diff --git a/app/__init__.py b/app/__init__.py
index b3662cabc..fbb31d3e9 100644
--- a/app/__init__.py
+++ b/app/__init__.py
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 import uuid
 import os
-from flask import request, url_for
+from flask import request, url_for, g
 from flask import Flask, _request_ctx_stack
 from flask.ext.sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
 from flask_marshmallow import Marshmallow
+from monotonic import monotonic
 from werkzeug.local import LocalProxy
 from notifications_utils import logging
 from app.celery.celery import NotifyCelery
@@ -102,6 +103,10 @@ def init_app(app):
             if error:
                 return error
 
+    @app.before_request
+    def record_start_time():
+        g.start = monotonic()
+
     @app.after_request
     def after_request(response):
         response.headers.add('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', '*')
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 177c4b649..50ded66b5 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -22,4 +22,4 @@ monotonic==0.3
 git+https://github.com/alphagov/notifications-python-client.git@1.0.0#egg=notifications-python-client==1.0.0
 
 
-git+https://github.com/alphagov/notifications-utils.git@5.2.2#egg=notifications-utils==5.2.2
+git+https://github.com/alphagov/notifications-utils.git@5.2.3#egg=notifications-utils==5.2.3