Scottish Environment Protection Agency

What Scottish Environment Protection Agency does

SEPA is Scotland's statutory environmental regulator, established in 1996 under the Environment Act 1995 as a non-departmental public body accountable to the Scottish Parliament through the Scottish Government. The agency operates across five regulatory domains (water, land, air, waste, and radioactive substances) and serves a diverse stakeholder base including industrial operators in manufacturing, energy, aquaculture, and chemicals; Scottish communities requiring flood warnings and bathing water information; the agricultural sector; nuclear site operators; and non-nuclear industries such as hospitals and universities that use radioactive substances. Its mission centres on protecting the environment and human health, ensuring sustainable use of natural resources, and supporting sustainable economic growth in Scotland. SEPA also operates the national flood forecasting and warning system, including the Scottish Flood Forecast and Floodline service, and investigates major environmental incidents such as the River Dochart oil spill and River Spey pollution event.

The agency has built a portfolio of digital products and data services rather than a single platform. Core offerings include the Open Data Hub on ArcGIS (approximately 30 spatial datasets covering flood maps, authorised sites, water classification, and bathing waters), the Time Series Data Service providing hydrometric data (river flow, water levels, rainfall) via API and CSV/Excel, the Scottish Flood Forecast and Floodline warning service, the EASR Authorisations Portal for environmental permits, a Bathing Waters Service for compliance with the EC Bathing Water Directive, an Aquaculture Monitoring platform for biomass and sea lice reporting, a Radioactive Substances Notification Service, and a Drought Risk Assessment Tool. These services are delivered through web portals, REST and WMS APIs, and downloadable formats (CSV, Excel, GeoPackage, ESRI Geodatabase, JSON) under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Technical integrations include Mailchimp for newsletter distribution, Google Analytics for web tracking, and YouTube for video content. SEPA self-assessed partial WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility compliance in March 2024. The agency is chairing the Nuclear Industry Liaison Group and the Scottish Non-Nuclear Industries Liaison Group, and holds MoUs with the Office for Nuclear Regulation, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, and the Ministry of Defence.

SEPA is funded primarily through the Scottish Consolidated Fund via government grant-in-aid and does not generate commercial revenue. It charges fees for specific regulatory services including reservoir registrations and permit applications under the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018. The agency has 1,001–5,000 employees headquartered in Stirling, with offices across Scotland and a 24-hour pollution hotline. Key strategic developments in 2025 include implementation of the largest overhaul of Scottish environmental legislation in three decades (effective 1 November 2025), the launch of the beta digital platform at beta.sepa.scot, and ongoing participation in UK-wide regulatory harmonisation with the Environment Agency (England), Natural Resources Wales, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency on the Radioactive Waste Adviser scheme. SEPA recently substantiated approximately 4,000 pollution reports over a four-year period while issuing only 118 fines, suggesting heavy reliance on advisory and informal enforcement relative to formal penalties.

Name

Scottish Environment Protection Agency

Legal name

Scottish Environment Protection Agency

Website

https://sepa.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

SEPA is Scotland's statutory environmental regulator, established in 1996, protecting water, land, air, waste, and radioactive substances while delivering flood forecasting, environmental monitoring data, and regulatory permits to communities, industry, agriculture, and the nuclear sector across Scotland.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Environmental Regulation Services

NAICS

Administration of Air and Water Resource and Solid Waste Management Programs (924110), Administration of Environmental Quality Programs (924), Regulation and Administration of Communications, Electric, Gas, and Other Utilities (92613)

SIC

Electric, Gas & Sanitary Services (4900), Water Supply (4941), Sanitary Services (4950)

akta.pro primary industry

Environmental Monitoring, Data & Reporting (Air/Water/Soil) (BPAIAMAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Energy, Utilities & Natural Resources Regulators (BPAIAOAJ), Water & Wastewater Compliance (NPDES/Stormwater, Pretreatment, Drinking Water/SDWA) (EUAHABAB), Drinking Water Quality & Safe Water Regulatory Authorities (HLAJAFAD)

Keywords

• Environmental regulation
• Pollution prevention
• Flood forecasting
• Waste management
• Radioactive substances

Headquarters

HQ city

Stirling

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: SEPA is a Scottish Government agency funded through public expenditure. The agency does not generate commercial revenue but is allocated funding to carry out its regulatory and environmental protection functions.

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

SEPA is Scotland's statutory environmental regulator that issues environmental authorisations and permits, monitors pollution across water, air, and land, manages flood forecasting and warning services, regulates radioactive substances and waste, and publishes environmental monitoring data. The agency operates a suite of digital services including the Open Data Hub, Time Series Data Service, Floodline, Bathing Waters monitoring, and aquaculture reporting platforms. It charges fees for certain regulatory services such as reservoir registrations, permit applications, and authorisation processing under the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations.

Product overview

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) operates as Scotland's environmental regulator, providing a suite of digital services for environmental monitoring, regulation, and public information. The agency offers a platform of interconnected tools and data services rather than a single product, organized around core functions: flood forecasting and warning services (including Scottish Flood Forecast, Floodline, and Flood Maps), environmental data publication (Open Data Hub, Time Series Data Service, Water Level Data), regulatory authorization portals (EASR for authorizations and permits), and specialized monitoring services (Bathing Waters, Aquaculture, Radioactive Substances). These services are accessible through web portals, APIs (REST/WMS), and direct data downloads, all governed by Open Government Licence standards.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Open Data Hub A beta service providing access to SEPA's spatial environmental data including authorized sites, flood maps, and water classification data. Available as interactive maps, tables, downloads, WMS, and REST services.
• SEPA Time Series Data Service API service providing hydrometric data including river flow, water levels, and rainfall measurements, available via API and CSV/Excel formats under Open Government Licence version 3.0.
• Scottish Flood Forecast Live flood forecasting service providing real-time flood alerts, warnings, and severe flood warnings across Scotland, integrating with Floodline for direct notification to affected communities.
• Floodline Flood warning service allowing residents and businesses to sign up for direct flood alerts, with real-time flood updates, preparedness guidance, and incident reporting capabilities.
• Water Level Data Service Real-time and historical water level monitoring data for rivers and coastal waters in Scotland, available in CSV and Shapefile formats under Open Government Licence.
• Bathing Waters Service Monitoring and reporting service for Scotland's coastal and inland bathing water quality, including location data, water analysis results, and compliance classifications under EC Bathing Water Directive standards.
• Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations (EASR) Portal Online portal for applying for environmental authorizations, permits, and registrations covering land activities, waste activities, radioactive substances, and water activities including aquaculture and reservoirs.
• Drought Risk Assessment Tool Interactive tool providing drought risk assessment data with outputs available in JSON, XML, CSV, and GeoJson formats under Open Government Licence.
• Radioactive Substances Notification Service Online service for notifying SEPA of radioactive substances activities, including orphan source notifications, managed radioactive substances, and applications for EASR18 authorizations.
• Controlled Reservoirs Register Public register of controlled reservoirs in Scotland (capacity 25,000m3 or more) with inundation maps showing flood risk areas, risk designations, and reservoir manager information.
• Aquaculture Monitoring Service providing monthly biomass and treatment reports, sea lice data reporting, and marine fish farm data analysis for Scotland's aquaculture sector.
• Water Classification Hub Data visualization tool providing comprehensive water quality classifications for rivers, lochs, coastal waters, estuaries, and groundwater across Scotland.

Quantifiable outcome

• All assessed radiation doses from authorized discharges remained below the annual legal limit of 1 millisievert

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Scottish GovernmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSEPA works closely with the Scottish Government on policy development, environmental legislation implementation, and achieving Scottish Government objectives for environmental protection and sustainable development. SEPA is the lead agency for River Basin Management Planning and Flood Risk Management Planning.
• Scottish WatercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSEPA works with Scottish Water on drinking water protection, wastewater management, and pollution incident response coordination. Scottish Water is responsible for public water supplies and sewerage.
• NatureScotcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on biodiversity protection, conservation issues, and Sites of Special Scientific Interest. NatureScot advises on nature conservation matters affecting SEPA regulatory decisions.
• Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSEPA has a Memorandum of Understanding with ONR for regulation at civil nuclear licensed sites. ONR is responsible for nuclear site safety while SEPA regulates radioactive waste management.
• Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSEPA maintains a Memorandum of Understanding with NDA for overseeing decommissioning of UK's civil nuclear sites including Dounreay, Chapelcross, and Hunterston A.
• Environment Agency (England)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint work on Radioactive Waste Adviser scheme, nuclear industry regulation, and transfrontier shipment of radioactive substances. Collaboration on joint guidance documents.
• Natural Resources WalescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on Radioactive Waste Adviser scheme, nuclear industry regulation, and joint guidance development for UK-wide consistency.
• Northern Ireland Environment AgencycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint work on Radioactive Waste Adviser scheme and radioactive substances regulation across UK jurisdictions.
• Zero Waste ScotlandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSEPA works closely with Zero Waste Scotland and other partners to deliver the Scottish Government's Circular Economy Strategy, supporting waste reduction and resource efficiency.
• Scottish Non-Nuclear Industries Liaison Group (SNNILG)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSEPA chairs this group bringing non-nuclear industries and regulators together twice yearly to discuss regulation of radioactive substances. Includes representatives from universities, hospitals, Ministry of Defence, and various industry bodies.
• Nuclear Industry Liaison Group (NILG)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSEPA chairs this group with Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales, providing a forum for discussion between nuclear site operators and UK environment agencies twice yearly.
• RPA 2000coreTechnology or IntegrationApproved assessing body for Radioactive Waste Adviser certification under the UK RWA scheme jointly developed by SEPA, Environment Agency, and Northern Ireland Environment Agency.
• Ministry of Defence (MoD)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMoD works with SEPA on radioactive contaminated land including Dalgety Bay remediation. MoD is exempt from EA(S)R provisions but SEPA applies regulations by administrative arrangements through letters of approval.
• Fife CouncilminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFife Council partnered with SEPA and MoD on Dalgety Bay radioactive contamination remediation, and committed to ongoing maintenance of rock armour around the headland.
• Stirling CouncilminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSEPA coordinated with Stirling Council during the River Dochart oil contamination incident response near Killin, Perthshire.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Natural Resources Wales: Natural Resources Wales is the Welsh Government's environmental and natural resources body, responsible for regulating water, air, waste, and radioactive substances in Wales. It collaborates with SEPA on the Radioactive Waste Adviser scheme, nuclear industry regulation, and joint guidance, making it a close direct peer.
• Environment Agency (England): The Environment Agency is England's principal environmental regulator, with statutory responsibilities for water, land, air, waste, and flood management that closely mirror SEPA's mandate. SEPA and the EA share MoUs on the Radioactive Waste Adviser scheme and nuclear regulation, and operate joint guidance, making them direct functional counterparts across the UK.
• Northern Ireland Environment Agency: NIEA is Northern Ireland's environmental regulator with responsibilities spanning water quality, waste, pollution prevention, and radioactive substances. It is a core SEPA partner on the Radioactive Waste Adviser scheme and UK-wide radioactive substances regulation.
• Office for Nuclear Regulation: ONR is the UK's nuclear site safety regulator and a formal MoU partner of SEPA. While ONR focuses on nuclear safety and SEPA on radioactive waste and environmental discharges, their regulatory scope is highly complementary at civil nuclear licensed sites.
• Nuclear Decommissioning Authority: The NDA oversees decommissioning of the UK's civil nuclear sites (including Dounreay, Chapelcross, and Hunterston A) under an MoU with SEPA. NDA and SEPA jointly oversee environmental remediation at decommissioning sites, making them closely aligned regulatory counterparts.

Regional players

• Umweltbundesamt (Environment Agency Austria): The Umweltbundesamt is Austria's federal environmental agency with responsibilities for environmental monitoring, reporting, and data publication across air, water, and waste. Its role as a national environmental data publisher is structurally similar to SEPA's open data and monitoring function.
• Environment Protection Authority Victoria: EPA Victoria is Australia's state-level environmental regulator with comparable scope across water, air, waste, and contaminated land. While operating in a different jurisdiction, its statutory regulatory model, monitoring data publications, and enforcement role closely parallel SEPA's structure.

Others

• Scottish Water: Scottish Water is the publicly-owned water and wastewater utility for Scotland, regulated by SEPA. The two organisations collaborate on drinking water protection, wastewater management, and pollution incident response, making Scottish Water a regulated counterpart and operational partner rather than a direct competitor.
• European Environment Agency: The EEA is the EU agency providing environmental data, indicators, and assessments across member states. While not a regulator, it shares SEPA's emphasis on open environmental data publication and standardised water/air reporting, and serves as a coordination layer for cross-border environmental information.

Broad incumbents

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: The U.S. EPA is the federal environmental regulator with broad mandate over air, water, hazardous waste, and radiation - overlapping with SEPA's scope but at much larger federal scale. Its compliance monitoring, permitting systems, and open data infrastructure serve as a broader benchmark for SEPA's regulatory model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ScottishEPA
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/SEPAView
• Facebookfacebook.com/ScottishEnvironmentProtectionAgency
• LinkedInuk.linkedin.com/company/scottish-environment-protection-agency
• Instagraminstagram.com/scottishepa

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Scottish Environment Protection Agency