We set out below how we’re streamlining our rules and reducing complexity for businesses following the introduction of the Consumer Duty.
Following the Consumer Duty (the Duty) requirements review Call for Input, we set out progress on the action we have taken so far, and further action we will take following stakeholder input.
Our action plan at the end of this page includes:
- A summary of the work we have completed since March.
- The work that we continue to progress.
- New work that has been announced as a result of the Leeds reforms[1].
- The new work that we are committing to as part of this Consumer Duty streamlining exercise and review.
Our priorities for streamlining our regulatory requirements
In March 2025, we set out steps we will take to simplify our requirements of firms in a Feedback Statement (PDF)[2], responding to comments on our July 2024 Call for Input (PDF)[3]. As part of our strategy’s (PDF)[4] priority to support growth, we are focused on areas where streamlining could achieve:
- More flexibility: Enabling firms to innovate and take advantage of technology, and to tailor approaches to customers' circumstances, particularly those with characteristics of vulnerability.
- More predictability: Providing more clarity on our priorities and upcoming consultations, helping firms plan.
- Improved efficiency: Reducing the time, cost and complexity involved in meeting our expectations, while ensuring good customer outcomes.
We hosted a Regulatory Summit in July, attended by over 90 representatives from across the financial services sector, government bodies and consumer groups to discuss the proposals in our March Feedback Statement, and to determine what else, if anything, we could do. Participants were supportive of the actions and plans we set out and provided additional feedback, which we've set out below.
At the request of the Chancellor, we have also worked with wholesale firms and trade bodies representing them to understand their concerns about the application of the Duty. Much of this feedback echoes issues raised at the Summit. We have written to the Chancellor[5] to outline how we will address feedback.
Our wider work on the Duty
Our work to streamline our requirements is a key component of our approach to implementing the Duty. For more on our wider programme of work on the Duty, see our latest workplan[6].
Next steps
Stakeholders will have opportunities to feed into our work as it progresses.
We will also continue to look for opportunities to streamline our requirements of firms. We will continue to provide mechanisms for stakeholders to raise concerns about overly complex or overlapping requirements. For example, we will explore including questions on Handbook simplification in the next survey of the Practitioner Panel.
We will run a series of sector-level roundtables over the course of 2026, and will provide a further update on our next steps in 2026. We will also provide an update on the cumulative benefits of this work in due course.
Feedback on our requirements of firms
We received feedback on our requirements via our Regulatory Summit, key themes of which we've responded to below. These included:
There is a clear consensus on the need to deliver the above at pace, and we remain committed to doing so.
At this time, we have decided not to proceed with broader reviews of our product governance, client asset and training and competence sourcebooks. We will, however, keep this under review through the ongoing review mechanisms described above.
We will also deliver focused work this year on our Systems and Controls requirements relating to the management of conflicts of interests and will be taking forward reforms to the senior manager regime (with associated rationalisation of systems and controls requirements).
Feedback on our regulatory approach
Through the Summit and this review, we have heard feedback about our wider regulatory approach, on topics including our authorisations' timelines, how we consult and implement policy, navigability of our Handbook, and our approach to risk and growth.
A broad package of measures has been announced through the Leeds Reforms, covering our authorisations timelines, the senior manager regime, the redress system, and our support for firms as they scale up and grow. We are committed to taking this work forwards together with the other areas of work to support growth as set out in our letter to the Prime Minister in January 2025 (PDF)[8].
Our action plan
In FS25/2, we committed to several workstreams which would simplify our requirements of firms. We have already delivered some of these commitments. We will deliver the remaining commitments later this year and in early 2026.
