HMT Regulation Action Plan - Progress Update and Next Steps

HMT dubbed today’s announcement a “£6 billion business blitz”, pledging to slash red tape and regulations to deliver nearly £6bn in savings by the end of the Parliament. The Chancellor announced these measures at the inaugural Regional Investment Summit in Birmingham, declaring:

“Our mission is clear: to create the right environment for investment through our regulatory reforms, to crowd in capital through our public financial institutions, to break down silos to collaboration on local projects, and to support innovation and growth throughout the UK.”

Today’s update comes seven months after the launch of the Regulatory Action Plan, which included 60 commitments from the UK’s major regulators targeted towards boosting growth. According to today’s announcement, since the Action Plan’s launch, the Government have already identified and announced £1.5bn in savings.

The Action Plan was divided into three core ‘Actions’, and today’s update includes commitments focused on the following actions:

Within each of these sections, the Government have identified the key areas of progress and forthcoming actions. Key announcements included in the plan are as following:

The Department for Business and Trade also released a Business Questionnaire which is seeking to understand the impact of UK regulation on businesses of all sizes and sectors. The Government will use responses to identify further opportunities to reduce administrative costs and burdens on businesses. techUK will be contributing views on behalf of our members by the 16 December 2025 deadline. Please contact Daniella and Samiah with views.

techUK welcome today’s announcement, which we agree is a major step forward in the Government’s ambitions to deliver a pro-growth and pro-innovation regulatory system. Regulatory reform is an important lever for encouraging growth and stimulating investment, and this is something techUK’s Digital Regulation Team have long called for.

We also particularly welcome the Department for Business and Trade’s pledge to run a series of policy sprints across specific sectors to identify regulatory barriers which affect companies with innovative business models and high potential scale ups. This is very much consistent with one of our long-standing asks for the establishment of a Commercialisation of Tech Taskforce within the RIO, which would similarly identify key emerging technologies and run 12-month ‘sprints’, whereby major barriers to commercialisation in these markets could be identified and resolved.

We look forward to working with our Government and regulatory partners as they work to implement this major programme of reform announced today. As the UK’s largest tech trade association, with members spanning the breadth of sectors covered by today’s announcements, we are well positioned to directly feedback on how these plans are progressing and to supplement the use cases identified for regulatory reform. In addition, we emphasise that the long-lasting success of any regulatory intervention is dependent on meaningful, regular industry engagement.

If you’d like to receive our detailed summary or are keen on understanding more about the next steps taken forward post-Regulation Action Plan, please email Daniella Bennett Remington or Samiah Anderson to receive the full briefing.

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