Published 21 September 2026
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has proposed raising the annual fee that manufacturers pay to keep a medical device registered for safety monitoring from £300 to £511 per chargeable device category, a rise of about 70 per cent, from 1 April 2027. The consultation setting out that proposal closes at 11:59pm on 25 September 2026, and it is open to anyone, not only to the companies that would pay the fee.
The fee in question funds post-market surveillance, which is the unglamorous machinery that catches problems after a product has already been sold. Wheelchairs, mobility scooters, bath lifts, rollators and hoists are regulated as medical devices in the UK, and post-market surveillance is what turns scattered reports of a failing brake or an overheating charger into a field safety notice that reaches owners. The MHRA says the fee pays for reviewing adverse incident reports, field safety corrective actions and other vigilance data. Anyone who has seen a safety notice issued against a scooter they own has seen the output of that work.
The post-market surveillance fee is charged per chargeable category under the Global Medical Device Nomenclature system rather than per unit sold, which is why the increase matters more to a small British manufacturer with a broad catalogue than to a large one shifting volume in a narrow range. The MHRA appears to recognise that. Its published list of proposals includes a phased update to the device post-market surveillance fee and enhanced support for eligible small and medium-sized enterprises, which in practice means keeping a partial government subsidy in place across 2027/28 and 2028/29 rather than moving straight to full cost recovery, alongside a waiver or voucher scheme for eligible smaller UK firms developing innovative products.
The wider package is larger than the one headline figure. According to the British Healthcare Trades Association, which is the trade body responding on behalf of manufacturers in this sector, the consultation proposes an 8.93 per cent indexation increase across 180 statutory fees, representing about 62 per cent of the agency’s statutory fees and reflecting expected staff pay and employer costs rather than any change to the service. A further 25 higher-value services would rise by around 27 per cent, and 73 existing fees would be adjusted where current charges no longer reflect what delivery costs. One device-related example gives a sense of the range: the fee for a Device Regulatory Advice meeting would go from £987 to £2,245. Roughly 80 per cent of the MHRA’s income comes from statutory fees, and they are set on a cost-recovery basis.
None of this is a reason to hold off buying equipment, and it is worth being clear about that. Better-funded surveillance is what produces recalls and safety notices rather than what suppresses them, and the direction of travel here is towards more scrutiny of products already in people’s homes, not less. The open question is the one the consultation itself asks about, which is what a cost increase of this size does to smaller manufacturers. The MHRA is inviting evidence on the effect of the fee increases on market activity, innovation and production, which is an acknowledgement that the answer is not obvious.
If you have a view, you do not need to be a manufacturer to give it. The consultation document, a 52 page PDF including the full fee tables, is published on gov.uk alongside an online response form and a recorded webinar, and responses close on 25 September 2026. For buyers, the more useful habit is the everyday one: register equipment with the manufacturer when you buy it, because a field safety notice only reaches you if someone knows where the product went. Keep the serial number somewhere you can find it, and do the same for a scooter or powerchair bought second hand, where the original registration almost certainly points at someone else.
Related guides on Review Mobility
- Mobility aids hub
- Mobility scooters: a buyer’s guide
- Wheelchairs: types, sizing and what to look for
- Bathroom mobility equipment
- Find a mobility company near you
Sources
- MHRA consultation on statutory fees (2026), GOV.UK
- BHTA members encouraged to respond to MHRA consultation on statutory fees, British Healthcare Trades Association
Published 21 September 2026