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We are the Independent Football Regulator (IFR), as established by the Football Governance Act 2025 (the Act). The Act received Royal Assent on 21 July 2025 and the IFR was legally established on 1 November 2025.
The IFR’s core statutory objectives are to:
protect and promote the financial soundness of regulated clubs
protect and promote financial resilience of English football
safeguard the heritage of English football
The Act gives the IFR a range of powers, including establishing a licensing regime, to deliver these statutory objectives and requiring licensed clubs to pay a levy. This levy will fund the IFR’s regulatory activities, enabling it to carry out its functions and deliver its statutory objectives.
What we are consulting on
In line with Section 53 of the Act, the IFR will require all clubs to pay a levy for each year (chargeable period) during which they hold a licence. The levy is the mechanism through which licensed clubs will fund the IFR and it will also recover, over time, the funding provided by Government to the IFR before the levy comes into effect.
This consultation seeks views, in particular, on two linked but distinct concepts:
The levy allocation methodology: how the total levy amount should be divided between clubs.
The total levy requirement:how the IFR intends to:
calculate the IFR’s operating costs on an ongoing basis
recover the set up costs
calculate and maintain appropriate reserves
reconcile estimates with actual costs.
The consultation seeks feedback on whether the proposals are appropriate, proportionate, affordable, and understandable for clubs.
The consultation document should be read alongside the draft Levy Rules, and is accompanied by an interactive tool that allows clubs to calculate their estimated levy fees.
How to respond
The consultation document can be accessed here or via the link to the right of this page under 'Documents'.
You can submit your response to the proposals by filling out the survey below.
Accessibility
If you have accessibility requirements relating to our consultation documentation, please get in touch via the Accessibility Requirements page.
Next Steps
This consultation will close on Friday 4 December 2026 at 5pm. We will consider the responses we receive before publishing final Levy Rules in 2027.
Compliance with government consultation principles
In preparing this consultation, the IFR has taken into account the published government consultation principles, which set out how government departments and other public bodies should consult with stakeholders.
Confidentiality
We do not intend to publish any individual responses. Information contained in responses may be used or summarised in public documents.
Personal Data
We accept respondents’rightto remain anonymous, and responsesthat are confidential should be clearly marked. We may contact an individual to discuss their request for confidentiality further and ask for reasons.
We are subject to the rules set out in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Data Protection Act (DPA) and the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR).
Section 1 of FOIA gives a general right of access to information held by public authorities, and the Act adds the IFR to the list of ‘public bodies’ thatfall within the remit of FOIA.
The EIR requires public authorities to make environmental information available on request.
EIR (reg. 2(2)) defines ‘public authority’ by direct reference to FOIA. Personal data collected as part of the consultation process will fall within the remit of the DPA.
Section 7(1)(a) defines ’public authority’ by direct reference to FOIA. While we may publish data about the number of responses received, we will not disclose the personal information of respondents during this process.
Who we are
We are the Independent Football Regulator (IFR), as established by the Football Governance Act 2025 (the Act). The Act received Royal Assent on 21 July 2025 and the IFR was legally established on 1 November 2025.
The IFR’s core statutory objectives are to:
protect and promote the financial soundness of regulated clubs
protect and promote financial resilience of English football
safeguard the heritage of English football
The Act gives the IFR a range of powers, including establishing a licensing regime, to deliver these statutory objectives and requiring licensed clubs to pay a levy. This levy will fund the IFR’s regulatory activities, enabling it to carry out its functions and deliver its statutory objectives.
What we are consulting on
In line with Section 53 of the Act, the IFR will require all clubs to pay a levy for each year (chargeable period) during which they hold a licence. The levy is the mechanism through which licensed clubs will fund the IFR and it will also recover, over time, the funding provided by Government to the IFR before the levy comes into effect.
This consultation seeks views, in particular, on two linked but distinct concepts:
The levy allocation methodology: how the total levy amount should be divided between clubs.
The total levy requirement:how the IFR intends to:
calculate the IFR’s operating costs on an ongoing basis
recover the set up costs
calculate and maintain appropriate reserves
reconcile estimates with actual costs.
The consultation seeks feedback on whether the proposals are appropriate, proportionate, affordable, and understandable for clubs.
The consultation document should be read alongside the draft Levy Rules, and is accompanied by an interactive tool that allows clubs to calculate their estimated levy fees.
How to respond
The consultation document can be accessed here or via the link to the right of this page under 'Documents'.
You can submit your response to the proposals by filling out the survey below.
Accessibility
If you have accessibility requirements relating to our consultation documentation, please get in touch via the Accessibility Requirements page.
Next Steps
This consultation will close on Friday 4 December 2026 at 5pm. We will consider the responses we receive before publishing final Levy Rules in 2027.
Compliance with government consultation principles
In preparing this consultation, the IFR has taken into account the published government consultation principles, which set out how government departments and other public bodies should consult with stakeholders.
Confidentiality
We do not intend to publish any individual responses. Information contained in responses may be used or summarised in public documents.
Personal Data
We accept respondents’rightto remain anonymous, and responsesthat are confidential should be clearly marked. We may contact an individual to discuss their request for confidentiality further and ask for reasons.
We are subject to the rules set out in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Data Protection Act (DPA) and the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR).
Section 1 of FOIA gives a general right of access to information held by public authorities, and the Act adds the IFR to the list of ‘public bodies’ thatfall within the remit of FOIA.
The EIR requires public authorities to make environmental information available on request.
EIR (reg. 2(2)) defines ‘public authority’ by direct reference to FOIA. Personal data collected as part of the consultation process will fall within the remit of the DPA.
Section 7(1)(a) defines ’public authority’ by direct reference to FOIA. While we may publish data about the number of responses received, we will not disclose the personal information of respondents during this process.
Before completing these questions please take some time to review the consultation documents as the questions will reference these (links to the documents are provided throughout the survey for reference).
You will be able to return to a previous page at any point during the survey by clicking the 'previous' button, and if you need to close and complete any of the questions later, you will be able to do this by logging back in.
Once you have submitted your responses you will be unable to edit them.
Contributions to this consultation are closed for evaluation and review. The project team will report back on key outcomes.
Final Report
this is an upcoming stage for Levy Consultation
The final outcomes of the consultation are documented here. This may include a summary of all contributions collected as well as recommendations for future action.
