UK Governance & Risk: A mid-year overview for UK listed and private companies

We have published the following two guides, which summarise some of the major governance and reporting related developments from the first half of this year which are relevant to UK listed companies, and private companies and LLPs:

• UK Governance & Risk - Listed companies Summer 2026
• UK Governance & Risk - Private cos and LLPs Summer 2026

Developments summarised in these guides include:

• government and regulatory policies for reducing business burdens and encouraging economic growth, including the ongoing reforms affecting the UK’s capital markets and financial services framework, and proposed reviews of FCA rules;
• new disclosure obligations and proposals, including in relation to Provision 29 of the UK Corporate Governance Code, the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS), payment practices, and ethnicity and disability pay gaps;
• reporting guidance, including on governance and to improve structured digital reporting;
• accounting reforms, which will introduce software-only filings, amongst other changes;
• legislation for further protecting payments to suppliers;
• stewardship approaches and investor and proxy advisor expectations;
• key trends emerging from the 2026 AGM season so far;
• administrative changes as a result of the continued implementation of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA);
• market transparency, regulation and recent FCA enforcement activity;
• AI challenges and governance;
• dealing with heightened cybersecurity risks;
• the wide-ranging changes to the relationship between employers and workers;
• new risks of incurring criminal liability for actions taken by senior managers and increased enforcement of the economic sanctions regimes; and
• developments relevant to director disqualification rules.