Environment Agency charge proposals for boat registration from January 2025

The boat registration income does not cover the full cost of the navigation service we provide for the benefit of the boating customers. It is important that boat registration charges continue to contribute an appropriate level towards the overall cost of providing our navigation service.

We are coming to the end of our government funding settlement from 2021. We are now reviewing our service and gathering the evidence we need to develop a strong case for sustainable funding to provide the navigation service alongside the income from boat registrations. In the meantime, we are working hard to deliver our service with the funding we have

Our current Navigation Business Plan ends in 2025. Over the next year, we will be developing a new strategy for our navigation business to secure the sustainable future of our waterways. We will engage with our customers, so they can help us develop this strategy.

We operate and maintain approximately 2,500 assets such as locks, weirs, and moorings.

The navigation service we provide manages and maintains our waterways, to provide safe navigation for our customers. The boat registration fee contributes towards: 

• maintaining the navigation channel
• maintaining locks and weirs
• providing assisted passage at locks
• managing water levels to provide a safe depth for navigation and help to relieve any impacts of adverse weather conditions
• providing notifications for waterway closure or restrictions and for high flows
• maintaining waterways by removal of weed and obstructions

Since 2022 inflation has increased due to a range of economic shocks including the war in Ukraine and disruption to fuel supplies. This has impacted our service, particularly the additional energy and construction costs.

Table 1: Rate of inflation based on CPI converted into an index

During this time, income from our 3-year charging plan for 2022 to 2025, has not met the level we expected, and our charges have not kept pace with inflation. The implemented charge increases have only covered about half the impact of inflation, (based on CPI taken in September the year before we implemented the charges).

Inflation is currently lower, with CPI for March 2024 at 3.8%. It is predicted to continue to drop, though not as quickly as earlier Office of Budget Responsibility forecasts had hoped. However, prices related to construction continue to be volatile and future inflation allowances should incorporate these risks. We have considered this when developing our proposals.

We need to increase our charges to address the increased cost of our service due to the level of inflation over the past 3 years and the cost of living. This increase will support the delivery of the service and reduce our reliance on government funding.

Our approach follows the industry, with other Navigation Authorities increasing charges above inflation. Table 2 shows our increases over the last 3 years compared to those of the Canal & River Trust and The Broads Authority.  The Canal & River Trust has also announced it will be increasing its charges above inflation for the next 5 years.

Table 2: Increases of our boat registration charge compared to Canal & River Trust and The Broads Authority

We aim to secure an increase in funding in response to inflation over the last three years. This will help us to continue to deliver the navigation service, while we develop our longer-term strategy.

Over the next year we will work with stakeholder groups and listen to the needs and priorities of our customers to develop our strategy and improve the service we offer now and in the future.

We recognise that the last few years have been challenging for everybody. We have tried to balance our proposals, considering the inflationary pressures on the service with the current economic climate for our customers. We do understand that these proposals will be difficult for some customers, especially for some of our customers who call our waterways their home or use them to make a living.

Without the additional funding these proposals will bring, we will not be able to sustain the current service. Our boat registration charges have not kept pace with the rate of inflation, and we need to address this in the short term.

We have powers to charge for boat registration under:

• section 6 of the Thames Conservancy Act 1966 (for the River Thames)
• sections 35, 42 and 46 of the Southern Water Authority Act 1982 (for the Medway navigation)
• section 17 of the Anglian Water Authority Act 1977 (for the Anglian waterways)
• Article 23 Environment Agency (Inland Waterways) Order 2010

Under Managing Public Money guidance, we have a responsibility to recover the costs of our regulatory activity by setting charges for the work we do at the appropriate level. Our boat registration charges allow us to recover an appropriate proportion of the cost of the work we carry out to provide a navigation service, which includes making sure the waterways are navigable and safe.

Our proposals will allow us to continue recovering an appropriate proportion of the costs of our navigation work. We have provided a guide to how we calculate our charges with this consultation that explains how we calculate our charges (see the ‘Related’ section on our LINK to CS consultation web site).