- 1 or more incidents of category 2 non-compliance
Attendance requirements at closed landfills
You must continue to meet the attendance requirement if your permit states you need to actively manage landfill gas or leachate (or both) at the closed site.
You do not need to meet the attendance requirement if:
- active management of the closed site is not a permit requirement
- the site is in after care and active management has stopped
Get advice
Find out how to get advice before you apply for an environmental permit.
Or you can contact Environment Agency general enquiries for other help.
General enquiries
National Customer Contact Centre
PO Box 544
Rotherham
S60 1BY
Email enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk
Telephone 03708 506 506
Telephone from outside the UK (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm GMT) +44 (0) 114 282 5312
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Updates to this page
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Added more examples of what we mean by 'legal entities'.
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Updated the qualifications required section - the Environment Agency will check your application with the scheme you join. You must also give this information when you submit your waste returns.
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Amended to explain the required attendance of your technically competent manager in the first 6 months of operations if you've got a standard rules permit or any other permit that was applied for before 1 April 2018 with a fixed application charge.
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First published.