[ { "num": 1, "slug": "civic-society", "name": "Civic action and revitalisation of civil society", "shortName": "Civic society", "hue": 16, "landscape": "UK associational life continues its long thinning: monthly formal volunteering fell from 27% (2013/14) to 17% (2024/25, Community Life Survey); union density is 22.4%, roughly half its historic peak, though public-sector membership is rising; most denominations report ageing membership (the Bible Society's 'Quiet Revival' growth claim was withdrawn in March 2026 after its survey proved faulty). Around 7% of adults report chronic loneliness. Yet 2025–26 is an unusually active policy window: the Civil Society Covenant (July 2025) reset government–sector relations; the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 created a Community Right to Buy and a neighbourhood governance duty; Pride in Place committed up to £5bn over ten years to ~379 deprived neighbourhoods; the £175m Community Wealth Fund launches in 2026; and a place-based philanthropy roadmap appeared in April 2026. Meanwhile load-bearing institutions have exited: the What Works Centre for Wellbeing and Campaign to End Loneliness (2024), National Citizen Service (2025), Big Local/Local Trust and the Know Your Neighbourhood Fund (2026), and the Community Ownership Fund (closed 2024 with £15m unspent). Community business is growing (869 trading, ~1,000 projects in development) and 40+ councils have run citizens' assemblies, but civic tech, local news (4.4m people live in news deserts) and community organising remain subscale and grant-fragile. The pattern: new rights and neighbourhood money are arriving faster than the capital funds, capacity institutions and evidence infrastructure needed to make them work.", "actors": [ { "name": "Citizens UK", "type": "charity/network", "note": "Largest broad-based community organising alliance: 19 chapters, 100+ staff, funded by member dues plus a ~£5m/9-year National Lottery Solidarity Fund grant." }, { "name": "ACORN UK", "type": "membership union", "note": "Member-funded community/tenant union organising low-income residents in 10+ cities since 2014; one of few dues-funded civic organising models." }, { "name": "Community Organisers Ltd", "type": "charity", "note": "Runs the National Academy of Community Organising (2,000+ learners); legacy body of the 2011–15 government programme that trained 500 organisers." }, { "name": "mySociety", "type": "charity", "note": "Core UK civic tech: TheyWorkForYou, WhatDoTheyKnow, FixMyStreet; its Shifting Landscapes report (Jan 2026) maps the fragile pro-democracy tech sector." }, { "name": "Democracy Club", "type": "community interest company", "note": "Open election data (candidates, polling stations); Electoral Commission is taking the polling station finder in-house, exposing the rest of its data work." }, { "name": "Involve", "type": "charity", "note": "UK's main public-participation/deliberation practice body; ran national citizens' assemblies and supports councils regularising deliberative engagement." }, { "name": "Local Trust", "type": "charity (winding down)", "note": "Delivered Big Local (£217m, 150 resident-led areas, 2011–26) and the Community Leadership Academy; closes in 2026, leaving a capacity vacuum." }, { "name": "Locality", "type": "membership network", "note": "Network of community organisations/anchors; key advocate on assets of community value and the Community Right to Buy implementation." }, { "name": "Plunkett UK", "type": "charity", "note": "Supports 869 community-owned businesses (shops, pubs); documents post-COF funding barriers and calls for a rural community ownership fund." }, { "name": "Power to Change", "type": "foundation/think-do tank", "note": "Endowed (dormant-assets-origin) funder and evidence body for community business; co-backer of the We're Right Here community power campaign." }, { "name": "Public Interest News Foundation", "type": "charity", "note": "Maps UK news deserts (4.4m people, 37 districts), runs the Local News Commission and Local News Fund for independent outlets." }, { "name": "UK Community Foundations", "type": "network", "note": "47 accredited community foundations; delivery infrastructure for place-based giving and programmes like Know Your Neighbourhood." }, { "name": "National Lottery Community Fund", "type": "funder (NDPB)", "note": "Largest community funder; delivering the £175m Community Wealth Fund from 2026 and dormant-assets community programmes." }, { "name": "NCVO", "type": "membership body", "note": "Voluntary sector umbrella; its Civil Society Almanac is the main sector dataset but lags 3–4 years and was delayed to 2026." }, { "name": "Jo Cox Foundation", "type": "charity", "note": "Convenes post-2024 loneliness/social connection policy work after the Campaign to End Loneliness and What Works Centre for Wellbeing closed." } ], "funders": [ "National Lottery Community Fund (largest community funder; Community Wealth Fund delivery; Solidarity Fund)", "Dormant Assets Scheme (community wealth, youth, financial inclusion strands; most plausible source of new civic capital)", "DCMS (Covenant programme, Know Your Neighbourhood, Amplify local media plan, Better Futures Fund, place-based philanthropy roadmap)", "MHCLG (Pride in Place £5bn, neighbourhood governance implementation)", "BBC licence fee (Local Democracy Reporting Service, subject to Charter review)", "Esmée Fairbairn Foundation", "Joseph Rowntree Foundation / Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust", "Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales", "Paul Hamlyn Foundation", "City Bridge Foundation (London)", "Power to Change (community business)", "People's Health Trust (community power, We're Right Here)", "UK community foundations network (47 foundations, place-based giving)", "Nesta / think-tank-adjacent innovation funders", "International democracy funders active in UK civic tech (National Endowment for Democracy, Luminate)", "Corporate/platform money (Google News Initiative, contested; potential platform levy)" ], "policyNotes": "The Covenant (July 2025) is non-statutory with no adjudication mechanism; its Local Covenant Partnerships Fund (£11.59m) reaches only 15 English council areas. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 delivered one of the three community rights campaigners sought (buy, not shape-services or control-investment) and leaves neighbourhood-governance parameters to future regulations. Government closed the Community Ownership Fund without a capital successor, betting the right alone suffices. The Lobbying Act 2014 remains unreformed despite documented chilling effects; CIVICUS has rated UK civic space 'obstructed' since 2023 and HRW (January 2026) documents escalating protest restrictions, an awkward counterpoint to partnership rhetoric. Loneliness policy has drifted since 2020 (DCMS team repurposed; evidence bodies closed). Local news policy is modest (Amplify: £12m over two years) with LDRS funding unresolved in Charter review. Dormant assets and the new Office for the Impact Economy are the live levers to watch.", "sources": [ "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-society-covenant/civil-society-covenant", "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/civil-society-covenant-programme", "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/23/contents/enacted", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/english-devolution-bill-receives-royal-assent", "https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/2026/05/19/thomas-poole-and-elena-de-nictolis-the-english-devolution-and-community-empowerment-act-2026/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/technical-consultation-on-a-community-wealth-fund-in-england/outcome/government-response-to-the-technical-consultation-on-the-design-of-a-community-wealth-fund-in-england", "https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/community-wealth-fund-doubles-to-175m-after-national-lottery-investment.html", "https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-life-survey-202425-annual-publication/community-life-survey-202425-volunteering-and-charitable-giving", "https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-life-survey-202425-annual-publication/community-life-survey-202425-headline-findings", "https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/bulletins/publicopinionsandsocialtrendsgreatbritain/april2025", "https://www.publicinterestnews.org.uk/content/files/2025/12/PINF-Local-News-Report-2025--8-December-.pdf", "https://www.journalism.co.uk/new-pinf-report-4-4-million-britons-live-in-news-deserts/", "https://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2026/news/save-local-democracy-reporting-service-new-bbc-d-g-urged/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/local-journalism-to-benefit-from-new-government-funding-to-reach-new-audiences", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-news-provision-and-local-public-service-performance/local-news-provision-and-local-public-service-performance", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/final-overarching-evaluation-of-the-know-your-neighbourhood-fund/final-overarching-evaluation-on-the-know-your-neighbourhood-fund", "https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/trade-union-statistics-2025/trade-union-membership-uk-1995-to-2025-statistical-bulletin", "https://churchmodel.org.uk/2025/04/28/the-quiet-revival-why-is-it-not-louder/", "https://www.premierchristianity.com/opinion/cofe-attendance-is-up-but-its-no-quiet-revival/20463.article", "https://constitution-unit.com/2025/02/11/local-citizens-assemblies-why-do-councils-set-them-up-and-what-can-they-do/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pride-in-place-40-neighbourhoods-join-transformational-programme", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pride-in-place-programme-prospectus/pride-in-place-programme-prospectus", "https://www.jrf.org.uk/neighbourhoods-and-communities/pride-in-place-funding-gaps-and-capacity-challenges", "https://plunkett.co.uk/better-business-report-2025/", "https://www.slcc.co.uk/closure-of-community-ownership-fund/", "https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wms/?id=2025-01-06.hcws353.h", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-national-youth-strategy-to-break-down-barriers-to-opportunity-for-young-people", "https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/charity-funding-concerns-as-government-announces-national-citizen-service-closure.html", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/our-place-to-give-a-plan-for-growing-place-based-philanthropy/our-place-to-give-a-plan-for-growing-place-based-philanthropy", "https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/government-publishes-1m-roadmap-to-boost-place-based-philanthropy.html", "https://www.farrer.co.uk/news-and-insights/our-place-to-give-how-the-governments-place-based-philanthropy-strategy-seeks-to-reshape-charitable-giving/", "https://whatworkswellbeing.org/blog/statement-of-closure/", "https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/closure-statement-from-the-campaign-to-end-loneliness/", "https://shorensteincenter.org/resource/only-the-beginning-uk-loneliness-impact/", "https://www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/research/research-projects/measuring-social-and-cultural-infrastructure/", "https://ukonward.com/reports/2023-social-fabric-index/", "https://democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2025/04/09/a-new-home-for-the-polling-station-finder/", "https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/about-us/our-plans-priorities-and-spending/corporate-plan-2025/6-2029/30/electoral-commission", "https://www.mysociety.org/2026/01/29/new-report-shifting-landscapes/", "https://www.careful.industries/blog/2025-12-could-2026-be-the-year-of-public-interest-technology", "https://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/news/listed-places-worship-grants-scheme-only-renewed-one-year-reduced-budget", "https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/funding-for-listed-places-of-worship-recent-changes/", "https://www.bristol.anglican.org/news/government-announces-replacement-to-listed-places-of-worship-grant-scheme.php", "https://www.right-here.org/a-pivotal-moment-for-community-power-the-english-devolution-and-community-empowerment-act/", "https://www.right-here.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Were-Right-Here-A-Blueprint-for-Community-Powered-Neighbourhood-Governance.pdf", "https://localtrust.org.uk/big-local-programme-closing-faqs/", "https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/almanac-shows-charity-sector-income-rose-to-69bn-despite-government-funding-decline.html", "https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/ncvo-delays-civil-society-almanac-publication-until-2026.html", "https://monitor.civicus.org/country-rating-changes/uk/", "https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/01/08/uk-protest-crackdowns-undermine-democracy", "https://www.bond.org.uk/news/2026/02/what-is-happening-to-uk-civic-space-trends-and-analysis-from-2025-2026/", "https://www.corganisers.org.uk/about-us/history-of-our-organisation/", "https://www.citizensuk.org/about-us/", "https://www.scouts.org.uk/volunteers/growing-scouts/get-more-young-people-involved/waiting-lists/" ], "gapCount": 21, "intro": "Fewer Britons volunteer, join or belong than a decade ago, yet the policy weather has rarely been better. New community rights, a £5bn neighbourhood programme and a formal reset with government have all just arrived. The catch: the institutions needed to make them work keep closing. Money and rights are arriving faster than the capacity to use them.\n\nThe gaps below are mostly missing plumbing: a right to buy with no fund to buy with, resident boards with no one to train them, billions allocated with no statistics or evidence behind them. Local news, community organising and civic tech all run on grants that expire. Most of these gaps come with a concrete fix already sketched; what's missing is an owner." }, { "num": 2, "slug": "open-source-public-goods", "name": "Open source tools and public goods", "shortName": "Open source & public goods", "hue": 145, "landscape": "The UK was an early leader: the 2012 Service Standard and Technology Code of Practice made government code \"open by default\", GDS's alphagov GitHub became a global reference, and OpenUK finds open source contributes 27% of UK digital GVA, with the UK the top OSS contributor in Europe. By mid-2026 policy and practice have diverged sharply. NHS England quietly deleted its open source policy pages (December 2025) and in May 2026 adopted a default-closed posture on its code over AI security concerns, prompting an open letter from 70+ signatories. data.gov.uk's own team admits over 25% of links are broken after \"underinvestment since 2017\"; GDS's canonical Registers programme was retired in 2021. There is no UK analogue of Germany's Sovereign Tech Fund (over €24.6m deployed to 60+ critical open source projects), and the EU dropped Next Generation Internet from Horizon Europe's 2025 work programme, closing the NLnet small-grant route. Counter-currents exist: the Software Sustainability Institute's £4.8m UKRI Research Software Maintenance Fund (2025) is the first of its kind; LocalGov Drupal's steward, Open Digital Cooperative, is profitably self-sustaining across ~60 councils; OpenSAFELY won £17m over seven years from Wellcome; DSIT's National Data Library completed discovery with £100m+ backing; UKRI contracted OpenUK (October 2025) to draft public-sector open source guidance; and GDS Local is consulting on an open source assurance process. Government money, however, flows to sovereign AI (a £500m equity fund) rather than the open infrastructure underneath it.", "actors": [ { "name": "OpenUK", "type": "nonprofit industry body", "note": "Advocacy and research body for UK open technology; publishes State of Open reports (27% of digital GVA claim); contracted by UKRI in October 2025 to write public-sector open source guidance including a sovereign tech fund recommendation." }, { "name": "Government Digital Service (GDS, within DSIT)", "type": "government body", "note": "Owns the Service Standard and Technology Code of Practice 'open by default' rules; GDS Local's 'Sourcing the Stack' (May 2026) is building the first cross-government open source assurance criteria." }, { "name": "Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)", "type": "government department", "note": "Owns the National Data Library, data.gov.uk reset, Software Security Code of Practice and commissioned OSS supply-chain research; currently funds sovereign AI, not open infrastructure." }, { "name": "Software Sustainability Institute (SSI)", "type": "research institute/programme", "note": "Runs the £4.8m UKRI Research Software Maintenance Fund (13 projects in round 1, 2025; round 2 opened January 2026), the UK's only dedicated software maintenance fund." }, { "name": "Open Digital Cooperative (LocalGov Drupal)", "type": "cooperative", "note": "Steward of LocalGov Drupal, used by ~60 councils and 23 vendors; became self-sustaining on member subscriptions after ~£1m of DLUHC Local Digital Fund grants ended in 2023; councils save £30k-£90k per website rebuild." }, { "name": "Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science (University of Oxford)", "type": "university institute", "note": "Builds OpenSAFELY and OpenPrescribing, open source NHS data infrastructure; long-running funding precarity eased by £17m from Wellcome (2025), illustrating dependence on philanthropy rather than NHS core budgets." }, { "name": "Open Data Institute (ODI)", "type": "nonprofit", "note": "Founded 2012 by Berners-Lee and Shadbolt; data stewardship training, standards and policy work; fed evidence into the National Data Library discovery phase." }, { "name": "mySociety / SocietyWorks", "type": "charity with trading subsidiary", "note": "Runs TheyWorkForYou, WhatDoTheyKnow and FixMyStreet: de facto national civic infrastructure funded by foundations plus commercial income, with no dedicated UK funding stream for such infrastructure." }, { "name": "Centre for Public Data", "type": "nonprofit", "note": "Anna Powell-Smith's non-partisan data-policy body; leads the Open Address File UK campaign and has asked Ofcom to review Royal Mail's Postcode Address File licensing." }, { "name": "Society of Research Software Engineering", "type": "professional body/charity", "note": "Professional association for the UK's research software engineers; the RSE career track the UK invented still lacks recurring maintenance funding." }, { "name": "National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)", "type": "government body", "note": "Publishes SBOM and supply-chain guidance and warns of active dependency-compromise attacks, but runs no inventory of or support scheme for the open source the state depends on." }, { "name": "Apperta Foundation", "type": "community interest company", "note": "Clinician-led CIC promoting open platforms in health (steward of the OpenEyes EPR); still operating but small, and now swimming against NHS England's 2026 default-closed code posture." }, { "name": "UKRI / Innovate UK", "type": "funder", "note": "Funds the Digital Research Infrastructure programme (host of the SSI maintenance fund) and is the administering body proposed for a UK open-source fund by both OpenUK and the UK Day One paper." }, { "name": "National Data Library (DSIT programme)", "type": "government programme", "note": "£100m+ programme; completed discovery January 2026 with five kickstarter projects; absorbing data.gov.uk and shifting it from passive aggregation to curation; details due spring 2026." }, { "name": "Open Rights Group", "type": "campaign group", "note": "Running a 'Demand UK Digital Sovereignty' campaign pushing government away from proprietary hyperscaler dependence toward open alternatives." } ], "funders": [ "UKRI (Innovate UK, EPSRC and the Digital Research Infrastructure programme; host of the SSI maintenance fund and proposed administrator of a UK open-source fund)", "DSIT (National Data Library £100m+, £500m Sovereign AI Fund, digital centre of government budgets; the natural home for a sovereign tech fund)", "Wellcome Trust (£17m to OpenSAFELY 2025; £600m with government for the Health Data Research Service)", "NHS England (platform and EPR budgets; currently funds almost no open source stewardship)", "MHCLG (former DLUHC Local Digital Fund, ~£1m to LocalGov Drupal, now closed; an obvious vehicle to revive)", "Nesta (innovation foundation; past digital/civic tech funder)", "The National Lottery Community Fund (ran a Digital Fund, now closed)", "Charitable trusts funding civic tech at the margins (Joseph Rowntree trusts, Paul Hamlyn, Worshipful Company of Information Technologists small grants)", "US/international philanthropy currently substituting for UK funders (Omidyar Network, Open Society, Sloan/Ford digital infrastructure funds)", "Corporate open source money (GitHub Sponsors, Google/Microsoft OSS programmes, Linux Foundation/OpenSSF Alpha-Omega)", "EU Horizon Europe (UK associated; NGI cascade-grant route via NLnet cut from 2025)", "Member subscriptions (the Open Digital Cooperative council/supplier model; proven self-sustaining route once seed-funded)" ], "policyNotes": "'Open by default' has been UK policy since 2012 (Service Standard; Technology Code of Practice point 3) but has no institutional owner, no compliance measurement and no funding arm: a policy without a programme. NHS England's 2025-26 retreat to default-closed code shows how easily it evaporates. The Procurement Act 2023 and G-Cloud 15 modernised process but created no duty to weigh open source. The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill (report stage June 2026) is, unlike the EU Cyber Resilience Act, silent on open source stewardship. DSIT's activity is analytic (commissioned OSS supply-chain research, a voluntary Software Security Code of Practice), not financial. The National Data Library (further details due spring 2026) is the main live data policy and the natural host for register reform and open address data. The 2026 Digital and Technologies Sector Plan update funds sovereign AI equity, not open digital infrastructure; OpenUK's UKRI-commissioned guidance is the nearest thing to an emerging strategy.", "sources": [ "https://www.sovereign.tech/programs/fund", "https://eu-stf.openforumeurope.org/", "https://britishprogress.org/uk-day-one/a-uk-open-source-fund-to-support-software-innovati", "https://fsfe.org/news/2024/news-20240719-01.en.html", "https://edri.org/our-work/european-commission-cuts-funding-support-for-free-software-projects/", "https://www.software.ac.uk/programmes/research-software-maintenance-fund", "https://www.software.ac.uk/news/ukri-awards-software-sustainability-institute-ps48m-strengthen-research-software-maintenance", "https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/ssi-research-software-maintenance-fund-round-two/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-data-library-progress-update-january-2026/national-data-library-progress-update-january-2026", "https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/08/national_data_library_plan/", "https://dataingovernment.blog.gov.uk/2026/03/25/whats-changing-on-data-gov-uk-and-why/", "https://technology.blog.gov.uk/2026/05/27/adopting-open-source-in-local-government/", "https://www.registers.service.gov.uk/", "https://dataingovernment.blog.gov.uk/2021/02/18/new-guidance-for-publishing-data/", "https://www.centreforpublicdata.org/postal-address-data", "https://www.twobirds.com/en/insights/2025/uk/addressing-database-rights-royal-mail-successfully-protects-rights-in-its-postcode-address-file", "https://www.owenboswarva.com/blog/post-addr4.htm", "https://www.ukauthority.com/articles/localgov-drupal-becomes-open-digital-cooperative/", "https://opendigital.coop/", "https://openuk.uk/stateofopen/", "https://openuk.uk/theuksfutureleadershipinopensource/", "https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366633932/OpenUK-works-with-UKRI-on-open-source-guidance-for-public-sector", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-source-software-best-practice-supply-chain-risk-management", "https://www.securityweek.com/uk-government-report-calls-for-stronger-open-source-supply-chain-security-practices/", "https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/sboms-and-the-importance-of-inventory", "https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blogs/software-supply-chain-attacks-check-your-dependencies", "https://www.digitalhealth.net/2025/12/nhs-england-quietly-removes-open-source-policy-web-pages/", "https://www.digitalhealth.net/2026/05/nhse-to-move-away-from-open-source-over-ai-security-concerns/", "https://www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2025/02/some-reflections-about-funding/", "https://www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2025/02/game-changing-new-funding-from-wellcome-for-opensafely-and-mental-health-data/", "https://www.notifications.service.gov.uk/features/who-can-use-notify", "https://www.mysociety.org/about/funding/", "https://www.careful.industries/blog/2025-12-could-2026-be-the-year-of-public-interest-technology", "https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/4035", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10442/", "https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/cyber-resilience-act", "https://interoperable-europe.ec.europa.eu/collection/open-source-observatory-osor/news/uk-government-prescribes-open-source-public-procurement", "https://thorntonandlowe.com/g-cloud-15-procurement-framework/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/digital-and-technologies-sector-plan-year-one-update/digital-and-technologies-sector-plan-year-one-update", "https://interoperable-europe.ec.europa.eu/collection/ec-ospo", "https://www.openrightsgroup.org/campaign/demand-uk-digital-sovereignty/" ], "gapCount": 13, "intro": "Britain wrote the rules on open government code and remains Europe's top open source contributor; the sector produces over a quarter of UK digital value. Yet by 2026 the state is retreating from its own playbook: the NHS deleted its open source policy, government data rots unowned, and while Germany pays the maintainers of critical code, the UK buys AI equity stakes instead.\n\nThe gaps here are mostly about maintenance: the unglamorous work every funder skips. Nobody pays the volunteers whose code the state runs on, nobody audits the open-by-default rule, nobody keeps reference data current, and charities are locked out of platforms taxpayers already built. Almost every fix has a working model abroad, ready to copy." }, { "num": 3, "slug": "youth-mobilisation", "name": "Youth mobilisation", "shortName": "Youth mobilisation", "hue": 45, "landscape": "Youth mobilisation in the UK is at an inflection point. The Representation of the People Bill (introduced February 2026, second reading 2 March) will lower the voting age to 16 for all UK elections and the registration age to 14, enfranchising roughly 1.6 million teenagers before the next general election; Scotland and Wales already have votes at 16 for devolved and local elections. But participation infrastructure is weak: Ipsos estimated 18-24 turnout fell to ~37% in July 2024, around 8 million eligible voters are unregistered, and attainer registration is in systematic decline. The supply side has been hollowed out: English council youth service spending fell ~73-76% in real terms since 2010-11 (~£1.3bn lost), with 4,500 qualified youth workers and 750 youth centres gone and one in seven areas having no youth service. The National Citizen Service closed in March 2025 after 14 years. Government response arrived late but substantively: the first National Youth Strategy in 15 years ('Youth Matters', December 2025) commits ~£500m including a £350m Better Youth Spaces fund; the first eight of 50 planned Young Futures Hubs opened April 2026; eight Youth Guarantee trailblazers address nearly one million NEET 18-21-year-olds. Meanwhile the British Youth Council collapsed in March 2024 (UK Youth Parliament rescued by the National Youth Agency), party youth wings are small and volatile (Young Greens claim 40,000+ members, exceeding Young Labour's ~30,000; Reform launched Students4Reform in late 2025), and polling shows a stark gender divide, with young men drifting rightward and towards online influencers.", "actors": [ { "name": "National Youth Agency (NYA)", "type": "charity / professional standards body", "note": "Sets youth work standards and qualifications, researches the workforce shortfall, and has delivered the UK Youth Parliament under DCMS contract since the British Youth Council collapsed in March 2024." }, { "name": "UK Youth", "type": "charity / network", "note": "Network of 8,000+ youth organisations; distributes funds, campaigned for votes at 16 and shaped the National Youth Strategy." }, { "name": "YMCA England & Wales", "type": "charity", "note": "Major provider whose annual funding analyses are the authoritative record of the ~£1.3bn (73-76%) real-terms collapse in council youth service spending since 2010." }, { "name": "UK Youth Parliament", "type": "programme (DCMS-funded, NYA-delivered)", "note": "Elected members aged 11-18 across the UK; the only surviving UK-wide youth representation vehicle after BYC's insolvency, now on a year-to-year contract footing." }, { "name": "My Life My Say", "type": "charity", "note": "Youth democracy charity behind Democracy Cafés and first-time-voter campaigns; a leading advocate of the successful votes-at-16 campaign." }, { "name": "Shout Out UK", "type": "social enterprise", "note": "Political and media literacy provider; 2026 research showing 15-year-olds feel 'locked out' by lack of political literacy education ahead of enfranchisement." }, { "name": "The Politics Project", "type": "social enterprise", "note": "Runs 'digital surgeries' connecting pupils with politicians and coordinates the Democracy Classroom network; Electoral Commission education partner." }, { "name": "Young Citizens", "type": "charity", "note": "Citizenship education charity running mock elections and teacher resources; partner in the Electoral Commission's new democratic education programmes." }, { "name": "Electoral Commission", "type": "government body (independent)", "note": "Runs Welcome to Your Vote Week and seven new democratic education programmes; documents declining register completeness and the systematic fall in attainer registration." }, { "name": "DCMS Youth Team", "type": "government body", "note": "Owns 'Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy' (Dec 2025), Young Futures Hubs, Better Youth Spaces and dormant assets youth funding; wound down NCS." }, { "name": "Youth Futures Foundation", "type": "What Works centre / funder", "note": "Dormant-assets-endowed evidence body on youth employment; key adviser to the Youth Guarantee trailblazers targeting ~950,000 NEET young people." }, { "name": "John Smith Centre, University of Glasgow", "type": "research institute", "note": "UK Youth Poll 2025 and 2026: the best longitudinal evidence on Gen Z attitudes to democracy, the gender divide and social-media-first political information." }, { "name": "#iwill Movement", "type": "network / match fund", "note": "Cross-sector youth social action coalition with a match fund from DCMS and The National Lottery Community Fund; the main surviving infrastructure for youth volunteering." }, { "name": "Scouts and Girlguiding", "type": "charities (uniformed youth)", "note": "Largest uniformed youth movements; Scouts' waiting list topped 100,000 in 2024, evidencing unmet demand constrained by adult volunteer shortages." }, { "name": "Centre for Social Justice", "type": "think tank", "note": "Its 'Lost Boys' programme (2025-) is the most-cited evidence base on young men's disengagement, NEET surge and drift towards online influencers." } ], "funders": [ "DCMS (Better Youth Spaces £350m, Richer Lives Fund £60m, dormant assets youth funding £100m 2024-28, Young Futures Hubs)", "The National Lottery Community Fund (incl. #iwill Fund match funding)", "Youth Futures Foundation (dormant assets endowment for youth employment)", "Dormant Assets Scheme (future tranches)", "Blagrave Trust (youth voice and power)", "Paul Hamlyn Foundation (Youth Fund)", "Esmée Fairbairn Foundation", "Pears Foundation (Pears #iwill Fund, youth social action)", "BBC Children in Need", "Co-op Foundation (youth spaces)", "Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (democratic participation)", "Mayoral Combined Authorities (Youth Guarantee trailblazer budgets)", "Sport England (embedded in National Youth Strategy)", "Electoral Commission (democratic education programme grants)" ], "policyNotes": "The live vehicle is the Representation of the People Bill 2024-26 (second reading 2 March 2026): votes at 16 UK-wide, registration from 14, and pilot powers for automatic registration, opposed by the Conservatives and DUP. Holes: no statutory schools/attainer registration mechanism; the promised democratic-education 'package' is non-statutory and unfunded; the strengthened citizenship curriculum publishes in 2027, likely after the first 16-year-old voters are enfranchised. The National Youth Strategy (Dec 2025) commits ~£500m but only reviews, rather than strengthens, the weak s.507B youth services duty, and skews capital over revenue. The Youth Guarantee is eight trailblazers, not an entitlement, while under-19 apprenticeship starts fell ~40% over a decade. NCS Act 2017 repeal is still needed to close the NCS Trust. Devolved divergence is instructive: Wales piloted automatic registration and has statutory participation duties; Scotland incorporated the UNCRC in 2024.", "sources": [ "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn01747/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/representation-of-the-people-bill-policy-summaries/votes-at-16", "https://mhclgmedia.blog.gov.uk/2026/02/12/explainer-everything-you-need-to-know-about-changes-to-elections-and-voting/", "https://electoral-reform.org.uk/latest-news-and-research/parliamentary-briefings/briefing-on-votes-at-16-2026/", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10506/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/representation-of-the-people-bill-policy-summaries/improving-voter-registration", "https://electoral-reform.org.uk/latest-news-and-research/parliamentary-briefings/briefing-on-modernising-electoral-registration/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/youth-matters-your-national-youth-strategy/youth-matters-your-national-youth-strategy", "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2025-12-10/hlws1148", "https://www.cypnow.co.uk/content/news/government-commits-to-review-council-youth-work-duty-in-500mn-national-strategy", "https://www.youthandpolicy.org/articles/youth-matters-again/", "https://nya.org.uk/nya-response-to-the-national-youth-strategy/", "https://www.ukyouth.org/2025/12/power-of-youth-work-finally-recognised-by-governments-national-youth-strategy/", "https://ymca.org.uk/local-authority-funding-for-youth-services-sees-biggest-annual-cut-in-almost-a-decade-new-ymca-analysis-reveals/", "https://ymca.org.uk/beyond-the-brink/", "https://www.cypnow.co.uk/content/news/council-spending-on-youth-services-in-england-falls-by-73-since-2010", "https://nya.org.uk/shortfall-of-qualified-youth-workers/", "https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/charity-funding-concerns-as-government-announces-national-citizen-service-closure.html", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-national-youth-strategy-to-break-down-barriers-to-opportunity-for-young-people", "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/young-futures-hubs", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/first-wave-of-national-young-futures-hubs-open-to-turn-the-tide-on-youth-services-decline", "https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024-05-21/debates/24052139000012/UKYouthParliamentBritishYouthCouncilClosure", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-secures-future-of-uk-youth-parliament", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10138/", "https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/uk-opinion-polls/how-britain-voted-in-the-2024-election", "https://www.britishelectionstudy.com/graph/?id=38404", "https://www.johnsmithcentre.com/uk-youth-poll-2026/", "https://www.johnsmithcentre.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/2025-03-27_UK-Youth-Poll-2025_DIGITAL.pdf", "https://theconversation.com/if-we-listen-to-how-gen-z-really-feel-about-democracy-they-might-stop-telling-us-they-prefer-authoritarianism-248628", "https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/library/lost-boys", "https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CSJ-The_Lost_Boys.pdf", "https://schoolsweek.co.uk/vote-at-16-are-schools-prepared-for-politics-in-the-classroom/", "https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/media-centre/changes-curriculum-opportunity-transform-democratic-education-schools", "https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/lowering-voting-age-must-come-improved-education", "https://www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk/curriculum-and-assessment-review-confirms-strengthened-role-for-citizenship-in-the-national-curriculum/", "https://www.shoutoutuk.org/2026/03/02/new-study-reveals-15-year-olds-are-ready-to-vote-but-feel-locked-out-by-lack-of-political-literacy-education/", "https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/resources/resources-educators/welcome-your-vote-week", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/almost-a-million-young-people-to-benefit-from-expanded-support-new-training-and-work-experience-opportunities", "https://youthfuturesfoundation.org/blog/youth-guarantee-trailblazers-what-you-need-to-know/", "https://feweek.co.uk/apprenticeships-for-under-19s-still-sinking/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skills-england-annual-skills-report-and-sectoral-skills-needs-assessments-2026/skills-england-annual-skills-report-2026", "https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/about-us/press-releases/girlguiding-and-the-scouts-join-forces/", "https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/ncvo-reports-volunteering-downturn-in-the-uk.html", "https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/conservatives-relaunch-youth-wing-in-a-bid-to-take-on-labour", "https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/reform-launches-its-student-wing/", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Labour_(UK)", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/power-of-youth-charter-gives-young-people-a-voice-in-government" ], "gapCount": 12, "intro": "Britain is about to give 1.6 million teenagers the vote. The infrastructure that would help them use it has been hollowed out for years: council youth spending down by roughly three-quarters, the national youth council collapsed, the National Citizen Service closed. The reform is racing its own foundations.\n\nThe gaps below share a deadline: the first general election with sixteen-year-old voters. Registration pipelines, first-vote education in schools, a rebuilt youth work profession, and programmes for the groups drifting furthest (young men, and the million neither earning nor learning). Each is buildable before that election. Most are cheap." }, { "num": 4, "slug": "education-ai", "name": "Education in the age of AI", "shortName": "Education & AI", "hue": 200, "landscape": "England enters mid-2026 mid-reform. The Curriculum and Assessment Review (Francis) reported November 2025; the government response promises a revised curriculum by spring 2027, first teaching September 2028, embedding AI awareness and digital/media literacy and replacing the computer science GCSE, leaving a three-year window in which pupils use AI daily with no curriculum coverage. DfE has moved fast on supply: Oak's Aila lesson assistant (NFER trial reports autumn 2026), the AI Content Store built with Faculty AI, £23m EdTech Testbeds, an AI tutoring programme targeting 450,000 disadvantaged pupils by end-2027, and voluntary generative-AI product safety expectations. Assessment is the pressure point: JCQ relies on teachers authenticating coursework, Ofqual's on-screen exams arrive ~2030 for small subjects only, and in HE 94% of students use generative AI in assessed work (HEPI 2026) while nearly half of providers run deficits and 12,000+ jobs were cut in 2025. Teacher supply remains short (secondary ITT forecast 14% below target for 2026/27), making AI workload tools strategically important but largely unevaluated. The skills system is mid-transition: Skills England now publishes annual needs assessments; the Growth and Skills Levy replaces the apprenticeship levy from April 2026; the loans-based Lifelong Learning Entitlement launches January 2027 after repeated delays. Graduate vacancies have fallen sharply with contested AI attribution, youth unemployment is at a decade high, and no instrument exists for mid-career retraining at scale. Wales centralises school digital infrastructure through Hwb; England leaves 22,000+ schools to buy alone.", "actors": [ { "name": "Oak National Academy", "type": "arm's-length government body", "note": "Free national curriculum resources plus Aila, the DfE-funded AI lesson assistant launched Sept 2024; tens of thousands of teacher users; independent NFER trial reports autumn 2026." }, { "name": "DfE AI in Education programme / AI Content Store", "type": "government body/programme", "note": "Built with Faculty AI; curriculum content pre-processed for AI developers (16 edtech firms using it), £23m EdTech Testbeds, AI tutoring tools programme targeting 450,000 disadvantaged pupils by end-2027." }, { "name": "Education Endowment Foundation (EEF)", "type": "what-works centre / funder", "note": "The evidence gatekeeper for English schools; running the Aila Teacher Choices trial; its tutoring evidence (~5 months gain) underpins AI-tutoring claims, but trials take years." }, { "name": "Ofqual", "type": "regulator", "note": "Consulting (Dec 2025–Mar 2026) on on-screen GCSE/A-level exams (capped at small-entry subjects, delivery ~2030); regulates exam integrity in the AI era." }, { "name": "Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ)", "type": "exam boards' membership body", "note": "Owns the 'AI Use in Assessments' guidance (rev. April 2025) governing coursework/NEA authentication: the front line of the schools assessment-integrity problem." }, { "name": "Skills England", "type": "executive agency (DfE)", "note": "Publishes annual skills needs assessments (2026 report: 70% of workers in AI-exposed occupations), oversees Growth and Skills Levy transition from April 2026; absorbed IfATE." }, { "name": "Jisc / National Centre for AI in Tertiary Education", "type": "sector digital body", "note": "Runs the national AI-in-assessment pilot (2025–26) across FE/HE with tools like Graide, KEATH, TeacherMatic; AI maturity toolkit for institutions." }, { "name": "QAA", "type": "quality body (membership-based in England)", "note": "Sector guidance on generative AI and academic integrity; no longer England's designated quality body, so its advice carries no regulatory force there." }, { "name": "Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI)", "type": "think tank", "note": "Its annual Student Generative AI Survey (with Kortext) is the key HE dataset: 2026 edition found 94% of students use genAI in assessed work; 12% submit AI-generated text." }, { "name": "National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE)", "type": "government-funded programme (STEM Learning consortium)", "note": "DfE-funded CPD for computing teachers: the obvious chassis for whole-workforce AI-literacy training, but its remit is computing, not AI across subjects." }, { "name": "Raspberry Pi Foundation", "type": "charity", "note": "Experience AI (with Google DeepMind): free AI-literacy lessons and teacher training used in UK schools; voluntary adoption, patchy reach." }, { "name": "BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT", "type": "professional body", "note": "Commissioned by DfE to draft the reformed computing curriculum (AI awareness from KS2, new computing GCSE); public consultation summer 2026." }, { "name": "Chartered College of Teaching", "type": "professional body", "note": "Runs the DfE-funded EdTech Evidence Board pilot (~£800k, to April 2026) reviewing supplier evidence claims; co-authored DfE AI support materials for schools." }, { "name": "NFER", "type": "research organisation", "note": "Teacher labour-market monitor (secondary ITT forecast 14% below target 2026/27) and independent evaluator of Aila; also forecasts AI/low-skill job losses to 2035." }, { "name": "Ufi VocTech Trust", "type": "charitable funder", "note": "The main dedicated funder of technology for adult vocational learning (VocTech Activate: £900k round Jan 2026, grants £30–60k), though small relative to the retraining challenge." } ], "funders": [ "Department for Education (Oak National Academy, AI Content Store, EdTech Testbeds £23m, EdTech Evidence Board, NCCE, tutoring tools programme)", "DSIT (TechFirst £187m: TechYouth, TechGrad, TechExpert, TechLocal; AI Opportunities Action Plan skills commitments)", "UKRI / Innovate UK / ESRC (content-store developer grants; plausible home for an AI-pedagogy research programme)", "Education Endowment Foundation (endowed what-works funder; AI edtech trials)", "Nuffield Foundation (education and welfare research, incl. teacher labour market and digital society work)", "Ufi VocTech Trust (VocTech Activate grants for adult vocational learning technology)", "Gatsby Charitable Foundation (technical education and careers benchmarks)", "Nesta (innovation foundation; early-years and education innovation portfolios)", "XTX Markets (major maths/AI education philanthropy in the UK)", "Google.org / Google DeepMind (Experience AI with Raspberry Pi Foundation)", "Sutton Trust (social mobility; tutoring and access evidence)", "Exam board charitable owners (Cambridge University Press & Assessment, AQA): assessment R&D capacity", "Mayoral combined authorities (devolved adult skills funds)" ], "policyNotes": "Policy is prolific but fragmented: DfE (schools AI guidance, content store, curriculum), DSIT (TechFirst, AI Opportunities Action Plan), Ofqual/OfS/JCQ/QAA (assessment), Skills England (levy, needs assessments). Holes: the GenAI product safety expectations are voluntary, with no register or audit; JCQ coursework guidance is unenforceable at scale; Ofqual's on-screen timeline (~2030, small subjects first) lags the integrity crisis by years; the 2028 curriculum leaves a three-year AI-literacy vacuum; the post-16 white paper strengthens OfS powers but offers no transition finance and no HE insolvency regime despite Education Committee warnings; the LLE is loans-only and scope-limited at its January 2027 launch; employer training investment fell ~9% in real terms 2019–2024 while levy flexibility tightened; and no official data series tracks AI's labour-market impact: Skills England itself flags local and occupational data gaps. Devolution (Wales's Hwb, Scotland's Glow) means England is the outlier on central digital provision.", "sources": [ "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-final-report", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-final-report-government-response", "https://www.bcs.org/articles-opinion-and-research/new-computing-curriculum-will-teach-ai-awareness-and-digital-literacy/", "https://www.techuk.org/resource/what-does-the-curriculum-and-assessment-review-mean-for-technology-and-computing-education.html", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/generative-artificial-intelligence-in-education/generative-artificial-intelligence-ai-in-education", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/generative-ai-product-safety-expectations/generative-ai-product-safety-expectations", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/450000-disadvantaged-pupils-could-benefit-from-ai-tutoring-tools", "https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/limited-evidence-ai-tutoring-tools-government-admits", "https://schoolsweek.co.uk/dfes-ai-tutoring-plan-prompt-calls-for-more-research/", "https://aicontentstore.education.gov.uk/", "https://schoolsweek.co.uk/3m-government-ai-content-store-to-help-teachers-plan-lessons/", "https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/projects-and-evaluation/projects/aila-teacher-choices-trial", "https://www.gov.uk/algorithmic-transparency-records/oak-national-academy-aila-oaks-ai-lesson-assistant", "https://chartered.college/edtech-evidence-board-project/", "https://feweek.co.uk/ministers-plan-to-appoint-edtech-evidence-checkers/", "https://www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/malpractice/artificial-intelligence/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/regulating-on-screen-assessment/regulating-on-screen-assessment", "https://feweek.co.uk/ofqual-on-screen-exams-could-be-introduced-by-2030/", "https://schoolsweek.co.uk/exam-boards-plans-for-on-screen-gcse-exams-delayed/", "https://www.hepi.ac.uk/reports/student-generative-ai-survey-2026/", "https://www.qaa.ac.uk/sector-resources/academic-integrity", "https://www.jisc.ac.uk/innovation/artificial-intelligence", "https://nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2025/05/14/ai-in-assessment-pilot/", "https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/news-blog-and-events/press-and-media/significant-challenges-continue-to-face-higher-education-finances-with-nearly-half-facing-deficits-in-2025-26/", "https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmeduc/807/report.html", "https://wonkhe.com/blogs/what-is-in-the-post-16-education-and-skills-white-paper-for-higher-education/", "https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/11/15/weekend-essay-summarising-and-responding-to-the-post-16-white-paper/", "https://www.nfer.ac.uk/press-releases/teacher-recruitment-and-retention-improving-but-shortages-persist-in-some-subjects/", "https://schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-on-track-to-miss-teacher-recruitment-targets-again/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skills-england-annual-skills-report-and-sectoral-skills-needs-assessments-2026/skills-england-annual-skills-report-2026", "https://www.cipd.org/uk/about/blogs/apprenticeships-growth-skills-levy/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skills-england-evidence-on-defunding-of-level-7-apprenticeships", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lifelong-learning-entitlement-lle-overview/lifelong-learning-entitlement-overview", "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/techfirst", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/entry-level-hiring-in-the-uk-a-snapshot/a-snapshot-of-entry-level-hiring-in-the-uk", "https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1946118/employers-plan-reduce-graduate-hiring-ai-research-finds", "https://www.ippr.org/media-office/up-to-8-million-uk-jobs-at-risk-from-ai-unless-government-acts-finds-ippr", "https://ufi.co.uk/news-insights/900k-voctech-activate-2026-grant-fund-announced-to-test-and-scale-vocational-learning-ideas/", "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2512.23633" ], "gapCount": 11, "intro": "Nearly every university student now uses AI in assessed work, and schoolchildren use it every day. The curriculum meant to teach them about it does not reach classrooms until 2028. The exam system, built on coursework a teacher must vouch for, has no fix arriving before 2030. The technology sprinted. The institutions are strolling.\n\nThe gaps below are mostly missing plumbing rather than missing ideas. No one certifies the AI tools schools buy. No fund retrains the teachers or redesigns the exams. Workers displaced in mid-career are offered loans, not grants. Each entry names what could be built and who is best placed to build it." }, { "num": 5, "slug": "growth-stagnation", "name": "Stagnation solutions: what drives UK growth", "shortName": "Growth & stagnation", "hue": 260, "landscape": "Productivity is the central fact: UK multifactor productivity grew ~0.1% a year over 2008–21 versus 1.3% pre-crisis, and in November 2025 the OBR cut its medium-term productivity assumption to 1.0% and potential growth to 1.5%. Diagnoses compete: weak public and private investment, a TFP slowdown concentrated in manufacturing, ICT and finance, poor diffusion, and the 'Foundations' thesis that Britain has effectively banned investment in housing, transport and energy. 2024–26 produced an unusually dense reform wave: the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (Royal Assent 18 December 2025), a New Towns programme (seven shortlisted sites, three priority), a 10-year Infrastructure Strategy (£725bn) under the new NISTA, an Industrial Strategy cutting industrial electricity costs by up to 25% from April 2027 (BICS), grid connection queue reform (first 'first ready, first connected' Gate 2 offers issued 2026), rejection of zonal pricing in favour of reformed national pricing (July 2025), the Pension Schemes Act 2026 with a sunset-limited mandation reserve power behind the Mansion House Accord, the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, ARIA (~£1bn), and government acceptance of all 47 nuclear regulatory taskforce recommendations. A new civic growth ecosystem (Britain Remade, Looking for Growth, Centre for British Progress, YIMBY groups) has shifted the debate. The binding constraints are now delivery-side: planner and civil-service capacity, infrastructure unit costs, legacy levies on electricity, thin fiscal devolution, and collapsing research-data infrastructure.", "actors": [ { "name": "NISTA (National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority)", "type": "government body", "note": "Joint HMT/Cabinet Office unit created April 2025 from the NIC and IPA; owns the 10-year Infrastructure Strategy and the public pipeline portal (734 projects, £718bn) and project delivery assurance." }, { "name": "ARIA (Advanced Research and Invention Agency)", "type": "government R&D funder", "note": "~£1bn programme-director-led high-risk R&D agency (Scaling Compute, Forecasting Tipping Points, Scaling Trust); the live UK test of DARPA-style funding autonomy." }, { "name": "British Business Bank / British Growth Partnership", "type": "state development bank", "note": "Channels DC pension capital into UK venture/growth equity; BGP Fund I reached a £200m first close (Nov 2025) with Aegon UK, NatWest Cushon and M&G." }, { "name": "National Wealth Fund", "type": "state investor", "note": "Policy bank (rebranded from UK Infrastructure Bank, Oct 2024) with ~£27bn capacity to crowd private capital into energy, industry and infrastructure." }, { "name": "Britain Remade", "type": "campaign / think tank", "note": "Pro-building campaign; built the authoritative UK infrastructure cost datasets (138 tram/metro/rail and 104 road projects across 14 countries) showing UK builds at multiples of EU costs." }, { "name": "Looking for Growth", "type": "campaign / movement", "note": "Founded 2024 by Lawrence Newport; anti-decline activist movement whose National Priority Infrastructure Bill had four pillars adopted in the government's planning legislation." }, { "name": "Centre for British Progress", "type": "think tank", "note": "Relaunched from UK Day One in April 2025; produces concrete growth policy (e.g. the 2026 street votes briefing) bridging tech/science communities and Westminster." }, { "name": "YIMBY Alliance / London YIMBY", "type": "network", "note": "Grassroots pro-housing movement; designed the street votes mechanism legislated in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023." }, { "name": "Centre for Cities", "type": "think tank", "note": "The evidence base on agglomeration: shows big UK cities underperform (Manchester vs same-sized Rome ~55% less productive) and quantifies a ~£23bn/yr prize from European-level effective city size." }, { "name": "The Productivity Institute", "type": "research institute", "note": "£32m ESRC-funded UK-wide research hub at Alliance Manchester Business School; its Productivity Commission is the closest thing the UK has to a standing productivity body." }, { "name": "Institute for Government", "type": "think tank", "note": "Whitehall Monitor documents state capacity as a growth constraint: 12.7% civil service churn in 2023/24, 21.8% in HM Treasury." }, { "name": "What Works Growth (What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth)", "type": "evidence centre", "note": "LSE/Centre for Cities-hosted centre systematically reviewing which local growth interventions actually work; the evaluation backbone for devolved growth spending." }, { "name": "NESO (National Energy System Operator)", "type": "public corporation", "note": "Runs grid connections reform ('first ready and needed, first connected'; Gate 2 offers from 2026) and is producing the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan." }, { "name": "TenU", "type": "university network", "note": "Collaboration of leading tech-transfer offices; its USIT and USIT-for-Software guides standardised spinout deal terms, adopted alongside the 2023 spinout review by 39+ universities." }, { "name": "Resolution Foundation", "type": "think tank", "note": "Living standards and growth-strategy research; co-ran the Nuffield-funded Economy 2030 Inquiry with LSE that framed the UK's 'toxic combination' of low growth and high inequality." } ], "funders": [ "HM Treasury (Infrastructure Strategy £725bn; New Towns; fiscal devolution roadmap)", "DSIT and UKRI (ESRC, Innovate UK, Research England): public R&D at ~£20bn/yr, funder of The Productivity Institute and spinout reform", "ARIA (~£1bn high-risk R&D)", "British Business Bank / British Growth Partnership (state-anchored growth capital)", "National Wealth Fund (~£27bn policy bank for energy/industry infrastructure)", "Homes England (housing and development corporation delivery funding)", "Mansion House Accord pension providers (Aegon UK, NatWest Cushon, M&G among first movers into UK growth funds)", "Coefficient Giving (formerly Open Philanthropy): $120m Abundance & Growth Fund covering housing, energy and innovation policy advocacy", "Nuffield Foundation (funded the Resolution Foundation/LSE Economy 2030 Inquiry)", "Nesta (innovation and mission-led funder)", "Gatsby Foundation (skills and industrial policy research)", "Founders Pledge and individual tech philanthropists backing the new UK growth/abundance ecosystem" ], "policyNotes": "An unusually active legislative period closed several long-argued gaps on paper: the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (staged commencement through 2026), the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, the Pension Schemes Act 2026, and a nuclear regulatory reset (all 47 taskforce recommendations accepted, implementation by end-2027). The holes are now in commencement and delivery: street votes remain uncommenced; many PIA provisions await commencement orders; the fiscal devolution roadmap is promised for autumn 2026 but unwritten; TNUoS reform and the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan will determine whether 'reformed national pricing' delivers locational efficiency; BICS starts April 2027 but leaves levy rebalancing for all other users unresolved. Institutional churn is itself a policy risk: NISTA is barely a year old, the Integrated Data Service was wound down without a stated successor, the mandation reserve power sunsets by 2032, and no statutory body owns productivity diagnosis (a UK Productivity Commission is regularly proposed, never created).", "sources": [ "https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3946", "https://www.tlt.com/insights-and-events/insight/planning-and-infrastructure-act-2025-what-developers-need-to-know", "https://www.productivity.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IPM_48_Martin_Final.pdf", "https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-november-2025/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/national-infrastructure-and-service-transformation-authority", "https://pipeline.nista.grid.civilservice.gov.uk/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-cuts-electricity-bill-for-10000-manufacturers-in-boost-for-uk-competitiveness", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/powering-britains-future-electricity-bills-to-be-slashed-for-over-7000-businesses-in-major-industry-shake-up", "https://www.neso.energy/industry-information/connections-reform", "https://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/en/knowledge/publications/4399413b/rema-summer-update-no-to-zonal-pricing-yes-to-reformed-national-pricing", "https://cms.law/en/gbr/legal-updates/journey-s-end-the-pension-schemes-act-arrives", "https://www.hsfkramer.com/notes/pensions/2026-posts/pension-schemes-act-passed", "https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/news-and-events/news/british-business-banks-british-growth-partnership-announces-partners-targeted-ps200m-first-close", "https://aria.org.uk/", "https://www.ten-u.org/usit", "https://www.ukri.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/RE-200924-Spin-out-Register_Visioning-Report_RE-and-UCI.pdf", "https://www.britainremade.co.uk/britain_paying_up_to_eight_times_more_than_eu_for_road_and_rail_projects_research_finds", "https://www.britainremade.co.uk/why_high_speed_rail_projects_like_hs2_cost_10_times_more_in_britain_than_france", "https://www.rtpi.org.uk/policy-and-research/planning-reform-hub/briefing-on-the-existential-education-and-workforce-crisis-in-the-english-planning-sector/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-planning-capacity-and-capability-survey-2025/local-authority-planning-capacity-and-capability-survey-2025", "https://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/workforce-and-hr-support/lga-workforce-shortage-strategies/local-government-town", "https://britishprogress.org/briefings/the-next-big-lever-street-votes", "https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/street-vote-development-orders-consultation/street-vote-development-orders", "https://yimbyalliance.org/street-votes/", "https://www.centreforcities.org/publication/how-productive-are-the-uks-big-cities/", "https://www.centreforcities.org/reader/measuring-up-comparing-public-transport-uk-europe-cities/what-public-transport-tells-us-about-levelling-up/", "https://ukfoundations.co/", "https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/whitehall-monitor-2025/part-2-state-civil-service", "https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/whitehall-monitor-2026/part-2-state-civil-service", "https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/4002", "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/23/contents/enacted", "https://www.lgcplus.com/politics/devolution-and-economic-growth/devolution-act-what-you-need-to-know-27-05-2026/", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10937/", "https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/03/ons_data_sharing_mess/", "https://integrateddataservice.gov.uk/news/important-update-on-integrated-data-service", "https://www.adruk.org/news-publications/news-blogs/ons-releases-important-update-about-the-transition-from-the-ons-secure-research-service-to-the-integrated-data-service/", "https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68d694b79cb44667f7a1cee7/New_Towns_Taskforce_Final_Report.pdf", "https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/new-towns-draft-programme/new-towns-draft-programme", "https://www.centreforcities.org/blog/the-new-towns-report-understands-what-new-towns-are-for/", "https://www.onr.org.uk/news/all-news/2026/03/positive-progress-made-on-nuclear-taskforce-recommendations-to-reduce-regulatory-complexity", "https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/uk-implementing-nuclear-regulatory-review-recommendations", "https://www.ciip.group.cam.ac.uk/reports-and-articles/two-decades-of-the-small-business-research-initiative-sbri/", "https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a81da1de5274a2e8ab562c1/Leveraging_Public_Procurement_David_Connell_report.pdf", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looking_for_Growth", "https://lookingforgrowth.uk/about-us/", "https://britishprogress.org/", "https://britishprogress.substack.com/p/launching-british-progress", "https://whatworksgrowth.org/", "https://www.cityam.com/lower-thames-crossing-planning-application-becomes-uks-longest-ever-at-more-than-350000-pages-and-costing-almost-300m/", "https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/researchanddevelopmentexpenditure/bulletins/ukgrossdomesticexpenditureonresearchanddevelopment/2023", "https://coefficientgiving.org/funds/abundance-and-growth/", "https://www.productivity.ac.uk/policy/policy-commission/", "https://esrc.ukri.org/funding/funding-opportunities/esrc-productivity-institute/" ], "gapCount": 11, "intro": "Britain has diagnosed its stagnation to death and, unusually, has now legislated against it: planning reform, new towns, pension capital, cheaper industrial power. Yet a high-speed railway here costs many times what France pays, and the law that could add tens of thousands of homes sits enacted but switched off. Passing acts turned out to be the easy part.\n\nThe gaps below live in the unglamorous middle between statute and spade: commencement orders never laid, planning departments short of planners, data platforms dismantled mid-crisis, pension billions pledged to funds that barely exist. Most need no new argument, only an owner, a budget and a date." }, { "num": 6, "slug": "debt", "name": "The debt problem (UK public, municipal and household debt)", "shortName": "Debt", "hue": 350, "landscape": "UK public sector net debt stood near 95% of GDP in May 2026, with underlying debt at a 60-year high. Debt interest cost £126bn in 2025-26 (~3.5% of GDP); May 2026's £11.7bn was the highest May on record. Gilt markets are strained: 30-year yields peaked at 5.7% in September 2025 and term premia are roughly double long-run averages as defined-benefit pension demand fades and hedge funds account for ~30% of gilt trading. Bank of England QT has shrunk the Asset Purchase Facility to ~£529bn; the OBR puts lifetime APF losses at £104-134bn, indemnified by the Treasury (£49.4bn transferred since 2022). Fiscal rules have been rewritten repeatedly; the Lords Economic Affairs Committee's April 2026 report called the framework \"frail\", and thin \"headroom\" dominates policymaking. Households: four million people live in negative budgets (Citizens Advice National Red Index), council tax debt is £8.3bn with 1.69m debts sent to bailiffs in 2024/25, and roughly three million people in Great Britain used illegal lenders over three years. Councils hold record debt of £154.6bn; 30 received Exceptional Financial Support in 2025-26, 41% of recent accounts received disclaimed audit opinions, and a Local Audit Office was legislated in April 2026. The student loan book reached £295bn, forecast to hit ~£500bn by the late 2040s. Unfunded public pension liabilities are ~£1.4tn and nuclear decommissioning provisions ~£107bn. The UK debt problem is three-layered (sovereign, municipal and household), and its institutional plumbing has gaps at every layer.", "actors": [ { "name": "Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)", "type": "government body (independent fiscal watchdog)", "note": "Official forecaster; Fiscal Risks and Sustainability reports project debt at 274% of GDP by 2071 on unchanged policy; moved to one fiscal-rules assessment per year in 2025." }, { "name": "UK Debt Management Office (DMO)", "type": "government body", "note": "Issues gilts and manages the government's wholesale debt portfolio; has shortened issuance maturity as long-dated demand wanes." }, { "name": "Bank of England", "type": "central bank", "note": "Runs QT on the Treasury-indemnified APF; created the Contingent NBFI Repo Facility (2025) as a gilt-crisis backstop for pension/insurance/LDI funds only." }, { "name": "Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)", "type": "research institute", "note": "Leading independent fiscal analysis; proposed replacing pass-fail fiscal rules with a 'traffic light' framework; models the student loan book." }, { "name": "NIESR", "type": "research institute", "note": "Analysis of gilt maturity shortening, debt dynamics and term premia." }, { "name": "Institute for Government", "type": "think tank", "note": "Tracks section 114 notices, Exceptional Financial Support and public-sector pensions; work on fiscal-framework credibility." }, { "name": "Money and Pensions Service (MaPS)", "type": "arm's-length body", "note": "Commissions debt advice in England via the FCA financial-services levy, but funds only just over a quarter of estimated advice capacity." }, { "name": "StepChange Debt Charity", "type": "charity", "note": "Largest specialist debt advice charity; handled 800 clients in a single day in January 2026; funded mainly by voluntary creditor 'fair share' contributions." }, { "name": "Citizens Advice", "type": "charity network", "note": "Frontline debt advice; its National Red Index found four million people in negative budgets in 2024-25." }, { "name": "Money Advice Trust (National Debtline)", "type": "charity", "note": "Runs National Debtline/Business Debtline; documents harm from council tax collection: half of clients with arrears going without food." }, { "name": "Fair4All Finance", "type": "nonprofit (dormant-assets funded)", "note": "Financial-inclusion body: ran the £10m No Interest Loan Scheme pilot, £30m Credit Union Transformation Fund, and commissioned the Ipsos illegal-lending research." }, { "name": "England Illegal Money Lending Team (Stop Loan Sharks)", "type": "enforcement body", "note": "Levy-funded team hosted by Birmingham City Council; 424 prosecutions since 2004 against an estimated 3m recent illegal-lending victims." }, { "name": "Local Audit Office", "type": "government body (new, 2026)", "note": "Created by the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 to consolidate the collapsed local audit system." }, { "name": "Enforcement Conduct Board", "type": "voluntary oversight body", "note": "Independent bailiff oversight since 2022; accreditation is voluntary; statutory underpinning consulted on in 2025 but not yet legislated." }, { "name": "CIPFA", "type": "professional body", "note": "Sets the prudential code for council borrowing and publishes a financial resilience index; no statutory early-warning role." } ], "funders": [ "HM Treasury (EFS, IMLT levy, dormant assets policy, financial inclusion strategy)", "FCA financial-services levy (funds MaPS debt advice)", "Creditor 'fair share' contributions (banks and lenders funding StepChange/Money Advice Trust)", "Dormant Assets Scheme (via Fair4All Finance for financial inclusion)", "Nuffield Foundation (funds IFS and fiscal/welfare research)", "abrdn Financial Fairness Trust", "Joseph Rowntree Foundation", "Esmée Fairbairn Foundation", "UKRI/ESRC (macro and public-finance research)", "Barrow Cadbury Trust (Fair By Design, poverty-premium work)", "City Bridge Foundation (advice services in London)", "Lloyds Bank Foundation and NatWest Group (advice-sector and financial-health philanthropy)", "JPMorganChase Foundation (UK financial-health programmes)" ], "policyNotes": "Fiscal policy runs on the Charter for Budget Responsibility (current-budget balance; net financial liabilities falling), assessed by the OBR, once a year since the 2025 reform. The Lords Economic Affairs Committee (April 2026) judged the framework \"frail\". Holes: the Statutory Debt Repayment Plan remains uncommenced eight years after legislation; the 1992 council tax enforcement regulations are unreformed (consultation closed September 2025, response pending); bailiff regulation awaits legislation after the June 2025 MoJ consultation, with only fee reforms in force from May 2026; the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill expands DWP recovery powers without matching affordability safeguards; local audit reform is legislated but disclaimed opinions persist to 2028; the 2025 Financial Inclusion Strategy funds credit unions (£30m) but creates no statutory affordable-credit stream; EFS remains an ad hoc annual negotiation; and no body owns whole-of-government balance-sheet management.", "sources": [ "https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/publicsectorfinance/bulletins/publicsectorfinances/may2026", "https://obr.uk/frs/fiscal-risks-and-sustainability-july-2025/", "https://obr.uk/box/the-fiscal-impact-of-the-asset-purchase-facility/", "https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/bank-insights/2026/what-were-the-drivers-of-uk-long-term-interest-rates-in-2025", "https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/markets/bank-of-england-market-operations-guide/cnrf", "https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/paper/2025/discussion-paper/enhancing-the-resilience-of-the-gilt-repo-market", "https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/paper/2026/discussion-paper/enhancing-the-resilience-of-the-gilt-repo-market-discussion-paper-feedback-statement", "https://niesr.ac.uk/blog/gilts-are-getting-shorter-does-it-matter", "https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/175/economic-affairs-committee/news/213342/fortifying-the-fiscal-framework-report-published/", "https://ifs.org.uk/publications/fiscal-rules-fiscal-traffic-lights-rethinking-uk-fiscal-framework", "https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/national-debt-its-time-for-tough-decisions-house-of-lords-economic-affairs-committee-report/", "https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9329/CBP-9329.pdf", "https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/articles/what-would-it-take-to-stabilize-uk-debt", "https://www.lse.ac.uk/CFM/assets/pdf/CFM-Discussion-Papers-2024/CFMDP2024-08-Paper.pdf", "https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/local-authority-section-114-notices", "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/exceptional-financial-support-for-local-authorities-for-2026-27", "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/exceptional-financial-support-for-local-authorities-for-2025-26", "https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmpubacc/647/report.html", "https://taxpayersalliance.com/briefing-local-authority-debt/", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oflog", "https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/4002", "https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/local-audit-reform-a-strategy-for-overhauling-the-local-audit-system-in-england/local-audit-reform-a-strategy-for-overhauling-the-local-audit-system-in-england", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/addressing-the-local-audit-backlog-modified-or-disclaimed-audit-opinions/addressing-the-local-audit-backlog-modified-or-disclaimed-audit-opinions", "https://www.lgcplus.com/finance/revealed-22-councils-miss-audit-backstop-deadline-27-03-2026/", "https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmpubacc/1243/report.html", "https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/public-sector-pensions", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn01079/", "https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5902/cmselect/cmtreasy/14/report.html", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9256/", "https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025-01-09/debates/6D09A5E2-5CE7-46E7-B272-03328ED1C36F/DebtAdviceServices", "https://maps.org.uk/en/media-centre/press-releases/2025/debt-advice-funded-by-maps-helps-boost-income", "https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/161537/pdf/", "https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2025/05/council-tax-debt-collection/", "https://moneyadvicetrust.org/latest-news/half-of-debt-clients-with-council-tax-arrears-going-without-food-to-meet-councils-demands-for-payments/", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04103/", "https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/managing-debt-owed-to-central-government/", "https://fair4allfinance.org.uk/as-one-door-closes-illegal-money-lending/", "https://www.stoploansharks.co.uk/who-we-are/", "https://www.stoploansharks.co.uk/landmark-year-for-stop-loan-sharks-as-1-7m-seized/", "https://fair4allfinance.org.uk/our-strategy/no-interest-loan-scheme/", "https://fair4allfinance.org.uk/no-interest-loan-scheme-hits-10m-lending-milestone/", "https://fair4allfinance.org.uk/credit-union-transformation-fund-consultation-launch/", "https://www.dmo.gov.uk/responsibilities/gilt-market/about-gilts/", "https://www.arlingclose.com/insights/exceptional-financial-support--capitalisation-directions-explained-" ], "gapCount": 11, "intro": "Britain owes money at every level. The state paid £126bn in debt interest in a single year. Councils hold record borrowing and go bust in surprise announcements. Four million people spend more than they earn each month. The crises differ, but they share a trait: the machinery for handling each is missing, voluntary or switched off.\n\nThe gaps here are less about the size of the debts than the plumbing around them. A repayment scheme Parliament created years ago has never taken a case. No one war-games a gilt crisis in public. Loan-shark enforcement manages a handful of prosecutions a year against millions of victims. Fixes exist for each, and some cost almost nothing." }, { "num": 7, "slug": "surveillance", "name": "Surveillance", "shortName": "Surveillance", "hue": 220, "landscape": "The UK runs one of the most extensive lawful surveillance regimes of any democracy, and 2024–26 expanded it on several fronts simultaneously. The Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Act 2024 eased bulk personal dataset rules and created notification notices for tech firms. Under IPA technical capability notices, the Home Office ordered Apple to break iCloud end-to-end encryption: Apple withdrew Advanced Data Protection from the UK (Feb 2025), a narrower UK-only order followed (Sept 2025), and an Investigatory Powers Tribunal hearing on assumed facts was listed for early 2026. Online Safety Act age checks became mandatory in July 2025, driving VPN sign-up surges and mass ID-document collection by third-party verifiers. Police live facial recognition is expanding from 13 of 43 forces towards a national rollout (40 new vans announced Jan 2026; first fixed cameras in Croydon, Oct 2025) ahead of legislation; a Home Office consultation on a biometrics legal framework closed February 2026. Retail facial recognition (Facewatch) grew rapidly; the ICO closed its inspection without action. Digital ID was announced Sept 2025, softened to voluntary in Jan 2026, but digital right-to-work checks remain planned by end of Parliament on One Login, which lost trust-framework certification in May 2025. DWP gained bank-account eligibility-checking powers (Royal Assent Dec 2025, rollout from 2026). NHS England's Palantir Federated Data Platform faces a February 2027 contract break-clause decision. Oversight is fragmented and under-resourced: IPCO reports falling resources amid rising demand, the ICO's public-sector approach is widely criticised, and civil society is capable but tiny and foundation-dependent.", "actors": [ { "name": "Big Brother Watch", "type": "charity/campaign group", "note": "Leading campaigner against live facial recognition, DWP bank-account checks and digital ID; produces FOI-based research; funded by JRRT and private donors, no government money." }, { "name": "Open Rights Group", "type": "membership nonprofit", "note": "Digital rights advocacy on the Online Safety Act, encryption and data bills; coordinated the 70-organisation letter demanding an inquiry into ICO enforcement collapse (Nov 2025)." }, { "name": "Privacy International", "type": "charity", "note": "Strategic litigation specialist; brought the IPT challenge to the UK's secret Technical Capability Notice powers alongside the Apple case, heard in 2026." }, { "name": "Liberty / Liberty Investigates", "type": "charity + investigative unit", "note": "Won Bridges v South Wales Police (2020, LFR unlawful); backing the Met LFR judicial review with EHRC intervening; investigative journalism on police databases." }, { "name": "Information Commissioner's Office (becoming the Information Commission under DUAA 2025)", "type": "regulator", "note": "Data protection regulator; criticised for its public-sector approach (reprimands not fines) and for closing its Facewatch inspection with no action." }, { "name": "Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office (IPCO)", "type": "oversight body", "note": "Judicial commissioners oversee 600+ public authorities' use of investigatory powers; its 2024 annual report (laid Dec 2025) warns resources are falling while demand and AI use rise." }, { "name": "Investigatory Powers Tribunal", "type": "judicial body", "note": "Only forum for complaints about surveillance powers; hearing the Apple/PI encryption-order case in 2026; long criticised for secrecy and limited remedies." }, { "name": "Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner", "type": "government-appointed commissioner", "note": "Prof William Webster appointed Nov 2025 after a 15-month vacancy; part-time and advisory; oversees a Surveillance Camera Code unrevised since 2021." }, { "name": "Ofcom", "type": "regulator", "note": "Online Safety Act enforcer, including age assurance; due to report on age-assurance effectiveness by June 2026; holds the paused s.121-122 'accredited technology' scanning powers." }, { "name": "Ada Lovelace Institute", "type": "research institute", "note": "Commissioned the Ryder Review (2022) finding biometrics oversight 'patchy and ineffectual'; leading public-deliberation evidence on biometrics and health data; Nuffield-funded." }, { "name": "AWO", "type": "data rights law firm/consultancy", "note": "Specialist legal capacity for data rights cases and policy advice; one of very few commercial-model providers NGOs can retain for surveillance litigation." }, { "name": "Foxglove", "type": "litigation nonprofit", "note": "Challenges government algorithms and NHS data deals; forced disclosure of early NHS-Palantir contracts; part of the campaign contesting the Federated Data Platform." }, { "name": "medConfidential", "type": "advocacy micro-organisation", "note": "Health-data confidentiality watchdog scrutinising the NHS FDP and the non-application of the national data opt-out; influential but one-to-two people and grant-fragile." }, { "name": "Statewatch", "type": "monitoring nonprofit", "note": "Documents UK/EU state surveillance and policing tech; submitted detailed evidence to the Home Office facial recognition framework consultation (Feb 2026)." } ], "funders": [ "Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (non-charitable; core funder of Open Rights Group, Big Brother Watch)", "Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (Rights and Justice programme)", "Luminate / Omidyar Group", "Open Society Foundations (historically significant; reduced by post-2023 restructuring)", "Sigrid Rausing Trust (Liberty, Privacy International)", "Paul Hamlyn Foundation", "The Legal Education Foundation (legal capacity, data rights lawyering)", "Nuffield Foundation (funds Ada Lovelace Institute)", "Digital Freedom Fund (European strategic litigation grants)", "Mozilla Foundation", "Individual donations and crowdfunding (CrowdJustice case funding)", "Plausible new entrants: UKRI/ESRC (evidence and observatory infrastructure), Wellcome (health data governance), privacy-focused tech firms (e.g. Proton has funded UK digital rights work), UK community foundations pooling for a digital rights fund" ], "policyNotes": "Surveillance powers legislation is running ahead of governance. The IPAA 2024 expanded bulk personal dataset and notice powers, with codes of practice consulted through 2024-25; TCN secrecy is being tested in the IPT (Apple/PI hearing, early 2026). The Online Safety Act's s.121-122 'accredited technology' powers remain on the statute book despite the 2023 enforcement pause, a latent client-side scanning fight. The DUAA 2025 restructures the ICO into an Information Commission and retained (rather than abolished) the BSCC after the DPDI Bill fell, but the Surveillance Camera Code is unrevised since 2021. The Home Office biometrics/LFR framework consultation closed February 2026 with legislation expected; digital ID mandation was softened January 2026 with consultation in March; FERA codes were finalised May 2026. Principal holes: no biometrics statute, no notice transparency, Article 80(2) unimplemented, and an ICO public-sector approach that structurally under-enforces against state surveillance.", "sources": [ "https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/legal-framework-for-using-facial-recognition-in-law-enforcement", "https://post.parliament.uk/facial-recognition-technology-in-policing/", "https://www.statewatch.org/news/2026/february/submission-to-home-office-consultation-on-a-new-legal-framework-for-law-enforcement-use-of-biometrics-facial-recognition-and-similar-technologies/", "https://www.biometricupdate.com/202512/uk-tucks-biometric-bias-reports-deep-into-police-facial-recognition-plan", "https://www.biometricupdate.com/202511/the-uk-finally-has-a-biometrics-and-surveillance-camera-commissioner-again", "https://www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/report/ryder-review-biometrics/", "https://support.apple.com/en-us/122234", "https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366632159/Home-Office-issues-new-back-door-order-over-Apple-encryption", "https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Apples-appeal-to-the-Investigatory-Powers-Tribunal-over-the-UKs-encryption-back-door-explained", "https://privacyinternational.org/legal-action/pi-apple-tcn-challenge", "https://privacyinternational.org/news-analysis/5624/update-our-case-against-uk-governments-secret-surveillance-orders-be-heard-2026", "https://privacyinternational.org/news-analysis/5635/revealed-skyrocketing-scale-uk-polices-secret-facial-recognition-searches", "https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/liberty-and-privacy-international-complaint-against-governments-backdoor-access-to-apple-data-to-be-heard-by-tribunal/", "https://www.openrightsgroup.org/publications/joint-letter-make-the-investigatory-powers-tribunal-on-apple-encryption-public/", "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-10-14/hcws124", "https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wms/?id=2025-12-16.hcws1188.h", "https://ipco-wpmedia-prod-s3.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/IPCO-Annual-Report-2024.pdf", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Safety_Act_2023", "https://arxiv.org/html/2606.05273v1", "https://www.cybersecurityintelligence.com/blog/vpn-demand-surges-as-british-online-safety-takes-effect-8580.html", "https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/70000-government-id-photos-exposed-discord-user-hack-rcna236714", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-digital-id-scheme-to-be-rolled-out-across-uk", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10369/", "https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmhaff/986/report.html", "https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/news/uk-scales-back-digital-id-right-work", "https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366622533/Government-faces-claims-of-serious-cyber-security-and-data-protection-problems-in-One-Login-digital-ID", "https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/public-authorities-fraud-error-and-recovery-act-dwp-codes-of-practice-verifying-eligibility-in-the-welfare-system-obtaining-information-and-recovering/outcome/government-response-to-the-public-authorities-fraud-error-and-recovery-act-dwp-codes-of-practice-consultation", "https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/what-we-do/ico-policy-views/eligibility-verification-measure-in-the-public-authorities-bill-information-commissioners-response/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-authorities-fraud-error-and-recovery-bill-2025-factsheets/dwps-eligibility-verification-powers-in-the-public-authorities-fraud-error-and-recovery-bill-factsheet", "https://www.justice.org.uk/briefings/public-authorities-fraud-error-and-recovery-bill-2025", "https://www.theregister.com/databases/2026/06/13/nhs-patients-cant-opt-out-of-palantirs-data-platform-but-their-hospital-can/5254766", "https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2026-04-16/debates/2FDCA71C-D0C1-4738-BEE8-A4BDA311DB99/NHSFederatedDataPlatform", "https://corporatewatch.org/foi-requests-reveal-palantirs-nhs-fdp-rollout-failures/", "https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/palantir-nhs-federated-data-platform-patient-trust-opt-out/", "https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366616908/UK-police-continue-to-hold-millions-of-custody-images-unlawfully", "https://libertyinvestigates.org.uk/articles/hundreds-of-thousands-of-innocent-people-on-police-databases-as-forces-expand-use-of-facial-recognition-tech/", "https://libertyinvestigates.org.uk/articles/police-expand-use-of-facial-recognition-apps/", "https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366630181/ICO-publishes-summary-of-police-facial-recognition-audit", "https://www.openrightsgroup.org/press-releases/70-organisations-and-experts-demand-action-over-failing-ico/", "https://www.openrightsgroup.org/publications/org-representative-actions-under-the-uk-gdpr/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/call-for-views-and-evidence-review-of-representative-action-provisions-section-189-data-protection-act-2018/uk-government-response-to-call-for-views-and-evidence-review-of-representative-action-provisions-section-189-data-protection-act-2018", "https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2019-0213", "https://www.biometricupdate.com/202405/facewatch-met-police-face-lawsuits-after-facial-recognition-misidentification", "https://www.openrightsgroup.org/trusts-and-foundations/", "https://www.jrrt.org.uk/what-we-do/grants-awarded/", "https://fundingjustice.civicpower.org.uk/report/funding-justice-3/annex/", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Brother_Watch" ], "gapCount": 11, "intro": "Britain is building surveillance faster than it is building the rules. Police vans scan faces in the street with no dedicated law behind them. Secret orders reach into encrypted phones. Age checks push millions of identity documents into private databases. Each programme arrived before its safeguards did.\n\nThe gaps below are the missing counterweights. Some need Parliament: a biometrics law, transparency for encryption orders. Others could be built tomorrow: a public register of what is deployed where, a litigation fund, a stable income for the handful of small charities doing the entire country's watching of the watchers." }, { "num": 8, "slug": "corruption-integrity", "name": "Corruption and institutional integrity", "shortName": "Corruption & integrity", "hue": 30, "landscape": "After three years without one, the UK published a new Anti-Corruption Strategy in December 2025 (123 commitments across three pillars) and appointed Baroness Margaret Hodge as Anti-Corruption Champion, with a Countering Illicit Finance Summit planned for 2026. The institutional map has been redrawn: the Ethics and Integrity Commission launched in October 2025 (replacing the Committee on Standards in Public Life), and ACOBA was closed, its revolving-door functions split between the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards and the Civil Service Commission. The Procurement Act's debarment regime went live in February 2025, but the register remains blank and the first investigations (Grenfell-linked cladding suppliers) were paused at prosecutors' request. ECCTA implementation is advancing (identity verification mandatory for new directors since November 2025, 3.8m verification codes issued), and in June 2026 HM Treasury confirmed the FCA will become the single AML supervisor for professional services, though implementation will take years. The Representation of the People Bill (February 2026) restores Electoral Commission independence by repealing the strategy-and-policy-statement power and raises maximum fines from £20,000 to £500,000, but leaves donation size uncapped. The first anti-SLAPP strike-out (Kamal v Tax Policy Associates, March 2026) proved the ECCTA provisions work, but only for economic-crime speech. FOI is under strain: record request volumes (94,526 in 2025), a 41% real-terms cut to ICO FOI funding over a decade, and 2026 ministerial exploration of lowering the section 12 cost ceiling. Enforcement agencies remain under-resourced relative to caseloads.", "actors": [ { "name": "Transparency International UK", "type": "charity", "note": "Research and advocacy on political integrity; published the November 2025 post-legislative review of the Lobbying Act and monitors overseas-territories register access." }, { "name": "Spotlight on Corruption", "type": "charity", "note": "Tracks UK enforcement bodies (SFO, NCA, FIU) and legislation; published the definitive seven-gap critique of the Representation of the People Bill." }, { "name": "UK Anti-Corruption Coalition", "type": "network", "note": "Coalition of anti-corruption NGOs; its December 2025 response identified lobbying, whistleblowing and MoD economic crime as the strategy's missing pieces." }, { "name": "Joint Anti-Corruption Unit (Home Office)", "type": "government body", "note": "Owns the UK Anti-Corruption Strategy 2025 and coordination of its 123 commitments across departments." }, { "name": "Ethics and Integrity Commission", "type": "government advisory body", "note": "Launched 13 October 2025 replacing CSPL; advisory only, cannot investigate individual cases, all members appointed by the PM." }, { "name": "Companies House", "type": "government body", "note": "Implementing ECCTA: identity verification mandatory since 18 November 2025; limited-partnership reforms and enforcement phase due through 2026." }, { "name": "Serious Fraud Office", "type": "government body", "note": "Prosecutes top-tier fraud and bribery; returned £3 per £1 of budget 2019-24 yet salaries lag the private sector it investigates." }, { "name": "National Crime Agency", "type": "government body", "note": "Houses the NECC, International Corruption Unit, IACCC and UKFIU; chronic underfunding documented by Spotlight and FATF (FIU still below 200 staff)." }, { "name": "Electoral Commission", "type": "regulator", "note": "Political finance regulator; RPB Bill would restore its independence and raise its maximum fine from £20,000 to £500,000." }, { "name": "Debarment Review Service (Government Commercial Agency)", "type": "government body", "note": "Runs Procurement Act debarment investigations since the Procurement Review Unit was absorbed in April 2026; the public list is still blank." }, { "name": "mySociety", "type": "charity", "note": "Runs WhatDoTheyKnow; its 2026 report warned FOI is 'sliding into obsolescence' and proposed extension to private providers of public services." }, { "name": "The Bureau of Investigative Journalism", "type": "nonprofit newsroom", "note": "Investigates illicit finance and corruption; documented the landmark March 2026 anti-SLAPP strike-out." }, { "name": "Finance Uncovered", "type": "nonprofit", "note": "Trains and supports journalists worldwide on illicit-finance investigations from a small UK base reliant on philanthropy." }, { "name": "Public Interest News Foundation", "type": "charity", "note": "The UK's only charity dedicated to regenerating local public-interest news; a fraction of the scale the sector's decline demands." }, { "name": "UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition", "type": "network", "note": "Drafted a model anti-SLAPP law; campaigns to extend protection beyond the economic-crime-only ECCTA provisions." } ], "funders": [ "Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust", "Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust", "Luminate", "Open Society Foundations", "Oak Foundation", "Sigrid Rausing Trust", "David and Elaine Potter Foundation", "FCDO (international anti-corruption programmes, IACCC)", "Home Office / Joint Anti-Corruption Unit (strategy implementation funding)", "Economic Crime Levy and Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme proceeds (potential ringfenced enforcement funding)", "Nuffield Foundation (justice and governance research)", "Public Interest News Foundation (pooled philanthropic funds for journalism)" ], "policyNotes": "The UK Anti-Corruption Strategy 2025 (December 2025) is the organising document (123 commitments, three pillars, oversight involving civil society and Parliament), but several commitments lack timelines, per the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition. The Representation of the People Bill (February 2026) carries political-finance reform: Electoral Commission independence restored (strategy-and-policy statement repealed), fines raised to £500,000, Know Your Donor checks, £100k overseas-elector cap and crypto moratorium via Rycroft Review amendments. ECCTA continues phased commencement (limited-partnership reform from spring 2026; IDV enforcement late 2026); in June 2026 the FCA was confirmed as future single AML supervisor, implementation taking years. Holes: no lobbying commitment anywhere in the strategy; whistleblowing deferred to 'explore by 2027'; no MoD economic-crime measures; SLAPP protection confined to economic crime; FOI facing a section 12 cost-ceiling reduction rather than reform; overseas territories conceded legitimate-interest-only registers; debarment has no independent trigger and no entries.", "sources": [ "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-anti-corruption-strategy-2025/uk-anti-corruption-strategy-2025-accessible", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-anti-corruption-champion-and-nca-funding-as-campaign-against-corruption-steps-up", "https://www.ukanticorruptioncoalition.org/work/from-aspiration-to-action-experts-call-for-rapid-implementation-plans-for-new-anti-corruption-strategy", "https://www.transparency.org.uk/news/uk-anti-corruption-strategy-ambitious-plan-undermined-political-integrity-gaps", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ethics-and-integrity-commission-to-drive-up-standards-across-the-public-sector", "https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/ethics-integrity-commission", "https://eic.independent-commission.uk/the-standards-landscape/", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10310/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/closure-of-the-independent-advisory-committee-on-business-appointments-acoba", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn03745/", "https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/update-on-interim-arrangements-for-applications-under-the-business-appointment-rules/", "https://consoc.org.uk/farewell-acoba/", "https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68595a94eaa6f6419fade63b/Debarment_List.pdf", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-act-2023-guidance-documents-procure-phase/guidance-debarment-html", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/final-report-of-the-covid-counter-fraud-commissioner", "https://committees.parliament.uk/work/9522/the-work-of-the-covid-counterfraud-commissioner/", "https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a28300ee371d9d2c0052b3e/third-report-on-the-implementation-and-operation-of-parts-1-to-3-of-the-economic-crim-and-corporate-transparency-act-2023.pdf", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/economic-crime-and-corporate-transparency-act-outline-transition-plan-for-companies-house/economic-crime-and-corporate-transparency-act-outline-transition-plan-for-companies-house", "https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/reforming-anti-money-laundering-and-counter-terrorism-financing-supervision/outcome/reform-of-the-anti-money-laundering-and-counter-terrorism-financing-supervision-regime-consultation-response", "https://www.traverssmith.com/knowledge/knowledge-container/the-uk-s-amlctf-supervisory-reform-fca-to-become-sole-regulator-for-professional-services/", "https://www.theferret.scot/a-timeline-of-scottish-limited-partnerships/", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10604/", "https://www.applebyglobal.com/publications/navigating-the-new-legitimate-interest-access-regime-for-bvi-beneficial-ownership-information/", "https://www.transparency.org.uk/news/legitimate-interest-access-it-working-uks-overseas-territories", "https://www.caymancompass.com/2026/03/13/cayman-unified-on-legitimate-interests-for-beneficial-ownership/", "https://www.spotlightcorruption.org/new-representation-of-the-people-bill/", "https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/reforming-the-law-on-donations-to-political-parties/", "https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/political-party-finance-and-the-electoral-commission-regulatory-powers-and-proposed-changes/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cap-on-donations-from-overseas-electors-and-ban-on-crypto-donations-to-protect-democracy", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10552/", "https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/news-and-views/understanding-representation-people-bill", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/representation-of-the-people-bill-policy-summaries/electoral-commission", "https://constitution-unit.com/2026/02/26/the-representation-of-the-people-bill-contours-of-the-debates-to-come/", "https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5804/cmselect/cmpubadm/203/report.html", "https://www.transparency.org.uk/sites/default/files/2025-11/Post-legislative%20review%20of%20Part%201%20of%20the%20Lobbying%20Act%202014%20%20FINAL.pdf", "https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/LLN-2026-0034/LLN-2026-0034.pdf", "https://www.spotlightcorruption.org/report/briefing-on-the-serious-fraud-office/", "https://www.spotlightcorruption.org/what-will-police-reform-mean-for-the-fight-against-dirty-money-and-economic-crime/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/economic-crime-and-corporate-transparency-act-2023-factsheets/economic-crime-and-corporate-transparency-act-strategic-lawsuits-against-public-participation-slapps", "https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026-03-12/landmark-anti-slapp-victory-as-8m-libel-claim-is-thrown-out-of-court", "https://www.lewissilkin.com/insights/2026/03/31/a-taxing-slapp-the-first-judicial-test-of-the-uks-anti-slapp-regime-102mogw", "https://antislapp.uk/solutions/legislation/", "https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3914", "https://afterathena.co.uk/insights/whistleblowing-law-changes-in-2026/", "https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/freedom-of-information/freedom-of-information-in-danger-of-sliding-into-obsolescence-new-report-finds/", "https://thecritic.co.uk/in-defence-of-the-freedom-of-information-act/", "https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/the-ico-isnt-doing-its-job-why-the-data-watchdog-needs-to-be-reset/", "https://cjproject.org/", "https://www.publicinterestnews.org.uk/", "https://www.stoneking.co.uk/news/general/official-recognition-charitable-journalism-enables-support-future-high-quality" ], "gapCount": 19, "intro": "On paper, Britain has just rebuilt its defences against corruption: a new national strategy, a new ethics commission, a register for barring bad suppliers from public contracts. Look closer. The register is empty, the commission can only advise, and breaking the revolving-door rules still carries no legal penalty at all.\n\nMost gaps here are half-built machines waiting for teeth: lobbying registers that miss most lobbyists, watchdogs on goodwill budgets, whistleblowers protected only after the damage. A few need no permission at all: a fraud-spotting unit for procurement data, a defence fund for small newsrooms, an archive nobody can quietly edit." }, { "num": 9, "slug": "parallel-institutions", "name": "Parallel institutions formation", "shortName": "Parallel institutions", "hue": 170, "landscape": "The UK's mutual economy is large and growing, with 10,119 co-ops and mutuals, £179.2bn income and 16.6m co-op members (Co-operatives UK, 2025), and government policy is unusually warm: a manifesto pledge to double the sector, a mutuals champion, a Treasury-convened Business Council, and a December 2025 FCA/PRA package (new Mutual Societies Development Unit, registration cut to 10 working days). Three Law Commission reviews are live: co-operative societies (report due 2026), friendly societies (consultation closed June 2025), and the July 2024 DAO scoping paper. Yet formation infrastructure lags what technology now permits. New friendly societies effectively cannot form (the 1974 Act closed in 1993; the 1992 route demands insurance authorisation). DAOs and informal associations default to unlimited-liability partnership or legal invisibility, the same defect that left ~4,000 Covid mutual aid groups unable to persist. The 2023 asset-lock Act awaits commencement regulations. Local paper currencies are extinct (Bristol Pound 2020–21; Lewes Pound, the last, ended 2025), with mutual credit pilots (Local Loop Merseyside) in regulatory grey space. Parallel service provision is being re-regulated: the free schools pipeline was largely cancelled (December 2025), home education faces statutory registers (Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026), while Great British Energy is conversely funding community energy at up to £1bn. Communities gained a statutory Right to Buy (English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026) just after the Community Ownership Fund closed. Zone policy consolidated into 22 Industrial Strategy Zones: fiscal incentives, no governance experimentation.", "actors": [ { "name": "Co-operatives UK", "type": "network", "note": "Federation of UK co-ops; runs the Community Shares Unit, Standard Mark and Booster Fund; publishes the annual Co-operative and Mutual Economy report (10,119 enterprises, £179.2bn income in 2025)." }, { "name": "Law Commission of England and Wales", "type": "government body", "note": "Three live workstreams shaping formation law: review of the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 (report expected 2026), review of the Friendly Societies Acts 1974/1992 (consultation closed June 2025), and the July 2024 DAO scoping paper." }, { "name": "FCA Mutuals Registration Team / Mutual Societies Development Unit", "type": "government body", "note": "Registrar for ~10,000 societies; new Development Unit and faster (10-working-day) registration announced December 2025, the closest thing to a formation service for mutuals." }, { "name": "Cwmpas", "type": "co-operative development agency", "note": "Wales' (and the UK's largest) co-op development agency, est. 1982; demonstrates the delivery model England lacks." }, { "name": "Co-operative Development Scotland", "type": "government body", "note": "Unit within Scottish Enterprise supporting co-op and employee-ownership formation across Scotland's enterprise agencies." }, { "name": "Mutuo", "type": "think tank/consultancy", "note": "Mutuals policy shop behind the Co-operatives, Mutuals and Friendly Societies Act 2023 and secretariat-level input to the sector's growth agenda." }, { "name": "Mutual and Co-operative Sector Business Council", "type": "network", "note": "Treasury-welcomed council (Co-op Group, Royal London, Arla, Nationwide) advising on the manifesto pledge to double the mutual sector." }, { "name": "Association of Financial Mutuals", "type": "trade body", "note": "Represents mutual insurers and friendly societies (its 26 friendly society members held 4.9m members at end-2023); key voice in the friendly societies law review." }, { "name": "Mutual Credit Services", "type": "company", "note": "Builds B2B mutual credit / multilateral obligation-clearing infrastructure; running Local Loop Merseyside, the UK's flagship post-currency local exchange pilot." }, { "name": "Local Trust / Community Wealth Fund Alliance", "type": "charity", "note": "Won the campaign to direct dormant assets into a £175m Community Wealth Fund giving deprived neighbourhoods £1m–£2.5m over 10 years, a template for resident-led parallel institutions." }, { "name": "Great British Energy (Local Power Plan)", "type": "government body", "note": "Feb 2026 plan commits up to £1bn to locally and community-owned energy, plus a 2026 consultation on mandatory shared ownership: the state actively seeding parallel provision in one sector." }, { "name": "Fair4All Finance", "type": "company (dormant-assets funded)", "note": "Financial inclusion body; shaped credit union common bond reform and delivery of the £30m Credit Union Transformation Fund." }, { "name": "Shepherds Friendly Society", "type": "friendly society", "note": "1826 mutual still writing income protection (97% of claims paid in 2025): evidence the friendly society model works, and that survivors are all legacy institutions." }, { "name": "Education Otherwise", "type": "charity", "note": "National home-education charity; frontline interpreter of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 registers for the parallel education sector." }, { "name": "Forest City 1", "type": "project (proposal)", "note": "Late-2025 proposal for a ~1m-person new city on Suffolk farmland backed by free-market think-tank figures: the most concrete UK charter-city-style ambition, currently with no lawful vehicle." } ], "funders": [ "HM Treasury (mutuals growth agenda; £30m Credit Union Transformation Fund; Financial Inclusion Strategy)", "Dormant Assets Scheme distributions (Community Wealth Fund £87.5m tranche; Fair4All Finance)", "The National Lottery Community Fund (matched the Community Wealth Fund to £175m)", "Access – The Foundation for Social Investment (funds the Community Shares Booster Fund)", "Great British Energy (up to £1bn Local Power Plan for community/local energy ownership)", "Power to Change (community business trust and funder)", "Large mutuals as sector patrons: Royal London, Nationwide, Co-op Group (members of the Mutual and Co-operative Sector Business Council)", "Fair4All Finance (credit union and community finance capability)", "Plausible philanthropic funders of economic-democracy and formation infrastructure: Friends Provident Foundation, Barrow Cadbury Trust, Joseph Rowntree Foundation", "Crypto-ecosystem funders (e.g. Ethereum Foundation grants), plausible funders of DAO/limited-liability-association law reform work" ], "policyNotes": "Policy is unusually favourable but chronically un-commenced. Three live Law Commission reviews (co-op societies report due 2026; friendly societies recommendations pending; DAO scoping paper unowned since July 2024) will land on a government that pledged to double the mutual sector, appointed a mutuals champion, and secured a December 2025 regulator package, yet the 2023 asset-lock Act's regulations remain unmade over tax questions, and credit union common bond reform is promised only \"when parliamentary time allows\" (written statement, 18 March 2026). Communities received new rights as funding closed: the EDCE Act 2026 Right to Buy arrived after the Community Ownership Fund shut (December 2024). Education went the other way: the free schools pipeline was largely cancelled (December 2025) and home education faces registers without service entitlements. Zone policy (Industrial Strategy Zones, June 2025) is fiscal, not governance-experimental. The recurring hole: reviews and rights without commencement orders, delivery institutions, or capital.", "sources": [ "https://lawcom.gov.uk/project/co-operatives-and-community-benefit-societies/", "https://lawcom.gov.uk/project/friendly-societies/", "https://cdn.websitebuilder.service.justice.gov.uk/uploads/sites/54/2025/03/Friendly-societies-Fact-sheet-for-members.pdf", "https://lawcom.gov.uk/project/decentralised-autonomous-organisations-daos/", "https://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/en/inside-fintech/blog/2024/07/law-commission-publishes-scoping-paper-on-decentralised-autonomous-organisations", "https://www.twobirds.com/en/insights/2024/uk/wrapping-the-dao-decentralised-autonomous-organisations-under-english-law", "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/23/enacted", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9647/", "https://www.mutuo.coop/co-operatives-mutuals-and-friendly-societies-act-2023/", "https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2025/december/regulators-announce-plans-to-support-growth-of-mutuals-sector", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-champion-to-be-appointed-for-britains-mutuals-and-co-operatives", "https://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/news-and-views/what-steps-should-the-government-take-to-double-the-size-of-the-co-operatives-and-mutuals-sector/", "https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/register-mutual-society", "https://mutuals.fca.org.uk/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/credit-union-common-bond-reform/outcome/credit-union-common-bond-reform-call-for-evidence-response", "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-03-18/hcws1418", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10306/", "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/23/contents/enacted", "https://www.wardhadaway.com/insights/updates/english-devolution-and-community-empowerment-act-2026-frequently-asked-questions/", "https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wms/?id=2025-01-06.hcws353.h", "https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2024/12/24/government-closes-community-ownership-fund-early/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-power-plan/local-power-plan-accessible-webpage", "https://www.uk.coop/resources/economy", "https://www.thenews.coop/a-record-breaking-year-for-uk-co-operatives-and-mutuals/", "https://www.uk.coop/blog/record-year-community-shares-booster-fund-2025", "https://www.wrigleys.co.uk/news/charity-social-economy/law-commission-review-of-the-co-operative-and-community-benefit-societies-act-2014-consultation-paper-no264-september-2024-/", "https://www.mutualcredit.services/projects", "https://localloop-merseyside.co.uk/blog/platform-design-2023/", "https://opencollective.com/open-credit-network", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_pound", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_community_currencies_in_the_United_Kingdom", "https://schoolsweek.co.uk/nightmare-before-christmas-46-free-school-projects-scrapped-and-58-special-schools-in-limbo/", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10165/", "https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2026/05/the-childrens-wellbeing-bill-what-parents-need-to-know/", "https://homeschoolstartguide.com/blog/edexcel-private-candidates-home-education", "https://tutorful.co.uk/blog/cost-of-exams-for-homeschooling", "https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/technical-consultation-on-a-community-wealth-fund-in-england/outcome/government-response-to-the-technical-consultation-on-the-design-of-a-community-wealth-fund-in-england", "https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/community-wealth-fund-doubles-to-175m-after-national-lottery-investment.html", "https://cwmpas.coop/about-us/", "https://www.scottish-enterprise.com/how-we-can-help/business-strategy/business-models/co-operative-business-support", "https://financialmutuals.org/resource/afm-welcomes-the-law-commission-consultation-on-the-long-overdue-reform-of-friendly-societies-legislation/", "https://www.shepherdsfriendly.co.uk/income-protection/", "https://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/news/shepherds-friendly-pays-out-97-of-income-protection-claims-in-2025/", "https://www.uktaxpolicymap.com/encouraging-investment/industrial-strategy-zones-(previously-freeports-and-investment-zones).aspx", "https://tribunemag.co.uk/2026/05/free-zone-island", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeports_in_the_United_Kingdom", "https://www.icaew.com/technical/charity-community/articles/registering-as-a-charity-a-view-from-the-commission", "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8563598/" ], "gapCount": 13, "intro": "Britain built its first welfare system from the ground up, through friendly societies and mutuals owned by their members. The government now wants to double the mutual sector. Yet the law in effect bars anyone from founding a new friendly society, and has done since 1993.\n\nThe gaps below sit between what software makes easy and what statute allows. Some are single switches Whitehall has never flipped, like the asset-lock law passed in 2023 and never turned on. Others could start tomorrow: open legal templates, a community acquisition fund, one flagship mutual that proves the model." }, { "num": 10, "slug": "portable-sovereignty", "name": "Portable sovereignty stack (personal and community digital autonomy: local AI, E2EE comms, personal data stores, co-op governance tooling, community economy, private collaboration)", "shortName": "Portable sovereignty", "hue": 285, "landscape": "The UK has strong ingredients but no assembled stack. Intelligence: open-weight models (Llama, Mistral, Qwen families) run adequately on consumer hardware, and public compute has grown (Isambard-AI, the AI Research Resource, a £500m Sovereign AI Unit opened April 2026), but access routes exclude community groups and no UK open-weight model yet exists. Communications: Signal/WhatsApp dominate; Matrix (a UK-originated protocol powering France's and Germany's sovereign messengers) is production-grade but has negligible UK public-sector uptake and a chronically underfunded foundation; Waku is honest-to-goodness pre-production (public testnet targeted 2026, mainnet 2027). Storage: Mydex personal data stores work at pilot scale in Scotland; Solid has stalled; DUAA 2025 smart-data powers (in force August 2025) remain unused beyond open banking. Governance: Loomio/Decidim are usable today, but co-op registration is paper-era; the Law Commission's co-op law report lands 2026, and its 2024 DAO scoping paper's recommendations sit unactioned. Economy: self-custody wallets are lawful and usable; the FCA cryptoasset regime (regulations made February 2026, live October 2027, stablecoin gateway September 2026) is built for capitalised issuers; paper town pounds are dead (Lewes Pound last used 2025) and mutual credit sits in a regulatory grey zone. Coordination: CryptPad/Nextcloud work now, but UK ethical hosting (Webarchitects, Autonomic) is micro-scale. Overarching constraints: OSA duties drove ~300 small forums offline in March 2025, Ofcom's May 2026 technology-notice guidance keeps E2EE-scanning powers live, and secret IPA notices already stripped UK users of Apple's Advanced Data Protection.", "actors": [ { "name": "Element", "type": "company", "note": "UK-founded Matrix vendor supplying sovereign messengers to 30+ governments (France, Germany, Belgium), yet with almost no UK public-sector deployment." }, { "name": "Matrix.org Foundation", "type": "nonprofit / open protocol steward", "note": "UK-originated steward of the Matrix E2EE protocol; chronically underfunded relative to the governments that depend on it (DINUM became first government member, Oct 2025)." }, { "name": "Open Rights Group", "type": "charity", "note": "Leading UK digital-rights campaigner on the Online Safety Act, Investigatory Powers Act and digital ID; convenes the small-services OSA response." }, { "name": "Privacy International", "type": "charity", "note": "Litigating the secrecy of IPA technical capability notices before the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (heard 2026, alongside the Apple/ADP saga)." }, { "name": "Mydex CIC", "type": "community interest company", "note": "Edinburgh-based personal data store operator; longest-running UK PDS with Scottish Government contracts, proof the storage layer works at pilot scale." }, { "name": "Open Data Institute", "type": "nonprofit", "note": "Research and stewardship on data institutions/data trusts; natural convener for smart-data and PDS interoperability standards." }, { "name": "Webarchitects Co-operative", "type": "co-operative", "note": "Sheffield multi-stakeholder co-op providing ethical, green, open-source hosting (Nextcloud etc.), one of very few UK public-interest hosts." }, { "name": "Autonomic Co-operative", "type": "co-operative", "note": "Worker co-op that founded Co-op Cloud, a deployment platform enabling small hosts to offer federated community services." }, { "name": "CoTech (Cooperative Technologists)", "type": "network", "note": "Network of ~40 UK tech co-ops; has discussed shared digital infrastructure but lacks the funding to build it." }, { "name": "Co-operatives UK", "type": "federation / trade body", "note": "Represents the UK co-op sector; driving the Law Commission review of co-operative and community benefit society law (report due 2026)." }, { "name": "Mutual Credit Services", "type": "company", "note": "Stroud-based developer of mutual-credit 'trade clubs' and local clearing systems, the main serious UK attempt at the community-economy layer post-town-pounds." }, { "name": "Timebanking UK", "type": "charity", "note": "National support body for timebanks; the surviving mass-participation form of UK community exchange." }, { "name": "OpenUK", "type": "nonprofit / advocacy", "note": "Open-source industry advocacy; documented chronic OSS underfunding as a sovereignty risk and pushes for a UK Sovereign Tech Fund." }, { "name": "DSIT Sovereign AI Unit / AI Research Resource", "type": "government body / programme", "note": "£500m sovereign AI investment unit (opened April 2026) plus national compute (Isambard-AI, AIRR), allocated to research, startups and public sector, not communities." }, { "name": "Institute of Free Technology (Waku, Codex, Nomos)", "type": "project", "note": "Building Waku messaging, Codex storage and Nomos chain, explicitly civil-society-framed but pre-production: public testnet targeted 2026, mainnet 2027." } ], "funders": [ "DSIT (Sovereign AI Unit, AI Research Resource, smart data implementation)", "UKRI / Innovate UK (natural administrator for a Sovereign Tech Fund)", "Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (Power and Accountability programme; funds digital rights orgs)", "Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (democratic and civil liberties grants)", "Luminate (funds UK digital rights and public-interest news/tech)", "Open Society Foundations (digital rights litigation and advocacy)", "Nesta (innovation methods; charity AI adoption)", "National Lottery Community Fund (community infrastructure and resilience)", "Power to Change (community business, community ownership)", "Friends Provident Foundation (fair economy; plausible funder for mutual credit)", "Omidyar Network (responsible tech)", "NLnet / EU NGI programmes (have funded UK-linked open-source privacy projects; post-Brexit access partial)", "Institute of Free Technology / Ethereum Foundation grants (decentralised stack R&D)", "Ofcom/DSIT contestable funds and regulatory sandboxes (in-kind)" ], "policyNotes": "Three regimes dominate. The OSA applies full illegal-content and child-safety duties to volunteer-run services with no community-scale exemption; Ofcom finalised Technology Notices guidance (May 2026) preserving the power to mandate 'accredited technology' against E2EE once 'technically feasible', and the categorisation register lands July 2026. The IPA (amended 2024) enables secret technical capability notices: Apple withdrew ADP for UK users, the IPT dismissed its appeal after the order was narrowed, and Privacy International's secrecy challenge was heard in 2026; no transparency reporting exists. The FCA cryptoasset regime (regulations made February 2026; live October 2027; stablecoin gateway September 2026, £350k capital floor) has no proportionate route for community or mutual systems. DUAA 2025 smart-data powers sit unused. Digital ID consultation closed June 2026: voluntary for citizens, digital right-to-work checks planned from 2029. No policy anywhere funds or protects the open-source substrate all of this depends on.", "sources": [ "https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/illegal-and-harmful-content/consultation-technology-notices", "https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/illegal-and-harmful-content/helping-small-services-navigate-the-online-safety-act", "https://www.techuk.org/resource/online-safety-act-categorisation-register-pushed-back-to-july-2026-in-new-timeline.html", "https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/401475/", "https://www.parallelparliament.co.uk/debate/2025-12-15/commons/westminster-hall/online-safety-act-2023-repeal", "https://decoded.legal/blog/2025/03/it-is-time-to-make-the-online-safety-act-2023-fit-for-purpose/", "https://proton.me/blog/online-safety-act", "https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366632561/Apple-and-Home-Office-agree-to-drop-legal-claim-over-encryption-backdoor", "https://privacyinternational.org/news-analysis/5624/update-our-case-against-uk-governments-secret-surveillance-orders-be-heard-2026", "https://privacyinternational.org/legal-action/pi-apple-tcn-challenge", "https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/new-regime-cryptoasset-regulation", "https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/policy-statements/cryptoasset-regime", "https://www.sidley.com/en/insights/newsupdates/2026/01/uk-cryptoasset-regulation-action-points-for-2026-2027", "https://britishprogress.org/uk-day-one/a-uk-open-source-fund-to-support-software-innovati", "https://www.sovereign.tech/programs/fund", "https://openuk.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Chronic-underfunding-of-open-source-software-poses-strategic-risk-to-Europes-digital-sovereignty-Tech.eu_.pdf", "https://www.kennedyslaw.com/en/thought-leadership/article/2026/the-data-use-and-access-act-2025-commencement-dates-and-planned-guidance-for-2026/", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_(Use_and_Access)_Act_2025", "https://lawcom.gov.uk/project/decentralised-autonomous-organisations-daos/", "https://lawcom.gov.uk/project/co-operatives-and-community-benefit-societies/", "https://www.scl.org/law-commission-publishes-scoping-paper-on-decentralised-autonomous-organisations/", "https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/09/matrix_element_secure_chat/", "https://matrix.org/blog/2025/10/dinum/", "https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366633894/European-governments-opt-for-open-source-alternatives-to-Big-Tech-encrypted-communications", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10369/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/digital-id-scheme-explainer/digital-id-scheme-explainer", "https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/news/uk-scales-back-digital-id-right-work", "https://mydex.org/", "https://www.bristol.ac.uk/research/centres/bristol-supercomputing/articles/2026/isambard-ai-supercomputer-powers-500m-uk-sovereign-ai-fund.html", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-opportunities-action-plan-one-year-on/ai-opportunities-action-plan-one-year-on", "https://www.publictechnology.net/2026/04/16/business-and-industry/governments-500m-sovereign-ai-venture-capital-unit-opens-doors-today-to-invest-in-uk-tech-firms/", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_community_currencies_in_the_United_Kingdom", "https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/switching-uk-mutual-credit/", "https://coopcloud.tech/", "https://www.webarchitects.coop/", "https://www.coops.tech/co-op/webarchitects", "https://autonomic.zone/blog/2023/02/co-op-cloud/", "https://blog.waku.org/waku-monthly-update-june-2025/", "https://blog.waku.org", "https://free.technology", "http://meshtastic.sytes.net/", "https://www.uksn.org.uk/post/exploring-meshtastic-secure-off-grid-communication-with-project-lora", "https://www.jrct.org.uk/what-we-fund" ], "gapCount": 11, "intro": "Britain invented the messaging protocol France and Germany use for their sovereign government communications, then bought none of it. The pieces of digital self-reliance already exist here: encrypted messaging, personal data stores, co-op software, community hosting. Nobody has assembled them, and the law keeps tripping the people who try. Around 300 volunteer-run forums went offline when Online Safety Act duties arrived.\n\nThe gaps below are mostly small and specific: a maintenance fund here, a registration reform there, a pilot someone could run next year. Some need a minister's signature. Others need a few million pounds and a willing co-op. All of them move power (over messages, money, records and identity) back towards the people they belong to." }, { "num": 11, "slug": "privacy", "name": "Privacy and sovereignty of the individual", "shortName": "Privacy", "hue": 320, "landscape": "The UK's privacy settlement was rewritten in 2025–26. The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA, Royal Assent June 2025; main provisions commenced 5 February 2026) loosened UK GDPR (\"recognised legitimate interests\", broader automated decision-making, opt-out analytics cookies) while putting digital verification services on a statutory footing and restructuring the ICO into an Information Commission during 2026. The EU renewed adequacy in December 2025, to 2031 with a four-year mid-point review. Enforcement remains the weak joint: the ICO favours engagement over sanction; 2025 produced only seven fines (£19.6m, mostly security breaches, including 23andMe's £2.31m), and its 2019 finding that real-time bidding adtech is systemically unlawful has still produced no RTB enforcement. Complaints take roughly a year to resolve. The Online Safety Act's age-verification duties (July 2025) triggered a 1,400%+ VPN sign-up surge and breaches exposing verification IDs (Discord's third-party provider ~70,000 IDs; the Tea app), with no mandated privacy-preserving architecture. The government's digital ID scheme (announced September 2025) drew a 2.9m-signature petition, a January 2026 retreat from compulsion, and a Digital Access to Services Bill in the May 2026 King's Speech, with credentials locked to the GOV.UK Wallet and oversight sitting inside DSIT. A secret Technical Capability Notice forced Apple to withdraw Advanced Data Protection from UK users; IPT litigation continues in 2026. Health-data centralisation (Palantir's Federated Data Platform, Single Patient Record from 2028) proceeds under an opt-out that largely does not apply. Advocacy capacity is thin and philanthropically precarious.", "actors": [ { "name": "Information Commissioner's Office (becoming the Information Commission)", "type": "regulator (government body)", "note": "UK data protection regulator; restructured into a board-led Information Commission under the DUAA in 2026; criticised for favouring engagement over enforcement, notably on adtech/RTB." }, { "name": "Open Rights Group", "type": "advocacy nonprofit", "note": "Main UK digital rights campaign group (adtech complaints, digital ID, age verification); member-funded with JRRT/Luminate grants; originated the RTB complaints the ICO never enforced." }, { "name": "Privacy International", "type": "charity", "note": "London-based; litigating the Apple Technical Capability Notice at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal and challenging secret surveillance orders in 2026." }, { "name": "medConfidential", "type": "advocacy group", "note": "Tiny but pivotal health-data confidentiality watchdog; tracks the FDP, Single Patient Record and National Data Opt-Out erosion; runs a volunteer data-release register." }, { "name": "Foxglove", "type": "legal nonprofit", "note": "Tech-justice litigators; challenged the NHS–Palantir Federated Data Platform contract and government data deals." }, { "name": "Big Brother Watch", "type": "civil liberties group", "note": "Campaigns on digital ID, online age checks and data exploitation; co-authored the December 2025 joint briefing for the digital ID petition debate." }, { "name": "Ada Lovelace Institute", "type": "research institute", "note": "Nuffield-founded; research on data governance, digital identity and public attitudes; key evidence source but not an enforcement actor." }, { "name": "AWO", "type": "company (data rights law firm/consultancy)", "note": "Specialist data rights legal practice bringing individual and strategic UK GDPR claims; closest UK analogue to enforcement-focused capacity, but commercial." }, { "name": "Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA, within DSIT)", "type": "government body", "note": "Governs the DVS trust framework (statutory from 1 December 2025, v1.0 March 2026, UK CertifID trust mark); sits inside DSIT rather than independent of it." }, { "name": "Yoti", "type": "company", "note": "Leading UK age-assurance and digital ID provider; certified under DIATF; major beneficiary of Online Safety Act age checks and party to debates on privacy standards." }, { "name": "Age Check Certification Scheme (ACCS)", "type": "certification body", "note": "Runs the ICO-approved UK GDPR certification for age-assurance providers, the only privacy certification in the AV market, but voluntary." }, { "name": "Age Verification Providers Association", "type": "trade body", "note": "UK-based global trade association for AV suppliers; lobbies for age assurance and defends the sector's privacy record post-breaches." }, { "name": "Genomics England", "type": "government-owned company", "note": "Runs the National Genomic Research Library and the Generation Study (100,000 newborn genomes); governance of access, commercial use and future law-enforcement requests is the live issue." }, { "name": "REPHRAIN", "type": "UKRI research centre", "note": "National Research Centre on Privacy, Harm Reduction and Adversarial Influence Online (Bristol-led, EPSRC-funded, Phase II); academic PETs and online-safety-privacy research." }, { "name": "Mydex CIC", "type": "community interest company", "note": "Long-running personal data store operator; exemplar of the personal-data-intermediary market that lacks a legal authorisation regime (DSIT consultation live to 31 August 2026)." } ], "funders": [ "UKRI / EPSRC (REPHRAIN centre, PETs and online-harms research; Safer Streets R&D challenge)", "DSIT (PETs cost-benefit tool, UK–US PETs prize legacy, digital identity programme; plausible home for a PETs adoption fund)", "Innovate UK (plausible funder of PETs commercialisation; currently no standing programme)", "Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (core funder of Open Rights Group and democratic-rights campaigning)", "Luminate (Open Rights Group and data-rights field funder)", "Open Society Foundations (historic funder of UK digital rights; retrenched from Europe, and the gap its exit left is itself part of the problem)", "Nuffield Foundation (founded and funds the Ada Lovelace Institute; data governance research)", "Wellcome Trust (health data governance and public-trust research; plausible funder of patient-data transparency infrastructure)", "ICO / Information Commission grants programme (previously funded privacy research; could be revived for PETs and enforcement research)", "Digital Freedom Fund (European strategic litigation support, extendable to UK data rights cases)", "Tech-wealth and consumer-facing philanthropy (e.g. Proton, Mozilla Foundation) as plausible entrants for privacy-tool and advocacy funding" ], "policyNotes": "The DUAA 2025 tilts deregulatory (recognised legitimate interests, relaxed automated decision-making, opt-out analytics cookies) while EU adequacy (renewed December 2025 to 2031 with a four-year mid-point review) caps divergence. Individual redress is the systemic hole: Article 80(2) opt-out actions were never implemented, Lloyd v Google closed the courts route, s166 DPA offers only procedural review, and Delo confirmed the ICO need not determine complaints. Encryption is unprotected in statute: secret IPA Technical Capability Notices (Apple litigation at the IPT, 2026) and unused OSA s121 scanning powers persist. The Digital Access to Services Bill (May 2026 King's Speech) currently lacks statutory unlinkability and independent oversight. Health-data centralisation outpaces the non-statutory National Data Opt-Out; genetic discrimination rests on a voluntary ABI code (2025 review). Live windows: digital ID Bill passage, DSIT data intermediaries consultation (closes 31 August 2026), data broker call for evidence.", "sources": [ "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/data-use-and-access-act-2025-data-protection-and-privacy-changes", "https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/what-we-do/legislation-we-cover/data-use-and-access-act-2025/the-data-use-and-access-act-2025-what-does-it-mean-for-organisations/", "https://privacymatters.dlapiper.com/2026/02/uk-commencement-of-the-data-protection-provisions-in-the-data-use-and-access-act/", "https://www.urmconsulting.com/blog/analysis-of-enforcement-action-by-the-ico-in-2025-actions-way-down-security-data-breach-fines-way-up", "https://www.reedsmith.com/our-insights/blogs/viewpoints/102mi7r/icohno-saying-goodbye-to-the-information-commissioners-office/", "https://www.hunton.com/privacy-and-information-security-law/european-commission-renews-uk-data-adequacy-decisions", "https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/22/eu_uk_data_adequacy/", "https://www.openrightsgroup.org/campaign/ending-adtech-abuse/", "https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252495225/ICO-resumes-adtech-investigation", "https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252491682/ICO-sued-over-failure-to-address-ad-industry-practices", "https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/what-we-do/our-work-on-online-tracking/", "https://www.scl.org/ico-issues-online-tracking-strategy-update/", "https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/28/uk_vpn_demand_soars/", "https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/02/discord-voluntarily-pushes-mandatory-age-verification-despite-recent-data-breach", "https://www.kennedyslaw.com/en/thought-leadership/article/2025/spilling-the-tea-on-id-risk-unintended-consequences-of-the-online-safety-act/", "https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/online-safety/information-for-industry/other/ofcom-ico-joint-statement-on-age-assurance.pdf", "https://www.openrightsgroup.org/publications/regulating-age-verification/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-digital-verification-services-trust-framework", "https://www.biometricupdate.com/202602/uk-digital-id-providers-fear-govt-plans-conflict-with-data-protection-act-aims", "https://www.biometricupdate.com/202511/uk-digital-id-shouldnt-be-a-betrayal-of-diatf-certified-identity-firms", "https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/730194", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Digital_ID", "https://www.computing.co.uk/news/2026/government/government-backtracks-on-digital-id", "https://statewatch.org/news/2025/december/uk-joint-briefing-on-the-do-not-introduce-digital-id-cards-parliamentary-petition-debate/", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10369/", "https://www.wired-gov.net/wg/news.nsf/articles/UK+Government+includes+Digital+ID+in+Kings+Speech+Digital+Access+to+Services+Bill+14052026111000?open=", "https://privacyinternational.org/legal-action/pi-apple-tcn-challenge", "https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366632159/Home-Office-issues-new-back-door-order-over-Apple-encryption", "https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/10/uk-still-trying-backdoor-encryption-apple-users", "https://www.theregister.com/databases/2026/06/13/nhs-patients-cant-opt-out-of-palantirs-data-platform-but-their-hospital-can/5254766", "https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2026-04-16/debates/2FDCA71C-D0C1-4738-BEE8-A4BDA311DB99/NHSFederatedDataPlatform", "https://medconfidential.org/2025/10-year-plan-for-englands-nhs-week-one/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-bill-single-patient-record-fact-sheet/health-bill-single-patient-record-fact-sheet", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-on-genetic-testing-and-insurance-3-year-review-2025/code-on-genetic-testing-and-insurance-3-year-review-2025", "https://www.progress.org.uk/why-the-uk-needs-a-law-to-prevent-genetic-discrimination/", "https://www.generationstudy.co.uk/overview-of-the-study/keeping-your-data-safe", "https://www.genomicsengland.co.uk/blog/national-patient-data-day-blog", "https://www.linklaters.com/en/insights/blogs/digilinks/2021/march/uk---government-rejects-opt-out-gdpr-class-actions", "https://www.openrightsgroup.org/publications/org-representative-actions-under-the-uk-gdpr/", "https://www.stephensonharwood.com/insights/lloyd-v-google-no-damages-without-proof-of-damage/", "https://www.michelmores.com/commercial-litigation-insight/ico-guidance-explained-the-new-data-protection-complaints-regime-from-june-2026/", "https://www.handleygill.co.uk/handley-gill-blog/data-protection-complaints-data-use-and-access-act-2025-information-commissioner-data-protection-complaints-handling-consultation", "https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/data-sharing/privacy-enhancing-technologies/", "https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/research-reports-impact-and-evaluation/research-and-reports/technology-and-innovation/tackling-barriers-to-privacy-enhancing-technologies-adoption/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/privacy-enhancing-technologies-cost-benefit-awareness-tool", "https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2025/10/09/using-privacy-enhancing-technologies-to-enable-international-data-sharing/", "https://www.rephrain.ac.uk/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/empowering-people-through-data-intermediaries/empowering-people-through-data-intermediaries", "https://www.techuk.org/resource/dsit-launches-call-for-evidence-on-data-brokers-and-national-security.html", "https://www.jrrt.org.uk/what-we-do/grants-awarded/open-rights-group/", "https://luminategroup.com/investee/open-rights-group" ], "gapCount": 12, "intro": "Britain's data watchdog found the online advertising industry systemically breaking the law in 2019. Seven years on, it has yet to enforce. That is the pattern across UK privacy: rights exist on paper, and almost nothing makes them bite. Courts closed the group-action route. Complaints take about a year. The entire national advocacy sector runs on less than £10m.\n\nMeanwhile the checks multiply (age verification, digital ID, a health record you cannot fully opt out of), mostly built without privacy safeguards written into law. The gaps below are enforcement machinery, missing legal shields and buildable alternatives: the things that would turn Britain's paper rights into working ones. The buildable half of privacy (encrypted messaging, personal data stores, credentials that prove without exposing) lives under portable sovereignty; what remains here is mostly the law catching up." }, { "num": 12, "slug": "ai-crisis", "name": "The coming AI crisis: UK preparedness and response", "shortName": "AI crisis preparedness", "hue": 0, "landscape": "Mid-2026 UK AI policy is dominated by the growth agenda. The AI Opportunities Action Plan one-year-on review (Jan 2026) reports 38 of 50 commitments met: public compute up from 2 to 21 ExaFLOPs, five AI Growth Zones designated, a £500m Sovereign AI Unit entering its next phase, and the 'Humphrey' toolset spreading through Whitehall. But the build-out rests on US capital and control: the September 2025 Tech Prosperity Deal brought ~£31bn from Microsoft, NVIDIA, OpenAI and CoreWeave, and the CMA found AWS and Microsoft each hold 30-40% of UK cloud. The AI Security Institute is world-class (100+ technical staff, 30+ frontier models tested) yet entirely non-statutory, and the promised Frontier AI Bill has slipped repeatedly; no AI bill is before Parliament. Meanwhile labour signals have turned: youth unemployment around 16%, graduate postings reported down ~45% year-on-year, call-centre employment down 19% (2021-25), and King's College London finds AI-exposed firms cutting junior roles by 5.8%. DSIT's own January 2026 assessment says roughly 70% of UK workers are in AI-exposed roles (higher than the US), with a third of the workforce in the high-exposure/low-complementarity (displacement-risk) segment. Transition policy is thin: skills programmes exist (Youth Guarantee, TechFirst), but there is no displacement observatory, no income-bridging instrument, and the only UK income-floor evidence (the Welsh care-leavers pilot) reports finally in 2027. Election law, liability and incident reporting all lag deployment. The posture is: accelerate adoption, partner with US labs, defer regulation. That leaves downside preparedness largely unbuilt.", "actors": [ { "name": "AI Security Institute (AISI)", "type": "government body", "note": "DSIT directorate with £240m funding to 2030 and 100+ technical staff; has tested 30+ frontier models under voluntary access agreements; no statutory powers, and its remit was narrowed to security risks (dropping bias/societal impacts) in the February 2025 rename." }, { "name": "Sovereign AI Unit (DSIT)", "type": "government body / funder", "note": "Up to £500m to build sovereign AI capability (compute allocation, datasets like OpenBind); next phase launched April 2026, chaired by venture capitalist James Wise." }, { "name": "AI and Future of Work Unit (DSIT)", "type": "government body", "note": "New cross-government evidence unit on AI labour-market impacts; first assessment (Jan 2026, with AISI) found ~70% of UK workers in AI-exposed roles and admitted the evidence 'does not yet provide clear answers' for policy." }, { "name": "Incubator for AI (i.AI) / Government Digital Service", "type": "government body", "note": "Builds and deploys the 'Humphrey' suite (Consult, Parlex, Minute, Lex, Redbox, Extract) across the civil service: the sharp end of public-sector AI adoption." }, { "name": "AI Research Resource (Isambard-AI, Bristol; Dawn, Cambridge)", "type": "infrastructure programme", "note": "The UK's public AI compute: Isambard-AI (5,448 GH200 chips, launched July 2025), Dawn expanding sixfold in 2026; £2bn committed to expand AIRR 20x by 2030 plus a £750m Edinburgh national supercomputer." }, { "name": "AI Growth Zones programme", "type": "government programme", "note": "Five designated zones (Culham, North East, North Wales, South Wales, Lanarkshire) with fast-track planning and power; government claims £28.2bn private investment and 15,000+ jobs, mostly US-hyperscaler-anchored data centres." }, { "name": "AI Growth Lab (DSIT)", "type": "government programme", "note": "Cross-economy regulatory sandbox launched 8 June 2026 (legal services/conveyancing first) allowing licensed, supervised relaxation of rules for AI pilots, the government's chosen substitute for an AI bill." }, { "name": "Skills England", "type": "government body (DfE arm's-length)", "note": "Publishes annual skills reports and sectoral needs assessments including AI; administers levy-funded training landscape but has no AI-displacement-specific remit or instrument." }, { "name": "Electoral Commission", "type": "regulator", "note": "Launched a deepfake-detection pilot ahead of the May 2026 elections; has itself called for the digital imprint regime to be extended to all online election material, a change only government can legislate." }, { "name": "Ada Lovelace Institute", "type": "research institute", "note": "Nuffield Foundation-founded; the leading independent analyst of UK AI regulation, public-sector AI deployment and societal impacts, consistently documenting the gap between adoption and governance." }, { "name": "Institute for the Future of Work (IFOW)", "type": "charity / research", "note": "Ran the Pissarides Review into the future of work; publishes evidence on AI's effect on entry-level and graduate jobs and advocates algorithmic impact assessments in employment." }, { "name": "Centre for Long-Term Resilience (CLTR)", "type": "think tank", "note": "Authored the incident-reporting and frontier-AI-governance blueprints (central incident database, 'three lines' risk model, AISI statutory powers) most cited in this space; they remain largely unimplemented." }, { "name": "Centre for Emerging Technology and Security (CETaS, Alan Turing Institute)", "type": "research centre", "note": "Key work on AI-enabled influence operations against UK elections and on the UK-US tech alliance's strategic dependencies." }, { "name": "Nscale", "type": "company", "note": "UK AI-infrastructure firm behind Stargate UK (with OpenAI and NVIDIA, sited in the North East AI Growth Zone) and Microsoft's Loughton AI campus: the main domestic corporate vehicle for the US-financed build-out." }, { "name": "BritLLM / UK-LLM (UCL AI Centre, with Bangor University and NVIDIA)", "type": "project", "note": "The UK's only open-weight national LLM effort, trained on Isambard-AI and focused on UK languages (English/Welsh reasoning model, Sept 2025); academically led and small-scale, not a strategic programme." } ], "funders": [ "DSIT / HM Treasury (£2bn compute roadmap, £500m Sovereign AI Unit, £240m AISI, £187m TechFirst)", "UKRI: EPSRC and ESRC (AIRR access programmes, Responsible AI UK, BRAID, Turing Institute core funding)", "ARIA (Safeguarded AI programme, ~£59m; technical AI safety R&D)", "Nuffield Foundation (founded and funds the Ada Lovelace Institute; funded the IFOW Pissarides Review)", "Open Philanthropy (major funder of UK AI governance/safety orgs including CLTR and GovAI)", "Founders Pledge / effective-giving funds (AI risk and policy grantmaking reaching UK orgs)", "Joseph Rowntree Foundation (economic insecurity and emerging-futures work; a natural funder of transition-instrument pilots)", "Luminate and democracy-focused philanthropy (information ecosystem, Full Fact-type fact-checking infrastructure)", "Schmidt Sciences and other AI-safety philanthropies (technical safety and evaluation capacity)", "US hyperscalers as infrastructure financiers (Microsoft £22bn, NVIDIA, OpenAI/Nscale Stargate UK, CoreWeave; capital the UK leverages but does not control)", "Devolved and local: Welsh Government (basic income pilot precedent), Scottish Government, metro mayors' local growth funds (potential hosts for place-based transition pilots)" ], "policyNotes": "No AI statute exists. The Frontier AI Bill, a manifesto commitment to binding regulation of frontier developers, has slipped since 2024: first to fold in copyright, then displaced by the October 2025 regulation blueprint centred on the AI Growth Lab, a cross-economy sandbox (live 8 June 2026, legal services first) that relaxes rules rather than adding them; the Technology Secretary has signalled little appetite for new regulation beyond extending online safety. Governing law is UK GDPR, the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 and sector regulators. The Online Safety Act omits political deepfakes and democratic-harm misinformation; the digital-imprint regime binds only registered campaigners. The CMA completed its cloud investigation (July 2025) finding AWS/Microsoft duopoly concerns, then shelved SMS designation. The Law Commission's July 2025 liability paper has no reform project behind it. AISI remains voluntary and non-statutory. Employment and fiscal frameworks are effectively AI-blind.", "sources": [ "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-opportunities-action-plan-one-year-on/ai-opportunities-action-plan-one-year-on", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/assessment-of-ai-capabilities-and-the-impact-on-the-uk-labour-market/assessment-of-ai-capabilities-and-the-impact-on-the-uk-labour-market", "https://britishprogress.org/reports/ai-and-the-uk-labour-market-the-evidence-so-far", "https://www.aisi.gov.uk/frontier-ai-trends-report", "https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/new-study-reveals-early-impact-of-ai-on-job-market-in-uk", "https://www.ifow.org/news-articles/the-impact-of-ai-on-entry-level-jobs-a-graduate-perspective", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/entry-level-hiring-in-the-uk-a-snapshot/a-snapshot-of-entry-level-hiring-in-the-uk", "https://www.ippr.org/media-office/up-to-8-million-uk-jobs-at-risk-from-ai-unless-government-acts-finds-ippr", "https://www.longtermresilience.org/reports/ai-incident-reporting-addressing-a-gap-in-the-uks-regulation-of-ai/", "https://www.longtermresilience.org/reports/advancing-the-uks-global-leadership-in-frontier-ai-governance/", "https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/media-centre/electoral-commission-launches-deepfake-detection-pilot-counter-ai-misinformation", "https://demos.co.uk/blogs/one-in-three-uk-adults-report-seeing-political-deepfakes-in-the-month-before-local-elections/", "https://cetas.turing.ac.uk/publications/ai-enabled-influence-operations-threat-uk-general-election", "https://cetas.turing.ac.uk/publications/silicon-valley-invests-uk-us-tech-alliance-new-chapter-special-relationship", "https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/127/public-accounts-committee/news/206078/uphill-struggle-ahead-for-govts-use-of-ai-as-pac-report-reveals-the-scale-of-the-challenge/", "https://www.nscale.com/press-releases/nscale-uk-ai-infrastructure-announcement", "https://www.thinkdigitalpartners.com/news/2025/09/17/uk-and-us-sign-tech-prosperity-deal-worth-31-billion/", "https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/688b20e6ff8c05468cb7b120/summary_of_final_decision.pdf", "https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/cloud-services-market-investigation", "https://lawcom.gov.uk/news/artificial-intelligence-and-the-law-a-discussion-paper/", "https://www.hsfkramer.com/notes/litigation/2026-01/uk-jurisdiction-taskforce-consults-on-draft-legal-statement-on-liability-for-ai-harms", "https://www.gov.wales/basic-income-care-leavers-wales-pilot-evaluation-annual-report-2025-2026", "https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/ai-growth-lab/ai-growth-lab", "https://www.scaffold.digital/news/uk-ai-regulation-in-2026-whats-in-force-whats-coming-and-what-your-business-should-do", "https://www.governance.ai/research-paper/delays-to-frontier-ai-in-the-eu-and-uk", "https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/jun/ucl-chosen-uk-partner-help-develop-sovereign-ai-platforms", "https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/uk-llm-nemotron/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-compute-roadmap/uk-compute-roadmap", "https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/airr-compute-opportunity-ai-for-science/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skills-england-annual-skills-report-and-sectoral-skills-needs-assessments-2026/skills-england-annual-skills-report-2026", "https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366619238/Government-renames-AI-Safety-Institute-and-teams-up-with-Anthropic", "https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/statutory-guidance-digital-imprints", "https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/defending-democracy", "https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3942", "https://contact-centres.com/forrester-predicts-that-ai-will-reduce-contact-centre-jobs-by-50/" ], "gapCount": 11, "intro": "The government's own analysis says about 70% of British workers are in jobs exposed to AI, a higher share than America's. Its policy answer is to accelerate: more compute, more adoption, no new law. Graduate job postings have already fallen sharply, and no AI bill is before Parliament. Britain is preparing thoroughly for AI's upside and barely at all for its downside.\n\nThe gaps below are the missing shock absorbers: nobody watching displacement as it happens, no income bridge for workers whose jobs contract, no incident register, no election rules for deepfakes. Most are cheap by Whitehall standards. All get harder to build once the crisis is visible." }, { "num": 13, "slug": "funding-gaps", "name": "Funding gaps (cross-cutting)", "shortName": "Funding (lens)", "hue": 95, "landscape": "UK giving is stuck around 0.5% of GDP versus roughly 1.4% in the US; participation is broad (about 71% of adults donate) but thin at the top: the wealthiest 1% give roughly 0.4% of their ~£2tn investable assets (£7.96bn, CAF 2025). Foundations made record grants of £8.24bn in 2023-24, but endowments are flat in real terms and there is no payout requirement or reporting norm. The state dominates supply: UKRI (rising towards £10bn/yr by 2030), ARIA (£1.2bn over four years after the 2025 Spending Review), the National Lottery Community Fund, and dormant assets (£440m for England to 2028 across youth, financial inclusion, social investment and a new £87.5m Community Wealth Fund). Since 2024 the government has built new machinery: the Civil Society Covenant (July 2025), the £500m Better Futures Fund outcomes vehicle, the Office for the Impact Economy (November 2025) and the 'Our Place to Give' place-based philanthropy plan (April 2026, backed by just £1m). Meanwhile the niches a gap map depends on are shrinking: Open Society Foundations wound down most European funding, Nesta pivoted away from civic tech and democracy to three missions, Luminate narrowed, and mySociety's income fell 15% in 2024/25. Community organising receives 0.3% of foundation grants. London hosts world-class effective-giving infrastructure (Founders Pledge, Longview, Open Philanthropy) that exports capital to global causes, and crypto public-goods funding barely touches UK civil society. Aggregate money is adequate; allocation is chronically misshapen, and nobody's job is to fund the connective tissue.", "actors": [ { "name": "National Lottery Community Fund", "type": "non-departmental public body / lottery distributor", "note": "Largest UK community funder; delivering dormant-assets causes including the £175m Community Wealth Fund programme (£87.5m dormant assets + £87.5m Lottery match)." }, { "name": "Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF)", "type": "network / membership body", "note": "Represents 400+ foundations; its Foundations in Focus research (Oct 2025) is the main data source on foundation giving (a record £8.24bn in 2023-24)." }, { "name": "Charities Aid Foundation (CAF)", "type": "charity / financial services", "note": "Publishes UK Giving and High Value Giving reports; runs donor-advised funds; documented the top-1%'s 0.4%-of-wealth giving rate." }, { "name": "Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (incl. UK Democracy Fund)", "type": "non-charitable funder", "note": "Deliberately non-charitable so it can fund political reform campaigns; hosts the UK's only pooled democracy fund, credited with ~746,000 voter registrations before the 2024 general election." }, { "name": "Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust", "type": "funder (Quaker trust)", "note": "Grants £10m+/yr across power & accountability, rights & justice; one of very few institutional funders of UK democracy and accountability work." }, { "name": "Nesta", "type": "endowed foundation", "note": "Former anchor funder of UK civic tech and democratic innovation; its Strategy to 2030 exits that field entirely for early-years, health and decarbonisation missions." }, { "name": "Nuffield Foundation", "type": "endowed funder", "note": "Endowed social-policy research funder; founded and core-funds the Ada Lovelace Institute (£5m+), making it the de facto funder of UK data/AI-and-society research." }, { "name": "Luminate", "type": "funder (Omidyar Group)", "note": "One of the few funders of UK digital rights (e.g. Open Rights Group); has narrowed its global focus, thinning an already fragile funder base." }, { "name": "Civic Power Fund", "type": "pooled fund / charity", "note": "UK's first pooled donor fund for community organising; documented that only 0.3% of UK foundation giving (2021/22) supports organising." }, { "name": "360Giving", "type": "charity / data infrastructure", "note": "Runs the open grants-data standard; 300+ funders publishing, £300bn of grants represented. It is the UK's de facto philanthropy data infrastructure, itself grant-dependent." }, { "name": "Founders Pledge", "type": "charity / giving network", "note": "London-founded pledge community for tech founders; deploys mostly to global health and catastrophic-risk causes rather than UK domestic gaps." }, { "name": "Better Society Capital", "type": "social investment wholesaler", "note": "Dormant-accounts-capitalised wholesaler anchoring the UK social investment market; a model for how new quasi-endowed funding institutions get built." }, { "name": "Office for the Impact Economy", "type": "government body (cross-government unit)", "note": "Launched November 2025 to be the 'front door' for philanthropy, social investment and purpose-driven business partnerships; a remit without capital of its own." }, { "name": "Local Trust", "type": "charity / campaign", "note": "Ran Big Local (£217m endowment-style neighbourhood funding) and led the decade-long Community Wealth Fund campaign that won the £87.5m dormant-assets allocation." }, { "name": "Public Interest News Foundation", "type": "charity / funder", "note": "The UK's only charitable foundation dedicated to public-interest journalism; distributes small grants (well under £1m/yr), the residue of the rejected Cairncross institute." } ], "funders": [ "National Lottery Community Fund (largest community funder; delivers dormant-assets causes)", "UKRI / Innovate UK (~£10bn/yr by 2030; no civic or social-innovation stream)", "ARIA (£1.2bn over four years for high-risk R&D)", "Dormant Assets Scheme (£440m for England to 2028 via Better Society Capital, Access, Fair4All Finance, Youth Futures Foundation and the Community Wealth Fund)", "Better Futures Fund (£500m HMT social-outcomes fund seeking philanthropic match, from 2025)", "Esmée Fairbairn Foundation", "Paul Hamlyn Foundation", "Barrow Cadbury Trust", "Blagrave Trust, Porticus UK, Unbound Philanthropy (UK Democracy Fund contributors)", "Rowntree trusts: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust", "Nuffield Foundation", "Wellcome Trust (very large but health-focused)", "City Bridge Foundation and place funders (community foundations network, Big Give match platform)", "Luminate / Omidyar Network (narrowed focus)", "Open Society Foundations (largely withdrawn from European funding since 2023)", "Founders Pledge, Longview Philanthropy, Open Philanthropy (London-based, globally focused tech/EA philanthropy)", "Ethereum Foundation ESP, Gitcoin, Protocol Labs, Optimism (crypto public-goods funding, minimal current UK reach)" ], "policyNotes": "There is no minimum payout or payout-reporting requirement for endowed foundations (the US requires ~5%). Gift Aid's higher-rate relief flows to donors rather than charities; reform proposals have repeatedly stalled. Charity Commission campaigning rules (CC9) and Electoral Commission non-party campaigner regulation chill foundation funding of democracy work; JRRT stays deliberately non-charitable to fund reform campaigns. The Dormant Assets Scheme Strategy (June 2025) governs £440m to 2028, but allocation of future tranches among four competing causes is unresolved. The Civil Society Covenant (July 2025) sets partnership principles without money; the Office for the Impact Economy (November 2025) is a 'front door' without capital; 'Our Place to Give' (April 2026) carries just £1m. The Law Family Commission's recommendations (commissioner, match funds, better data) are mostly unimplemented. No policy treats open-source software, civic tech, local news or evidence intermediaries as fundable public infrastructure.", "sources": [ "https://www.cafonline.org/docs/default-source/uk-giving-reports/uk_giving_report_2025.pdf", "https://www.cafonline.org/docs/default-source/about-us-research/caf_high_value_giving_report_2025.pdf", "https://www.nptuk.org/philanthropic-resources/uk-charitable-giving-statistics/", "https://acf.org.uk/common/Uploaded%20files/Research%20and%20resources/Research/Foundations%20in%20Focus%202025.pdf", "https://acf.org.uk/acf/acf/Blog/2023/The-power-of-foundation-endowments.aspx", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dormant-assets-scheme-strategy/dormant-assets-scheme-strategy", "https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/technical-consultation-on-a-community-wealth-fund-in-england/outcome/government-response-to-the-technical-consultation-on-the-design-of-a-community-wealth-fund-in-england", "https://localtrust.org.uk/policy/the-community-wealth-fund/", "https://www.jrrt.org.uk/what-we-do/the-uk-democracy-fund/", "https://www.jrrt.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Evaluation-of-the-UK-Democracy-Fund-2025-Policy-Institute-KCL.pdf", "https://pressgazette.co.uk/news/open-democracy-insolvent-june-legal-threats/", "https://www.mysociety.org/impact-report-2025/", "https://www.nesta.org.uk/report/nesta-strategy-2030/", "https://britishprogress.org/uk-day-one/a-uk-open-source-fund-to-support-software-innovati", "https://openuk.uk/theuksfutureleadershipinopensource/", "https://www.software.ac.uk/research-software-maintenance-fund/round-2", "https://www.sovereign.tech/programs/fund", "https://whatworkswellbeing.org/blog/statement-of-closure/", "https://www.thinknpc.org/blog/in-praise-of-the-defunct-what-works-centre-for-wellbeing/", "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/what-works-network", "https://www.civicpower.org.uk/our-strategy", "https://www.funderscollaborativehub.org.uk/collaborations/civic-power-fund", "https://www.360giving.org/2025/03/31/300-billion-worth-of-grants-data/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-cairncross-review-a-sustainable-future-for-journalism/government-response-to-the-cairncross-review-a-sustainable-future-for-journalism", "https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/cairncross-review-institute-for-public-interest-news-innovation-fund-and-tax-reliefs-among-nine-proposals-to-save-uk-news-industry/", "https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/public-interest-news-foundation-offers-support-for-journalism-outlets-following-cairncross-review/s2/a752270/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/local-communities-set-to-benefit-as-new-office-for-the-impact-economy-to-partner-with-philanthropists-social-investors-and-businesses", "https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/government-launches-office-for-impact-economy-following-advisory-recommendations.html", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/our-place-to-give-a-plan-for-growing-place-based-philanthropy/our-place-to-give-a-plan-for-growing-place-based-philanthropy", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-set-to-reshape-how-government-works-with-communities-to-tackle-britains-biggest-challenges", "https://impact-investor.com/uks-better-futures-fund-moves-step-closer-to-first-funding-round/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-impact-investment-advisory-group/final-report-of-the-social-impact-investment-advisory-group", "https://www.ukri.org/who-we-are/our-vision-and-strategy/updates-on-our-2026-strategy-and-budget/2026-budget-allocations/", "https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/ukris-annual-budget-hit-nearly-ps10-billion-end-decade", "https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/research/ada-lovelace-institute", "https://luminategroup.com/investee/open-rights-group", "https://www.founderspledge.com/who-we-are", "https://www.longview.org/about/", "https://gitcoin.co/program", "https://www.grantchain.eu/grants/ethereum-foundation-esp", "https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CSJ-Supercharging_Philanthropy.pdf", "https://www.beaconcollaborative.org.uk/law-family-commission-reports-on-the-state-of-uk-philanthropy/" ], "gapCount": 0, "intro": "Britain is not short of charitable money. Foundations gave a record £8.24bn in a single year. Most adults donate something. Yet the very richest give away under half a per cent of their wealth, the funders who kept civic infrastructure alive are quietly leaving the field, and nobody's job is to fund the connective tissue that everything else depends on.\n\nThe gaps below are about plumbing, not generosity. Missing funds, missing rules, missing data. Each names something buildable (a pooled fund, a match scheme, a reporting requirement) that would move money which already exists towards work that already matters.", "lens": true }, { "num": 14, "slug": "policy-gaps", "name": "Policy gaps (cross-cutting)", "shortName": "Policy (lens)", "hue": 60, "landscape": "Mid-2026 UK policymaking is defined by a widening gap between legislating and implementing. Flagship statutes have passed: ECCTA 2023, Procurement Act 2023 (in force February 2025), Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 (Royal Assent 29 April 2026). But commencement, enforcement and resourcing lag behind. There is still no AI statute: government declines to back the Lords private member's AI (Regulation) Bill, betting on regulator-led rules. The Home Office consulted (December 2025–February 2026) on the first legal framework for police facial recognition even as live facial recognition is used by 13 of 43 forces with national rollout planned. State capacity is strained: the IfG's Whitehall Monitor records 12.7% churn in 2023/24 easing to 8.9% only via recruitment freezes, with exit schemes targeting 8,586 staff; the NAO finds evaluation \"variable and inconsistent\"; the What Works Network lost What Works Wellbeing (closed 2024) and is being re-tendered piecemeal. Parliament under-scrutinises: skeleton bills push policy into statutory instruments the Hansard Society calls a broken system, and departmental post-legislative memoranda have quietly stopped. Devolution deepens asymmetrically: seven mayoral strategic authorities get integrated settlements by 2026-27 while others stay on fragmented grants, and Wales is legislating a statutory youth-work framework England lacks. The think-tank ecosystem (~150 organisations) is London-heavy and under no duty to disclose funders. The cross-cutting pattern: reviews, consultations and even Acts exist; the institutions, money and feedback loops to make them real often do not.", "actors": [ { "name": "Institute for Government", "type": "think tank", "note": "Whitehall Monitor tracks civil service churn, pay and capability; leading independent voice on state capacity and machinery-of-government reform." }, { "name": "Hansard Society", "type": "research charity", "note": "Its Delegated Legislation Review (2021-) diagnosed the broken statutory instrument scrutiny system and proposes a new Statutory Instruments Act and delegation concordat." }, { "name": "Law Commission", "type": "statutory advisory body", "note": "Reviewing the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 (report due 2026); its wider backlog of unimplemented reports is itself an implementation gap." }, { "name": "Evaluation Task Force", "type": "government body", "note": "Joint HMT/Cabinet Office unit; sets evaluation standards, secretariat of the What Works Network, ran the 2025 review of major-project evaluation coverage." }, { "name": "National Audit Office", "type": "public audit body", "note": "Primary evidence base on implementation gaps; found government 'cannot have confidence' spending in many policy areas makes a difference." }, { "name": "Ada Lovelace Institute", "type": "research institute", "note": "Biometrics governance research (Ryder review); documented oversight erosion when abolition of the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner was proposed." }, { "name": "Open Rights Group", "type": "campaign group", "note": "Pressing the ICO to abandon its reprimand-only 'public sector approach' to data protection enforcement." }, { "name": "Co-operatives UK", "type": "trade federation", "note": "Sector body coordinating input to the Law Commission co-operative law review; will lead the push for legislative implementation." }, { "name": "OpenUK", "type": "industry body", "note": "Represents UK open source; has a blueprint for public-sector open-source funding 'under discussion' with government, but no fund exists yet." }, { "name": "Centre for British Progress", "type": "think tank", "note": "Published a costed proposal (Dec 2025) for a UK open-source fund modelled on Germany's Sovereign Tech Fund, plus AI labour-market evidence reviews." }, { "name": "Transparency International UK", "type": "charity", "note": "Tracks ECCTA/Companies House implementation; warns the ACSP regime rests on 25 weak, conflicted AML supervisors." }, { "name": "National Youth Agency", "type": "charity / professional standards body", "note": "Youth work standards body; central to the statutory duty review and the Young Futures Hubs rollout under the National Youth Strategy." }, { "name": "openDemocracy (Who Funds You?)", "type": "media / transparency project", "note": "Rates think tanks A-E on funding transparency; traced £25m of pre-election 'dark money' through opaque think tanks." }, { "name": "IPPR North", "type": "think tank", "note": "The main sustained policy-research capacity outside London; illustrates how thin regional think-tank provision is as devolution deepens." }, { "name": "Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner", "type": "independent oversight office", "note": "William Webster appointed November 2025 after 1+ year of vacancy/interims; the office's statutory future remains unsettled while police facial recognition scales." } ], "funders": [ "UKRI / Economic and Social Research Council (What Works, evidence infrastructure)", "HM Treasury / Cabinet Office (Evaluation Task Force, integrated settlements)", "DSIT (digital standards, data policy; plausible sponsor of a UK Sovereign Tech Fund)", "DCMS (National Youth Strategy £500m, Young Futures Hubs)", "Dormant Assets Scheme (youth and community evidence bodies)", "The National Lottery Community Fund", "Nuffield Foundation (justice, welfare, evidence and state-capacity research)", "The Legal Education Foundation (funds the Hansard Society Delegated Legislation Review)", "Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust / Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (democracy, transparency, accountability work)", "Esmée Fairbairn Foundation (civil society and communities)", "Paul Hamlyn Foundation (youth)", "Luminate (funds openDemocracy transparency investigations)", "Power to Change (community business and co-operative economy)", "Open Society Foundations (anti-corruption, rights and surveillance accountability)" ], "policyNotes": "A policy-gap entry should record: (1) instrument status: bill/Act with bills.parliament.uk ID, stage, and commencement status of each relevant provision (legislation.gov.uk lists uncommenced sections); (2) responsible department and minister; (3) consultation/review status with dates (e.g. Home Office facial recognition consultation closed 12 February 2026, response pending); (4) Law Commission or independent-review recommendations and government acceptance status; (5) select committee interest: inquiries, reports, government responses; (6) cost estimate and its source (impact assessment, OBR, NAO) and who bears it; (7) enforcement body, powers and budget: the commonest failure mode is law-without-resourcing (ECCTA, ICO public-sector approach); (8) territorial extent and devolved competence (England-only vs GB/UK; Wales diverging on youth work); (9) post-implementation review due date; (10) named champions. Bill stage alone misleads: most gaps here are post-Royal-Assent implementation failures, not absent legislation.", "sources": [ "https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3942", "https://www.osborneclarke.com/insights/regulatory-outlook-may-2026-artificial-intelligence", "https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/legal-framework-for-using-facial-recognition-in-law-enforcement", "https://post.parliament.uk/facial-recognition-technology-in-policing/", "https://www.biometricupdate.com/202511/the-uk-finally-has-a-biometrics-and-surveillance-camera-commissioner-again", "https://www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/blog/biometrics-surveillance-camera-commissioner/", "https://lawcom.gov.uk/project/co-operatives-and-community-benefit-societies/", "https://www.uk.coop/get-involved/law-commission", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-on-the-implementation-of-law-commission-proposals-january-2025-to-january-2026", "https://www.sovereign.tech/programs/fund", "https://britishprogress.org/api/media/file/britishprogress.org-A%20UK%20Open-Source%20Fund%20to%20Support%20Software%20Innovation%20and%20Maintenance.pdf", "https://eu-stf.openforumeurope.org/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-standards-principles/open-standards-principles", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/first-wave-of-national-young-futures-hubs-open-to-turn-the-tide-on-youth-services-decline", "https://www.cypnow.co.uk/content/news/government-commits-to-review-council-youth-work-duty-in-500mn-national-strategy", "https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-national-body-and-statutory-framework-youth-work-0", "https://nya.org.uk/young-future-hubs/", "https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/our-information/policies-and-procedures/public-sector-approach/", "https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366616135/ORG-urges-ICO-to-revise-public-sector-enforcement-approach", "https://www.urmconsulting.com/blog/analysis-of-enforcement-action-by-the-ico-in-2025-actions-way-down-security-data-breach-fines-way-up", "https://measuredcollective.com/icos-public-sector-approach-why-the-post-office-received-a-reprimand-instead-of-a-1m-fine/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/companies-house-confirms-identity-verification-rollout-from-18-november-2025", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/economic-crime-and-corporate-transparency-act-outline-transition-plan-for-companies-house/economic-crime-and-corporate-transparency-act-outline-transition-plan-for-companies-house", "https://www.transparency.org.uk/news/slow-evolution-companies-house-reform", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uks-first-ever-successful-prosecution-for-false-company-information", "https://www.hansardsociety.org.uk/projects/delegated-legislation-review", "https://www.hansardsociety.org.uk/publications/reports/proposals-for-a-new-system-for-delegated-legislation-a-working-paper", "https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13572334.2020.1769367", "https://erskinemay.parliament.uk/section/4989/postlegislative-scrutiny-of-acts/", "https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/whitehall-monitor-2026/part-2-state-civil-service", "https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/press-release/20-essential-civil-service-reforms", "https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/evaluating-government-spending/", "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/what-works-network", "https://whatworkswellbeing.org/blog/celebrating-10-years-of-the-what-works-network/", "https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/what-works-centre-wwc-for-local-employment-support/", "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/23", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/english-devolution-bill-receives-royal-assent", "https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/integrated-settlements-for-mayoral-combined-authorities", "https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/intergovernmental-relations-within-the-uk/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/assessment-of-ai-capabilities-and-the-impact-on-the-uk-labour-market/assessment-of-ai-capabilities-and-the-impact-on-the-uk-labour-market", "https://britishprogress.org/reports/ai-and-the-uk-labour-market-the-evidence-so-far", "https://www.britishchambers.org.uk/news/2026/04/britains-workforce-is-not-ready-for-what-is-coming/", "https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/think-tanks-transparency-funding-who-funds-you/", "https://unlockdemocracy.org.uk/think-tanks", "https://onthinktanks.org/articles/think-tank-landscape-scan-2022-uk/", "https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/costing-opposition-policies" ], "gapCount": 0, "intro": "Britain has become good at passing laws and bad at making them happen. Flagship Acts sit on the statute book with sections never switched on, watchdogs lack teeth, and Parliament almost never checks whether the laws it passed actually worked. Meanwhile police facial recognition scales towards national rollout with no statute behind it at all.\n\nThe gaps below are mostly not calls for new legislation. They are the missing second half of laws already passed: the enforcement budgets, scrutiny committees, funding instruments and oversight bodies that turn words on vellum into change on the ground.", "lens": true }, { "num": 15, "slug": "health-social-care", "name": "Health and social care (including mental health)", "shortName": "Health & social care", "hue": 185, "landscape": "England enters mid-2026 with a crowded reform pipeline but thin delivery machinery. The 10 Year Health Plan (July 2025) promises three shifts (hospital to community, analogue to digital, sickness to prevention) while NHS England is being dissolved into DHSC, removing the body that ran national data and delivery programmes. In social care, the Casey Commission (reporting to the Prime Minister) publishes phase 1 recommendations in 2026, explicitly constrained to existing resources; fundamental reform waits for its 2028 final report. The Fair Pay Agreement machinery is real (secondary legislation and an Adult Social Care Negotiating Body due October 2026, first FPA effective from 2028), but England still has no care-worker register, statutory training body or committed funding route, unlike Wales (mandatory registration from 30 September 2026) and Scotland (SSSC). The Mental Health Act 2025 (Royal Assent 18 December 2025) will take up to a decade to implement; the Liberty Protection Safeguards remain uncommenced against a ~124,000-case DoLS backlog, and a June 2026 Supreme Court judgment has reopened the deprivation-of-liberty test. On data, the up-to-£600m Health Data Research Service launches first services by end-2026, but national GP data extraction for research has been paused since GPDPR collapsed in 2021 and the Secure Data Environment network's original funding has expired. Dentistry received UDA modifications from April/June 2026, not a new contract. Children's mental health referrals exceed one million a year with no enforceable waiting-time standard; Mental Health Support Teams reach full school coverage only by 2029-30.", "actors": [ { "name": "Independent Commission into Adult Social Care (Casey Commission)", "type": "independent commission", "note": "Reports to the PM; phase 1 recommendations 2026 (within existing resources), final report by 2028; the fulcrum of social care reform and the vehicle for recommending new institutions." }, { "name": "Adult Social Care Negotiating Body", "type": "statutory body (from October 2026)", "note": "To be established by secondary legislation in October 2026 to negotiate England's first Fair Pay Agreement, taking effect from 2028." }, { "name": "Skills for Care", "type": "charity / sector body", "note": "Holds workforce data and led the 2024 sector Workforce Strategy; delivers the voluntary Care Workforce Pathway, but has no statutory remit or registration powers." }, { "name": "Social Care Wales", "type": "statutory regulator (Wales)", "note": "Registers care workers; registration becomes mandatory for all employed social care workers from 30 September 2026: the model England lacks." }, { "name": "Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC)", "type": "statutory regulator (Scotland)", "note": "Registers Scotland's social service workforce, including care-home and care-at-home workers; demonstrates a functioning register at scale." }, { "name": "Health Data Research Service (HDRS)", "type": "government/charity joint initiative", "note": "Up to £600m (DHSC £500m + Wellcome £100m); single secure access point for NHS data at the Wellcome Genome Campus; first services by end-2026; chaired by Baroness Blackwood, CEO Melanie Ivarsson." }, { "name": "NHS England (merging into DHSC)", "type": "government body", "note": "Legal custodian of national data collections, the national Secure Data Environment and the paused GPDPR; its abolition creates churn for every national data and delivery programme." }, { "name": "National Data Guardian", "type": "statutory officeholder", "note": "Independent guardian of health-data confidentiality; sign-off from this office is pivotal to any renewed GP-data-for-research settlement." }, { "name": "medConfidential", "type": "advocacy group", "note": "Data-consent watchdog whose scrutiny contributed to pausing care.data and GPDPR; a bellwether for public acceptability of any new data instrument." }, { "name": "Children's Commissioner for England", "type": "statutory office", "note": "Publishes the only comprehensive annual accountability analysis of children's mental health access (2024-25 report: 1m+ referrals, 60,000+ waiting over two years)." }, { "name": "Care England", "type": "provider association", "note": "Represents independent adult social care providers; key voice on FPA affordability and LPS implementation." }, { "name": "ADASS (Association of Directors of Adult Social Services)", "type": "membership network", "note": "Directors of adult social services; the commissioning interface through which any FPA funding mechanism must flow." }, { "name": "British Dental Association", "type": "trade union / professional body", "note": "Negotiates dental contract changes; documents that the 2026 reforms modify rather than replace the 2006 UDA contract." }, { "name": "Nuffield Trust", "type": "think tank", "note": "Published detailed implementation analysis of the Fair Pay Agreement ('Good intentions aren't enough'), identifying the funding and enforcement holes." }, { "name": "The Health Foundation", "type": "charitable foundation / think tank", "note": "REAL Centre projections on social care funding and workforce; co-funder of the IMPACT adult social care evidence centre; analysis of FPA costs and prevention spending." } ], "funders": [ "Department of Health and Social Care (including NIHR, the Learning and Development Support Scheme, and Better Care Fund streams)", "UKRI / ESRC (funds adult social care research including the IMPACT evidence centre)", "Wellcome Trust (£100m into the Health Data Research Service; major health-data funder)", "The Health Foundation (REAL Centre, social care analysis, co-funder of IMPACT)", "Nuffield Foundation (social care, justice and welfare evidence)", "The National Lottery Community Fund (community health and care innovation)", "Impact on Urban Health / Guy's & St Thomas' Foundation (prevention and health-equity funding, plausibly extendable to prevention-measurement work)", "HM Treasury via the 2027 Spending Review (the only realistic source for an FPA funding conduit, bridging social care fund, or Preventative DEL)" ], "policyNotes": "The pipeline is legislation-rich but implementation-poor. Employment Rights Act provisions enable Fair Pay Agreements, with social care secondary legislation and a negotiating body due October 2026 and the first FPA from 2028, but no funding instrument accompanies them. The Mental Health Act 2025 phases in over up to ten years with no statutory implementation vehicle or reporting duty. The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 remains uncommenced seven years on; DHSC consulted on LPS in H1 2026 just as a Supreme Court judgment unsettled Cheshire West. Casey phase 1 is confined to existing resources; funding reform is deferred to 2028+, past the next election. Health-data law permits SDE-based access, but the GP-data settlement and opt-out reform are unresolved while NHS England's abolition moves custodianship. No statute or Treasury mechanism enforces the prevention shift, and dentistry's 2006 contract framework survives the 2026 modifications.", "sources": [ "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-commission-into-adult-social-care-terms-of-reference", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adult-social-care-and-the-cost-of-inaction-government-response-to-the-hscc/adult-social-care-reform-and-the-cost-of-inaction-government-response-to-the-health-and-social-care-committee-hscc-report", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-to-baroness-casey-progress-on-adult-social-care-reform-recommendations", "https://caseycommission.co.uk/", "https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69a6c0503b5b78231d1a9ae6/factsheet-social-care-negotiating-bodies-and-fair-pay-agreements-feb-2026.pdf", "https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/resource/good-intentions-aren-t-enough-implementing-a-fair-pay-agreement-that-works-for-social-care", "https://www.sssc.uk.com/registration/", "https://socialcare.wales/registration/how-to-apply", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/care-workforce-pathway-for-adult-social-care/care-workforce-pathway-for-adult-social-care-overview", "https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/Workforce-Strategy/Home.aspx", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9615/", "https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-collections/general-practice-data-for-planning-and-research", "https://wellcome.org/research-funding/funding-portfolio/major-initiatives/health-data-research-service", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-turbocharges-medical-research", "https://transform.england.nhs.uk/key-tools-and-info/data-saves-lives/secure-data-environments/", "https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2024/08/08/secure-data-environments-nhs-health-data-research-sdes/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-health-grants-to-local-authorities-2026-to-2027/public-health-ring-fenced-grant-financial-year-2026-to-2027-local-authority-circular", "https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/blogs/some-is-not-a-number-soon-is-not-a-time", "https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69651a7699fbdc498faecd1f/impact-statement-10-year-health-plan.pdf", "https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/nhs-dentistry-contract-quality-and-payment-reforms/outcome/government-response-to-consultation-on-nhs-dentistry-contract-quality-and-payment-reforms", "https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/nhs-dentistry-quality-payment-reforms/", "https://www.bda.org/representation/priorities/fair-pay-and-contracts/uda-contract-changes-information-and-advice/uda-contract-changes-explained/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-mental-health-services-governments-response-to-the-health-and-social-care-committees-report/government-response-to-the-health-and-social-care-committees-fourth-report-of-session-2024-to-2026-community-mental-health-services", "https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/resource/childrens-and-young-peoples-mental-health-services-2024-25/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-support-teams-coverage-and-school-and-college-experience", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/mental-health-bill-receives-royal-assent-revolutionising-care", "https://www.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/Mental_Health_Act_2025", "https://www.nhsconfed.org/publications/mental-health-act-2025-what-you-need-know", "https://www.brownejacobson.com/insights/liberty-protection-safeguards-2026-consultation-announced", "https://www.careengland.org.uk/the-latest-on-the-liberty-protection-safeguards-2026/", "https://www.scie.org.uk/news/detail/mental-capacity-act-reform-stalled-urgent-action-needed-as-system-unravels/", "https://www.mentalcapacitylawandpolicy.org.uk/deprivation-of-liberty-update-the-supreme-court-dhsc-and-cqc/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/improved-safeguarding-and-protections-for-vulnerable-people" ], "gapCount": 11, "intro": "England's health and care system has plans stacked up like planes over Heathrow. A new NHS plan, a social care commission, a fresh Mental Health Act. And beneath them, delivery machinery so thin that a reform from 2019 has still never been switched on. More than a million children a year get referred to mental health services with no enforceable limit on how long they wait.\n\nThe gaps below follow one pattern: the announcement exists, the mechanism does not. Missing registers, funding routes, implementation units and official statistics. These are the unglamorous parts that decide whether reform reaches a care worker's payslip or a child's referral letter." }, { "num": 16, "slug": "justice-access", "name": "Justice, courts and access to justice", "shortName": "Justice & access", "hue": 240, "landscape": "England and Wales's justice system is in managed crisis across courts, legal aid, prisons and post-conviction review. The Crown Court open caseload hit a record ~80,200 in December 2025, with trials listed into 2029. The government's December 2025 response accepted Sir Brian Leveson's Part 1 \"blueprint\", and the Courts and Tribunals Bill (introduced 25 February 2026) legislates the structural half (removing defendants' right to elect Crown Court trial, a judge-alone Crown Court Bench Division, an appeals permission stage, extended magistrates' sentencing powers), while the diversion and early-guilty-plea half remains unfunded and unlegislated. The Sentencing Act 2026 (implementing the Gauke review) introduced earned-progression release against a prison population above 87,000, roughly 25% over certified normal capacity; the Public Accounts Committee warned in early 2026 that space could run out within months. On the civil side, the first legal aid fee rises in a decade (December 2025) covered only housing and immigration; deserts persist in education (88% of the population without a local provider), welfare benefits (82%) and community care (~70%). Government accepted the Civil Justice Council's PACCAR litigation-funding fix on 17 December 2025 but omitted it from the 2026 King's Speech. The Law Commission opens a consumer class-actions project in autumn 2026 and reports on criminal appeals in 2026–27. The Hillsborough Law (Public Office (Accountability) Bill) stalled in January 2026 over a security-services candour carve-out and was carried over to the new session in April 2026.", "actors": [ { "name": "Ministry of Justice", "type": "government body", "note": "Owns courts, legal aid, prisons and sentencing policy; authored the December 2025 Leveson response and the PACCAR legislation commitment." }, { "name": "HM Courts & Tribunals Service", "type": "government body", "note": "Runs courts and tribunals and the Common Platform case system; has had no independent inspectorate since HMICA was wound up (closed 2010, abolished 2012)." }, { "name": "Legal Aid Agency", "type": "government body", "note": "Executive agency commissioning civil and criminal legal aid contracts; has no statutory duty to secure geographic provider coverage." }, { "name": "Law Commission of England and Wales", "type": "statutory body", "note": "Criminal appeals review (final report early 2027; standalone compensation report due end-2026) and a consumer class actions project commencing autumn 2026." }, { "name": "Civil Justice Council", "type": "advisory body", "note": "Its June 2025 litigation funding final report recommended reversing PACCAR and light-touch regulation; government accepted this in December 2025 but has not yet legislated." }, { "name": "Criminal Justice Joint Inspection (HMICFRS, HMCPSI, HMI Prisons, HMI Probation)", "type": "inspection consortium", "note": "The four criminal justice inspectorates' joint programme under the Police and Justice Act 2006: the closest thing to whole-system inspection, but periodic and agency-bounded." }, { "name": "Criminal Cases Review Commission", "type": "arm's-length body", "note": "Investigates alleged miscarriages of justice; in institutional crisis after the Malkinson case, Henley review and a 2025 Justice Committee report demanding root-and-branch reform." }, { "name": "Law Society of England and Wales", "type": "professional body", "note": "Publishes the legal aid deserts heatmaps mapping provider coverage by area of law and local authority: the key evidence base on advice deserts." }, { "name": "Bar Council", "type": "professional body", "note": "Runs a Leveson review tracker and parliamentary briefings on the Courts and Tribunals Bill; documents which accepted recommendations lack funding." }, { "name": "JUSTICE", "type": "charity", "note": "Cross-party law reform charity; briefed Parliament on the Courts and Tribunals Bill and responded to the Law Commission criminal appeals consultation." }, { "name": "Centre for Justice Innovation", "type": "charity", "note": "Evidence and technical assistance for problem-solving courts and Intensive Supervision Courts; the de facto (non-statutory) champion of rollout." }, { "name": "Prison Reform Trust", "type": "charity", "note": "Bromley Briefings prison factfile; leading advocacy on IPP sentences and prison capacity." }, { "name": "APPEAL", "type": "charity", "note": "Law practice/charity that represented Andrew Malkinson; casework and campaigning on wrongful convictions, CCRC reform and compensation." }, { "name": "INQUEST", "type": "charity", "note": "Supports bereaved families after state-related deaths; campaigns for a national coroner service and the Hillsborough Law's inquest legal-aid parity." }, { "name": "Access to Justice Foundation", "type": "funder", "note": "National charitable funder of free legal advice; channels pro bono costs orders and grants to advice organisations in desert areas." } ], "funders": [ "Ministry of Justice / Legal Aid Agency (statutory funder of legal aid, courts and pilots such as Intensive Supervision Courts)", "HM Treasury via spending reviews (the binding constraint on Leveson and Gauke implementation)", "The Legal Education Foundation (largest UK justice-focused foundation; funds Justice Lab, data and access-to-justice work)", "Nuffield Foundation (justice research; funds the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, a replicable model for criminal justice)", "Access to Justice Foundation (national funder of free legal advice; receives pro bono costs orders)", "Baring Foundation (funds civil society use of law and legal action)", "Esmée Fairbairn Foundation (justice reform and penal policy grants)", "Barrow Cadbury Trust (criminal justice, Transition to Adulthood alliance)", "Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales (small charities in criminal justice and advice)", "AB Charitable Trust (access to justice and penal reform)", "ESRC / ADR UK (funds Data First and justice data infrastructure)", "City Bridge Foundation (London advice-sector funding)", "Commercial third-party litigation funders (Association of Litigation Funders members; de facto funders of collective redress, contingent on the PACCAR fix)" ], "policyNotes": "The defining pattern is acceptance without instruments. Government has accepted Leveson Part 1, the CJC's PACCAR recommendations, CCRC reform in principle and inquest legal-aid parity, but only structural court reform and sentencing reached statute (Courts and Tribunals Bill, February 2026; Sentencing Act 2026). The 2026 King's Speech omitted litigation funding; the Public Office (Accountability) Bill stalled in January 2026 over a security-services candour carve-out and was carried over in April; Leveson's diversion recommendations and Part 2 (efficiency) await funding decisions. Law Commission workstreams on criminal appeals (final report early 2027), wrongful-conviction compensation (end-2026) and consumer class actions (from autumn 2026) make 2027–28 the legislative window for redress and appeals reform. On-record rejections: IPP resentencing and a national coroner service. Legal aid remains piecemeal: December 2025 fee regulations covered two categories, means-test changes slipped to 2026, and no coverage duty exists anywhere in statute.", "sources": [ "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/courts-and-tribunals-bill/courts-and-tribunals-bill-factsheet", "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/independent-review-of-the-criminal-courts", "https://www.barcouncil.org.uk/policy-representation/work-in-parliament/leveson-criminal-courts-review.html", "https://www.barcouncil.org.uk/resource/leveson-report-diversion-welcome-but-no-need-to-curtail-trial-by-jury-warns-bar-council.html", "https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/4083", "https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2026-03-10/debates/CC3FC3F7-20F4-4923-918B-EBCBA40FE402/CourtsAndTribunalsBill", "https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/leveson-review-courts", "https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/performance-tracker-2025/criminal-justice/criminal-courts", "https://www.osborneclarke.com/insights/uk-civil-justice-council-publishes-its-final-report-litigation-funding", "https://www.akingump.com/en/insights/alerts/uk-government-omits-paccar-fix-from-2026-kings-speech-leaving-litigation-funding-reform-uncertain", "https://www.dechert.com/knowledge/onpoint/2026/1/uk-government-to-legislate-on-litigation-funding-to-mitigate-the.html", "https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/news/new-law-reform-project-consumer-class-actions-uk", "https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/opt-out-collective-actions-regime-review-call-for-evidence/opt-out-collective-actions-regime-review-call-for-evidence", "https://www.faegredrinker.com/en/insights/publications/2026/5/uk-government-signals-expansion-of-consumer-class-action-regime", "https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/campaigns/justice-and-rule-of-law/civil-justice/legal-aid-deserts", "https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/civil-legal-aid-towards-a-sustainable-future/outcome/civil-legal-aid-towards-a-sustainable-future-consultation-response", "https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/legal-aid/legal-aid-means-test-review", "https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5804/cmselect/cmpubacc/481/report.html", "https://cjji.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/", "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2012/9780111524169", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/process-evaluation-of-the-intensive-supervision-courts-pilot-final-report", "https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/689382fe039176aec5e8968a/intensive-supervision-courts-eoi-guidance.pdf", "https://revolving-doors.org.uk/publications/a-problem-solving-approach-to-the-cycle-of-crisis-and-crime-process-evaluation-of-intensive-supervision-courts-pilot/", "https://lawcom.gov.uk/project/criminal-appeals/", "https://lawcom.gov.uk/news/law-commission-makes-wide-ranging-proposals-to-reform-law-on-criminal-appeals/", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2025-0063/", "https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/102/justice-committee/news/206985/ccrc-leadership-unable-to-learn-from-its-own-mistakes-with-root-and-branch-reform-required-justice-committee-warns/", "https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmjust/749/report.html", "https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/ccrc-chairs-to-face-mps-scrutiny/5124162.article", "https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5802/cmselect/cmjust/68/6805.htm", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9328/", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10424/", "https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/4019", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06086/", "https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/sentences-of-imprisonment-for-public-protection-hm-prison-and-probation-service-annual-report/", "https://www.jurist.org/news/2026/01/un-expert-urges-judicial-reconsideration-of-protection-sentences-in-england-and-wales/", "https://prisonreformtrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Winter-2026%E2%80%93factfile.pdf", "https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/increasing-the-capacity-of-the-prison-estate-to-meet-demand/", "https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6890b2b4dc6688ed508783d5/independent-prison-capacity-review-report_.pdf", "https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/sentencing-review-recommendations", "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/2/contents", "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ministry-of-justice-data-first", "https://www.adruk.org/data-access/flagship-datasets/dataset/data-first-cross-justice-system-england-and-wales/", "https://dataingovernment.blog.gov.uk/2024/05/13/improving-data-in-the-criminal-justice-system/" ], "gapCount": 13, "intro": "England and Wales is running out of justice. The Crown Court backlog has passed 80,000 cases, with trials booked years ahead. Prisons hold a quarter more people than they were built for. And in much of the country, the right to legal aid means little, because no local lawyer takes the work.\n\nThe gaps below are mostly missing machinery, not just missing money. No inspector watches the courts. No independent body forecasts prison demand or compensates the wrongly convicted. Nothing resentences the thousands still held on a punishment Parliament abolished. Each entry names what could be built, and who could build it." }, { "num": 17, "slug": "local-state-capacity", "name": "Local-state capacity, devolution and public finance (England)", "shortName": "Local state", "hue": 110, "landscape": "Mid-2026 finds English sub-national government mid-way through its biggest reshaping since 1974. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 (Royal Assent 29 April 2026) puts strategic authorities on a statutory footing, gives Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities integrated funding settlements (pioneered by Greater Manchester and the West Midlands trailblazers), and drives reorganisation of two-tier counties into unitaries. Finance is on a knife-edge: the first multi-year settlement in a decade and Fair Funding Review 2.0 redistribution began in 2026-27, yet the LGA projects a £7bn funding gap by 2028-29; around 35 councils needed c.£1.5bn of Exceptional Financial Support to set 2026-27 budgets (42 authorities have received EFS since 2020-21); SEND deficits kept off balance sheets by a statutory override until March 2028 are forecast to reach £2.9-3.9bn a year, and 79% of councils say they cannot balance 2028-29 budgets. Assurance has partially collapsed: statutory backstop dates cleared the audit backlog by mass-disclaiming opinions (roughly 45% of bodies were disclaimed at the 27 February 2026 backstop), and MHCLG concedes disclaimers will continue through 2026/27. The new Local Audit Office launches autumn 2026, absorbing PSAA, FRC, NAO-code and ICAEW-register functions and taking over the backstop programme from April 2027. Independent oversight is thinner: Oflog closed in December 2024, replaced by an MHCLG-run Local Government Outcomes Framework from April 2026. Five councils remain under commissioners (Birmingham, Woking, Slough, Thurrock, Nottingham). A Treasury 'fiscal devolution roadmap' is promised alongside the autumn 2026 Budget.", "actors": [ { "name": "Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)", "type": "government department", "note": "Owns local government finance, audit reform, devolution framework, best-value interventions and EFS; the sponsor for most missing institutions in this domain." }, { "name": "Local Audit Office (LAO)", "type": "government body (being established)", "note": "Created by the 2026 Devolution Act; launches autumn 2026, consolidating auditor appointment (PSAA), code (NAO), quality (FRC) and register (ICAEW) functions; runs the backstop programme from April 2027, but has no re-audit mandate." }, { "name": "Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA)", "type": "company (LGA-owned)", "note": "Currently appoints auditors for most principal authorities; functions transfer to the LAO." }, { "name": "National Audit Office (NAO)", "type": "parliamentary audit body", "note": "Owns the Code of Audit Practice until LAO transfer; publishes the key evidence base (local government financial sustainability, devolution funding and accountability reports)." }, { "name": "CIPFA", "type": "professional body", "note": "Sets the local authority Accounting Code (retained under audit reform); co-authored the Local Government Finance Workforce Action Plan; runs s151 leadership training." }, { "name": "Local Government Association (LGA)", "type": "membership body", "note": "Sector-support programmes (MHCLG-funded), funding-gap modelling (£7bn by 2028-29), finance and digital workforce plans; owns PSAA and co-owns Local Partnerships." }, { "name": "Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)", "type": "research institute", "note": "The nearest thing to independent fiscal analysis of councils; has proposed an independent institution to assess councils' spending needs and revenue capacity." }, { "name": "Institute for Government (IfG)", "type": "think tank", "note": "Performance Tracker, s114 explainers, devolution and tax-devolution analysis; tracks the machinery-of-government questions this map covers." }, { "name": "Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS)", "type": "charity", "note": "Originated the Local Public Accounts Committee model (2013); leading voice on scrutiny gaps in the 2026 Act's strategic authorities." }, { "name": "Local Partnerships LLP", "type": "public joint venture (HM Treasury/LGA/Welsh Government)", "note": "Sells commercial, contract-management and LGR delivery support to councils: the seed of a national commercial capability service, but small and fee-funded." }, { "name": "County Councils Network (CCN)", "type": "network", "note": "Commissioned Grant Thornton analysis showing a devolved tax menu could raise £4.4bn/yr for councils; key advocate shaping the fiscal devolution roadmap." }, { "name": "Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA)", "type": "strategic authority", "note": "Trailblazer deal (2023): integrated settlement and 10-year 100% business-rates retention; the test-bed for any new fiscal instrument and for local public accounts committees." }, { "name": "West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA)", "type": "strategic authority", "note": "Second trailblazer with departmental-style single settlement; its asks (tourist levy, fiscal powers) define the frontier of what Whitehall has refused so far." }, { "name": "Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)", "type": "fiscal watchdog", "note": "Remit is strictly national public finances, with no forward assessment of local government sustainability; the institutional template for an 'OBR for councils'." }, { "name": "LGIU", "type": "think tank / membership body", "note": "Independent local-finance research (EFS analysis, international finance comparisons); informed HCLG Committee finance recommendations." } ], "funders": [ "MHCLG (sector support grants, Local Digital/planning funds, EFS, audit transition funding)", "HM Treasury (spending settlements, integrated settlements, fiscal devolution roadmap; co-owner of Local Partnerships)", "UKRI/ESRC (place-based and local policy research, e.g. Local Policy Innovation Partnerships)", "Nuffield Foundation (funds IFS and IfG local government finance and devolution research)", "abrdn Financial Fairness Trust (funds IFS council tax and local tax reform analysis)", "Joseph Rowntree Foundation (place, poverty and local economies work)", "Bloomberg Philanthropies (UK city leadership and government innovation programmes)", "Local Government Association (channels MHCLG sector-support funding into improvement programmes)", "Power to Change (community assets and the Act's community-empowerment agenda)", "Plausible new entrants: a philanthropic consortium funding an interim 'OBR for councils' unit or an LPAC pilot in Greater Manchester/West Midlands" ], "policyNotes": "The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 (Royal Assent April 2026) is the frame: statutory strategic authorities, integrated settlements, the Local Audit Office, and mass unitarisation. Finance reform is live (first multi-year settlement in a decade plus Fair Funding Review 2.0 from 2026-27), and a Treasury fiscal devolution roadmap lands with the autumn 2026 Budget (interim summer 2026); a visitor levy bill featured in the 2026 King's Speech but bites no earlier than 2028. Audit: Transition Plan (Nov 2025), LAO launch autumn 2026, backstop oversight April 2027, VfM review by end-2027, but no re-audit of disclaimed years. Holes: no failure-regime legislation despite PAC criticism of EFS; LPACs only 'explored'; council tax reform explicitly ruled out; the SEND override cliff merely deferred to March 2028; Oflog's replacement is departmental self-oversight; workforce plans remain voluntary and unfunded.", "sources": [ "https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/local-audit-reform-a-strategy-for-overhauling-the-local-audit-system-in-england/outcome/local-audit-reform-government-response-to-the-consultation-to-overhaul-local-audit-in-england", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/addressing-the-local-audit-backlog-modified-or-disclaimed-audit-opinions/addressing-the-local-audit-backlog-modified-or-disclaimed-audit-opinions", "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2025-12-02/hcws1119", "https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2026-03-26/debates/26032664000036/LocalAuditBackstop27February2026", "https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6926f871345e31ab14ecf524/Local_Audit_Transition_Plan.pdf", "https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/4002", "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/23/contents/enacted", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10937/", "https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/175/economic-affairs-committee/news/213321/fiscal-devolution-in-england-inquiry-launched/", "https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/tax-and-devolution", "https://ifs.org.uk/publications/reforming-local-government-funding-england-issues-and-options", "https://ifs.org.uk/articles/response-local-authority-funding-reform-objectives-and-principles-consultation-mhclg", "https://www.countycouncilsnetwork.org.uk/news/new-report-calls-for-government-to-be-bold-and-ambitious-on-fiscal-devolution-local-tax-powers-could-unlock-over-4bn-per-year", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greater-manchester-combined-authority-trailblazer-deeper-devolution-deal/greater-manchester-combined-authority-trailblazer-deeper-devolution-deal", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/west-midlands-combined-authority-trailblazer-deeper-devolution-deal/west-midlands-combined-authority-trailblazer-deeper-devolution-deal", "https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmpubacc/647/report.html", "https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmcomloc/1355/report.html", "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/exceptional-financial-support-for-local-authorities-for-2026-27", "https://www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/governance/396-governance-news/99797-government-confirms-35-councils-to-receive-1-5bn-in-exceptional-financial-support", "https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/local-authority-section-114-notices", "https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statutory-best-value-inspections-and-interventions-in-england", "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-01-27/hcws1277", "https://www.cipfa.org/about-cipfa/press-office/latest-press-releases/reforms-to-address-challenges-in-english-council-finance-teams", "https://www.local.gov.uk/publications/local-government-finance-workforce-action-plan-england", "https://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/workforce-and-hr-support/recruitment-and-retention/workforce-planning/local-0", "https://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/procurement/transforming-public-procurement/procurement-act-2023-learning-and", "https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/transforming-public-procurement", "https://localpartnerships.gov.uk/about-local-partnerships/", "https://mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk/category/local-digital/local-digital-fund/", "https://www.ukauthority.com/articles/lga-and-mhclg-pilot-new-digital-leadership-skills-programme", "https://www.cfgs.org.uk/devolution-local-scrutiny-public-accounts-committee/", "https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/devolution-in-england-funding-and-accountability/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-outcomes-framework/local-outcomes-framework-principles-for-use", "https://www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/governance/396-governance-news/58474-government-announces-oflog-review-pauses-early-warning-conversations-pilot", "https://themodernregulator.com/local-government-outcomes-framework/", "https://schoolsweek.co.uk/send-deficits-to-be-kept-off-council-balance-sheets-for-two-more-years/", "https://www.local.gov.uk/about/news/councils-warn-ps7bn-funding-black-hole-threatening-local-services-three-years", "https://www.lgcplus.com/finance/lga-warns-of-7bn-funding-gap-by-2028-29-03-07-2026/", "https://www.local.gov.uk/parliament/briefings-and-responses/visitor-levy-england" ], "gapCount": 10, "intro": "English local government is being rebuilt in the middle of a crisis. Councils are merging in the biggest shake-up since 1974, even as council after council leans on emergency support just to set a budget. And audit has quietly collapsed: at the latest deadline, auditors disclaimed nearly half of all council accounts, giving no assurance on the numbers.\n\nThe gaps here are about who watches, who warns and who rescues. No independent body checks whether council funding matches council duties. No early-warning system names the next Thurrock before it fails. The entries below sketch the watchdogs, failure regimes and skilled people the rebuilt system still lacks." }, { "num": 18, "slug": "national-resilience", "name": "National resilience and civil preparedness (biosecurity, pandemics, climate adaptation, critical national infrastructure)", "shortName": "National resilience", "hue": 75, "landscape": "UK national resilience sits under the Cabinet Office, guided by the 2022 UK Government Resilience Framework and the July 2025 Resilience Action Plan, which for the first time frames domestic resilience as a pillar of the National Security Strategy. Governance was consolidated in 2024 via the National Security Council (Resilience) and a Resilience Steering Board. The Covid-19 Inquiry's Module 1 (July 2024) and Module 2 (Nov 2025) reports delivered damning verdicts on pre-pandemic preparedness; government accepted most recommendations but rejected the flagship one - an independent statutory preparedness body - and deferred others (Civil Contingencies Act review to 2027). Twice-yearly implementation updates begin November 2026. On biosecurity, the 2023 Biological Security Strategy promises ~£1.5bn/year and a National Biosurveillance Network; the Biothreats Radar launched and respiratory metagenomics scaled to ~30 NHS trusts, but funding durability and measurable milestones are contested. Exercise Pegasus (autumn 2025), the largest-ever pandemic exercise, informed a new £1bn Pandemic Preparedness Strategy (stockpiles, PPE, Moderna vaccine manufacturing) with a recovery phase due 2026. On climate adaptation, the CCC's 'A Well-Adapted UK' (May 2026) warns of severe 2050 heat, flood and drought risk, calls for ~£11bn/year, and finds adaptation governance 'not fit for purpose' - no single owner for overheating homes, surface-water flooding, adaptation finance or CNI interdependencies. Critiques from CLTR and the National Preparedness Commission converge on missing statutory footing, no national Chief Resilience Officer, and fragmented short-term local funding. Much is announced; less is built or durably funded.", "actors": [ { "name": "Cabinet Office Resilience Directorate / National Security Secretariat", "type": "government body", "note": "Owns the Resilience Framework, Resilience Action Plan, National Risk Register, and the National Security Council (Resilience); the central coordinator for civil preparedness." }, { "name": "UK Covid-19 Inquiry", "type": "statutory inquiry", "note": "Its Module 1 (2024) and Module 2 (2025) reports set the baseline recommendation list; runs an implementation-monitoring process with twice-yearly government updates from Nov 2026." }, { "name": "Centre for Long-Term Resilience (CLTR)", "type": "think tank", "note": "Leading independent critic on resilience, biosecurity and Exercise Pegasus; authored the main critique of the 2025 Resilience Action Plan and Biological Security Strategy." }, { "name": "National Preparedness Commission", "type": "independent commission", "note": "Cross-sector expert body pressing for whole-of-society resilience, statutory footing, household preparedness and a national resilience leadership role." }, { "name": "Climate Change Committee (CCC)", "type": "statutory adviser", "note": "Independent adaptation watchdog; 'A Well-Adapted UK' (2026) diagnoses the ownership vacuum on heat, surface water, adaptation finance and CNI interdependencies." }, { "name": "UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)", "type": "arms-length body", "note": "Runs pandemic surveillance, health-protection, metagenomics and heat-health alerts; delivery agent for much of the Pandemic Preparedness Strategy." }, { "name": "Biological Security Coordination Unit (Cabinet Office)", "type": "government unit", "note": "Coordinates the Biological Security Strategy; CLTR proposes it as the model for a missing equivalent AI security unit." }, { "name": "National Situation Centre (SitCen)", "type": "government body", "note": "Cross-government data/situational-awareness hub created 2021; the intended data partner for the (still informal) VCFS emergency protocol." }, { "name": "Environment Agency", "type": "arms-length body", "note": "Lead flood-risk body, but not yet empowered to oversee delivery across all flood sources (esp. surface water); administers flood defence programmes." }, { "name": "Flood Re", "type": "reinsurance scheme", "note": "Industry/government flood-insurance backstop due to expire 2039 with no designed successor; a de facto but time-limited adaptation-finance instrument." }, { "name": "Local Resilience Forums (LRFs)", "type": "local partnerships", "note": "Front-line multi-agency emergency planners without legal personality, funded via fragmented short-term pots; slated for a funding review but no multi-year settlement." }, { "name": "National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) / NPSA / NCSC", "type": "government bodies", "note": "Advise on infrastructure resilience standards and CNI protection, but none holds an executive cross-sector CNI resilience mandate." }, { "name": "Joint Civil Aid Corps", "type": "charity/project", "note": "Small, crowdfunded volunteer 'civil defence' effort - illustrates the absence of a government-backed national civil-protection corps." }, { "name": "GO-Science / SAGE", "type": "government body", "note": "Convenes emergency scientific advice and maintains the expert register; SAGE stands up only during crises, with no permanently funded between-crisis standing body." } ], "funders": [ "UKRI (pandemic/biothreat R&D, adaptation science)", "Wellcome Trust (biosecurity, pandemic preparedness, 100 Days Mission)", "Cabinet Office (Resilience Directorate budgets, National Exercising Programme, LRF funding)", "DHSC / UKHSA (Pandemic Preparedness Strategy £1bn, biosurveillance)", "DEFRA (£4.2bn flood defences, adaptation and SuDS)", "DESNZ and MHCLG (retrofit, building standards, heat resilience)", "DSIT (life sciences and £520m manufacturing scale-up)", "HM Treasury (multi-year resilience and National Security investment)", "Insurance/reinsurance sector and the Flood Re levy (flood and adaptation finance)", "Ofwat-regulated water company investment (AMP price-review cycle, drainage/surface water)", "Philanthropic foundations (Nuffield Foundation, Nesta) for civil-society resilience and evidence", "National Lottery Community Fund / DCMS (VCFS capacity and volunteering)" ], "policyNotes": "Policy rests on non-statutory strategy (Resilience Framework 2022; Resilience Action Plan 2025) rather than legislation. The government explicitly rejected a National Resilience Act and an independent statutory body, arguing it cannot 'outsource' responsibility - leaving no OBR/CCC-style external scrutineer for preparedness. The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 review is deferred to a March 2027 Post-Implementation Review. Resilience leadership exists locally (Chief Resilience Officers in LRFs) but not nationally; CLTR and the National Preparedness Commission both press for a national CRO and to rename the National Security Adviser to include resilience. Adaptation policy is fragmented across DEFRA, MHCLG, DHSC and DESNZ with no lead owner for heat or surface water; SuDS Schedule 3 (Flood and Water Management Act 2010) remains uncommenced in England while in force in Wales. Flood Re expires in 2039 with no successor. Note overlap with the stagnation domain on energy-system resilience and grid/CNI: treat energy-supply and generation items there; this domain covers cross-hazard civil preparedness, biosecurity and adaptation governance.", "sources": [ "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-government-response-to-the-covid-19-inquiry-module-1-report/uk-government-response-to-the-covid-19-inquiry-module-1-report-html", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-government-response-to-the-covid-19-inquiry-module-2-report/uk-government-response-to-the-covid-19-inquiry-module-2-report-html", "https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/inquiry-recommendations/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-covid-19-inquiry-core-decision-making-and-political-governance-modules-2-2a-2b-2c-report", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-inquiry-recommendations/uk-covid-19-inquiry-implementation-dashboard-user-guide", "https://www.longtermresilience.org/reports/uk-resilience-action-plan-ambitious-progress-with-room-to-go-further/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-government-resilience-action-plan/uk-government-resilience-action-plan-html", "https://nationalpreparednesscommission.uk/publications/resilience-action-plan-arent-we-there-yet/", "https://nationalpreparednesscommission.uk/publications/learning-from-and-dealing-with-the-everyday-the-2025-uk-national-resilience-action-plan-and-household-resilience/", "https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/a-well-adapted-uk/", "https://www.theccc.org.uk/2026/05/20/british-way-of-life-under-threat-from-heat-flooding-drought/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-biological-security-strategy/uk-biological-security-strategy-html", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-biological-security-strategy-implementation-report-june-2023-june-2025/uk-biological-security-strategy-implementation-report-june-2023-june-2025-html", "https://www.longtermresilience.org/response-to-the-uk-governments-refreshed-biological-security-strategy-bss/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/1-billion-invested-in-health-protection-as-new-pandemic-strategy-published", "https://www.longtermresilience.org/reports/ten-things-we-want-to-see-from-exercise-pegasus/", "https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10483/", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/overheating-approved-document-o", "https://theconversation.com/how-the-uk-is-keeping-flood-insurance-affordable-until-2039-275463", "https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmenvaud/550/report.html", "https://cetas.turing.ac.uk/publications/building-national-resilience-urgent-issue-its-not-job-police", "https://nic.org.uk/news/clearer-standards-needed-to-boost-economys-resilience/" ], "gapCount": 12, "intro": "The Covid inquiry's verdict on Britain's preparedness was damning, and the government accepted almost every recommendation, except the biggest. There will be no independent body checking the country is ready for the next emergency. Preparedness remains something the state audits itself on, the exact habit the inquiry blamed for 2020.\n\nThe gaps below follow that pattern. Strategies exist for pandemics, floods and heatwaves. What is missing is ownership and money that lasts: a named lead for overheating homes, legal footing for local responders, a mechanism that turns exercise lessons into action. Much has been announced. Less has been built." }, { "num": 19, "gapCount": 2, "slug": "local-ai", "name": "Local AI", "shortName": "Local AI", "hue": 130, "landscape": "Running capable AI on hardware you control is newly practical: open-weight models, cheap inference stacks and consumer GPUs put private, offline AI within reach of councils, firms, schools and households. The UK conversation still defaults to renting US frontier APIs, so the questions that matter here go unasked: what should run locally, who maintains the reference deployments, and what national capability exists if the rented option is withdrawn or repriced. This domain collects the gaps in that local capability. It starts small, seeded from the AI-crisis dossier, and grows as entries are suggested and verified.", "actors": [], "funders": [], "policyNotes": "No UK policy instrument currently distinguishes locally run AI from API-consumed AI; procurement guidance, data-protection guidance and the compute roadmap all treat AI as something bought as a service.", "sources": [] }, { "num": 20, "gapCount": 0, "slug": "other", "name": "Other", "shortName": "Other", "hue": 210, "landscape": "The honest shelf: entries that do not sit cleanly in any existing domain land here rather than being forced into a bad fit. When enough related entries accumulate, they graduate into a domain of their own. It is empty at the moment. If you have spotted a gap that fits nowhere else, suggest it on GitHub and this is where the curators will file it first.", "actors": [], "funders": [], "policyNotes": "None yet: this shelf holds entries pending a proper home.", "sources": [] } ]