Guide
Preparing for a food hygiene re-rating inspection
Updated
The most expensive mistake with a re-rating is requesting it too early, because the outcome is not only a wasted visit: it is a second, more recent confirmation of the number you were trying to change.
It is a new inspection
A re-rating assesses the business as it is on the day, against the same criteria as any other inspection. It is not a review of the previous report and the previous inspector's reasoning is not on trial.
That is why timing decides the outcome. Everything the inspector will look at is under your control before you ask them to come.
Close the specific points first
The previous report is a list of exactly what will be examined first. Each point closed, each with something to show for it: a photograph, an invoice, a completed record, a signed procedure.
Closing them in the week before the visit is visible. Closing them and running with them for a period is what confidence in management is assessed on.
The three elements, and the slow one
The rating covers hygiene practices, the condition of the structure, and confidence in management. The first two respond quickly to work and money.
Confidence in management does not, because it is judged on the record over time rather than on the state of the kitchen today. A business that has fixed everything in a fortnight has fixed two of the three.
Structure takes the longest
Surfaces, drainage, ventilation, pest proofing and the fabric of the premises are the items that most often hold a rating down after everything else has been sorted, and they are the ones with lead times measured in weeks.
Where a structural item cannot be fixed before a re-rating, it is worth knowing that going in rather than discovering it in the report.
Then check where it lands
Published ratings and the open data both update, so a better rating reaches the places customers actually look: the ratings service, delivery platforms and search results.
In Wales and Northern Ireland the display duty follows the current rating, so the new sticker goes up and the old one comes down.