Browse regulations

This is a commencement and transitional provisions regulation for the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, specifying which sections come into force on February 5, 2026 and June 19, 2026, along with transitional rules for existing requests, automated decisions, complaints, and enforcement actions.

Data protection frameworks create predictable legal environments that enable digital commerce and innovation. Without these transitional provisions, businesses would face sudden regulatory changes that could disrupt operations, create liability gaps, and undermine consumer trust in data processing systems.

This regulation sets the Pension Protection Fund levy ceiling for 2026/27 at £1.473 billion, based on a 5% earnings increase, revoking the 2025 Order.

The Pension Protection Fund protects millions of workers' pensions when employers become insolvent. This levy mechanism ensures the fund remains adequately capitalized without discretionary political interference. Deleting it would undermine a critical safety net for retirement security.

Amends evidence requirements for parties claiming immigration control exemption when registering marriage/civil partnership. Updates 2015 Regulations to allow digital verification via UK Visas and Immigration share codes and online accounts, replacing or supplementing previous paper-based evidence. Requires either a Secretary of State exemption letter OR digital verification with date of birth evidence plus valid share code showing exemption status, with superintendent registrars empowered to request additional access codes.

Marriage fraud for immigration purposes undermines the rule of law and imposes massive unseen costs on Britons through public service strain, housing pressure, and benefit abuse. While immigration restrictions themselves distort markets, sham marriages abuse the system and create unfairness both to genuine applicants and to citizens bearing the fiscal and social burdens. This regulation is a proportionate, digitized administrative safeguard that prevents systemic abuse while minimizing compliance friction. Deleting it would open a floodgate to fraud, making the UK a magnet for marriage-by-con artists and degrading immigration integrity—a classic case where preventing harm is cheaper than dealing with consequences.

This instrument sets commencement dates for various provisions of the Sentencing Act 2026, primarily concerning release after recall procedures and amendments to the Bail Act 1976. It includes complex transitional rules based on sentence length for persons recalled before 31 March 2026.

Deleting this commencement instrument would create legal uncertainty about when sentencing reforms take effect, undermining rule of law and causing administrative chaos in the criminal justice system. It's a necessary procedural mechanism, not an economic regulation burdening business, trade, or market competition.

Reciprocal recognition of Electronic Travel Authorisations (ETAs) between the UK and Crown Dependencies (Islands). Island ETAs are treated as UK ETAs for travel purposes, with conditions and cancellations recognized across jurisdictions.

Facilitates free movement and trade by eliminating redundant travel authorisation requirements between the UK and Islands. Deleting it would fragment the UK's internal market and impose separate bureaucratic barriers on cross-border travel, contrary to free-trading principles.

Requires Forestry Commissioners to obtain Secretary of State consent before enabling renewable electricity generating stations on English Forestry land where capacity threshold is exceeded, with 60-day response period and deemed consent if delayed.

Adds unnecessary central government layer that delays renewable energy projects, increases costs, and creates political risk of blocking beneficial development. The Forestry Commission should exercise its land-use authority without interdepartmental permission, allowing market-driven energy infrastructure decisions. Deletion streamlines clean energy deployment, reduces bureaucracy, and respects property rights of public land.

This regulation designates three specific areas in North East Scotland as 'special tax sites' under the Finance Act 2021, enabling targeted tax incentives to attract investment to those zones.

It distorts market investment by privileging specific regions and sectors, creates administrative complexity, and misallocates capital toward tax-advantaged zones rather than productive uses. Tax policy should be neutral and broad-based, not a tool for industrial direction.

Designates specific areas in Glasgow City Region as special tax sites for investment zone purposes, taking effect February 26, 2026

Provides targeted tax incentives to stimulate investment in Glasgow's designated zones, which could attract businesses and create jobs in an economically important region

This 2026 statutory instrument amends the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 to clarify the tax treatment of Scottish welfare payments. It adds the Scottish Carer Supplement to the list of taxable benefits while exempting the Carer's Additional Person Payment from income tax.

Deleting this regulation would create legal uncertainty about the tax status of Scottish welfare payments, potentially leading to disputes with HMRC and increased compliance costs for carers and administrators. The regulation achieves clear tax categorization with minimal administrative burden, and its removal would not meaningfully reduce regulatory complexity while introducing practical problems.

This Order removes previous restrictions on local government procurement, allowing councils to exclude contractors based outside the UK or local area from bidding on below-threshold contracts. It legalizes 'buy local' protectionist policies and requires such restrictions to be disclosed in tender notices.

Protectionist procurement mandates artificially restrict competition, raising costs for taxpayers and distorting resource allocation. The rule creates deadweight loss by preventing councils from selecting the best-value suppliers regardless of location, undermining Brexit's promises of global free trade, and incentivizing local inefficiency. These geographic restrictions also harm Britain's international trading relationships and retaliatory risks.

Amends the 2006 Certificate of Entitlement regulations to introduce digital certificates linked to passports via an online UKVI account, replacing or supplementing physical affixed certificates, with updated expiry, revocation, and maintenance rules including periodic photo updates.

Digitization reduces administrative costs and friction for individuals and employers verifying right-of-abode status. Deleting this modernization would force a return to purely paper-based systems, increasing bureaucracy, verification delays, and uncertainty without any offsetting benefit. The digital system maintains necessary legal certainty while improving efficiency.

This regulation postpones local council elections from 2026 to 2027 for specific county councils in England, adjusting councillor terms and election schedules accordingly.

This regulation unnecessarily delays democratic accountability and local representation. Postponing elections by a year reduces voter input, extends incumbent terms without mandate, and creates administrative complexity without clear benefit. Local elections should proceed as scheduled to maintain democratic responsiveness.

Technical amendments to Civil Procedure Rules 1998 updating references, adding provisions for online procedures, third-party document disclosure, Procurement Act judicial review timelines, serious crime prevention orders, and special advocate statements.

Procedural efficiency reduces litigation costs and improves access to justice, supporting economic activity. These are technical updates, not substantive economic restrictions.

This amendment extends UK immigration health charge provisions to the Isle of Man, transferring authority from the UK Secretary of State to the Isle of Man Minister and updating territorial references from UK to Isle of Man. It also modifies NHS Act provisions to clarify charging for non-residents and those with temporary leave to remain.

This regulation ensures the Isle of Man can charge immigrants for healthcare services, preventing cost-shifting to taxpayers and maintaining sustainable public services. Without it, Isle of Man residents would bear the full cost of healthcare for non-residents and temporary immigrants, creating a significant fiscal burden and potentially encouraging welfare tourism.

Amends Air Navigation Order 2016 to update references to EU drone regulation and clarify offences for tethered small unmanned aircraft, adding horizontal distance requirements from persons and buildings and removing the 250g weight threshold for certain provisions.

Keeping this regulation imposes unnecessary compliance costs on drone operators, particularly small businesses and hobbyists, by extending distance requirements to all drones regardless of size. It perpetuates EU regulatory frameworks rather than allowing the UK to develop a lighter-touch, innovation-friendly regime. The removal of the 250g threshold is gold-plating that will stifle the drone industry's growth and reduce Britain's competitiveness.