Ashford Port Health reduces SPS fees by 8% as investment in technology and specialist expertise improves productivity while maintaining robust border controls.
Importers using Ashford Port Health (APH) will benefit from an 8% reduction in SPS fees from 1 August, saving businesses around £1.2 million over the coming year.
CHED charges for consignments up to six tonnes will reduce from £68 to £63, additional tonnes from £11 to £10, and transit consignments from £113 to £104.
The reduction follows Ashford Port Health’s decision, earlier this year, to hold fees at 2025/26 levels despite inflationary pressures, absorbing rising costs rather than passing them on to importers and delivering a further £1.3 million in savings. Together, the two decisions will deliver around £2.5 million in savings compared with what fees would otherwise have been.
In line with the principles of cost recovery, Ashford Port Health continually reviews its charging structure to ensure businesses pay no more than the cost of delivering official border controls while maintaining a resilient, high quality service.
The latest reduction reflects a sustained programme of investment in digital technology, smarter processes and workforce development at Ashford Port Health, who operate at Sevington BCP in Kent, The UK’s busiest inland border control facility.
Ashford Port Health became the first Port Health Authority in the UK to introduce AI enabled Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) to support the initial stage of documentary import checks. Rather than replacing officers, the technology supports professional judgement by reducing repetitive administrative tasks and giving officers better information earlier in the process.
Combined with redesigned workflows and bespoke digital systems, the approach has improved productivity by around 40%, enabling Ashford Port Health to process significantly higher volumes of import notifications without compromising standards or requiring equivalent growth in administrative resource.
Ashford Port Health now processes around 30,000 import notifications every month through its 24 hour operation at Sevington, helping facilitate international trade while protecting the UK’s food supply. Since November 2024, officers have prevented more than 226,000kg of unsafe food from entering the food chain.
Alongside investment in technology, Ashford Port Health has developed one of the UK’s largest specialist port health workforces from a standing start. More than 100 employees have benefited from structured professional development, helping create highly skilled careers in Kent while addressing national shortages across the environmental health profession.
Anthony Baldock, Corporate Director of Health & Wellbeing, Ashford Borough Council, said:
“From the beginning, our ambition has been to build a modern border control service that protects the public while allowing legitimate trade to move as efficiently as possible.
“By investing in technology, smarter processes and a highly skilled workforce, we have improved productivity and can now pass those efficiencies directly back to businesses through lower fees.
“Our experience at Sevington has shown that a smarter border is a stronger border. Better information and better risk insight help our officers apply the right control at the right time, protecting public health and biosecurity while reducing unnecessary delays for compliant businesses. Technology does not replace professional judgement, it supports it.
“As Executive Board Chair of the Association of Port Health Authorities, I believe this is the future of border controls. At Ashford Port Health, we are leading the way in showing how smarter borders can deliver stronger protection, lower costs for businesses and better outcomes for everyone.”
