Switching from Citation to Paddl

Citation is one of the UK's largest health and safety consultancies, offering bundled packages that combine H&S compliance, HR support, and employment law advice. For businesses that need all three services, the consultancy model has its merits. But for food businesses, Citation has a glaring gap: it offers no food safety compliance features whatsoever. No SFBB packs. No HACCP plans. No allergen management. No COSHH records. The very compliance area that food businesses are most likely to be inspected on is entirely absent from Citation's offering. This means food businesses paying for Citation are still left without the tools they need most. You might have your fire risk assessment covered, but your SFBB pack is still on paper, your HACCP plan is gathering dust in a folder, and your allergen records are in a spreadsheet that no one updates. The bundled pricing — which can run to hundreds of pounds per month — includes services like employment law tribunals that most small food businesses never use, while the food safety basics go unaddressed. Paddl takes the opposite approach. Rather than bundling consultancy services you may not need, it provides the specific compliance tools food businesses use daily: SFBB packs, HACCP plans, allergen matrices, COSHH management, risk assessments, equipment tracking, and AI-powered guidance. All for a transparent £69 per month with no contracts and no consultant dependency.

Citation's business model is built around consultancy — human advisors providing telephone and on-site guidance on health and safety, HR, and employment law. The software component is secondary, serving primarily as a document repository rather than an active compliance management system. For food businesses, this means your most critical compliance area — food safety — is handled by neither Citation's consultants (who specialise in general H&S) nor their software (which has no food safety features).

The long-term contract structure adds further friction. Citation typically requires multi-year commitments with terms that are not always transparent at the point of sale. Businesses that outgrow the service or find it does not meet their food safety needs face complicated cancellation processes. When a significant portion of your monthly fee goes towards services you rarely use, the value proposition deteriorates quickly.

Paddl gives food businesses exactly what they need without the overhead of services they do not. AI replaces the consultant dependency for routine compliance questions, available instantly rather than through a telephone queue. Digital SFBB packs, AI-generated HACCP plans, and a mobile app for daily operations give your team the practical tools that Citation's consultancy model simply cannot deliver. If you still need Citation for HR or employment law, Paddl sits alongside it perfectly — handling the food safety compliance that Citation leaves unaddressed.