Watchlist

The dated events the gap inventory hangs on: bills, consultation deadlines, break clauses, commencement dates. Each is the moment a gap either gets filled or hardens. Compiled July 2026; reviewed quarterly.

The rest of 2026

  1. Jul 2026
    Government review touching lobbying due before summer recess

    Window for extending the register to in-house lobbyists

  2. Jul 2026
    Online Safety Act categorisation register published

    Determines which small/community services face heavier duties

  3. Aug 2026
    Local Youth Transformation pilot ends, no successor confirmed

    Youth-services duty review vehicle at risk of lapsing

  4. 31 Aug 2026
    DSIT data-intermediaries consultation closes

    Decides whether a personal-data-store authorisation regime happens

  5. Sep 2026
    FCA stablecoin authorisation gateway opens (£350k capital floor)

    Confirms no proportionate route for community/mutual money systems

  6. From mid-2026, quarterly
    Single Unique Identifier scope regulations (Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act)

    Secondary legislation sets how far a child's cross-service identifier reaches; scope defined by regulation, not the Act

  7. 30 Sep 2026
    Wales: mandatory care-worker registration begins

    Live comparator strengthening the England-register gap case

  8. Oct 2026
    Adult Social Care Negotiating Body established (secondary legislation)

    Fair Pay Agreement machinery starts with still no funding conduit

  9. Autumn 2026
    Local Audit Office launches

    Fixes system leadership, not the disclaimed-accounts assurance hole

  10. Autumn 2026
    NFER independent evaluation of Oak's Aila reports

    First real evidence on the government's flagship AI education tool

  11. Autumn 2026 Budget
    Treasury fiscal devolution roadmap

    Decides whether mayors get revenue tools or another document

  12. Nov 2026
    Covid Inquiry twice-yearly implementation updates begin

    Recurring accountability moment for every resilience gap

  13. 18 Nov 2026
    Companies House identity-verification deadline for existing directors

    ECCTA credibility test; ACSP supervision gap becomes visible

  14. Winter 2026
    Exercise Pegasus report due

    Cygnus-redux risk: recommendations with no owner or timeline

  15. End 2026
    Health Data Research Service first services

    Statutory footing and SDE funding settlement still unresolved

  16. End 2026
    PwC evaluation of the No Interest Loan Scheme due

    Evidence base for a permanent affordable-credit facility

  17. 2026
    Law Commission final report: co-operative & community benefit society law

    The reform is drafted; the gap becomes purely a legislative slot

  18. 2026
    Casey Commission phase 1 report (within existing resources)

    Natural vehicle for care-worker register and delivery-unit recommendations

  19. 2026
    Investigatory Powers Tribunal ruling: Apple/Privacy International TCN case

    Only live scrutiny of secret encryption orders

  20. By 31 Dec 2026
    Digital Access to Services Bill: parliamentary stages

    The reframed digital ID legislation, announced in the May 2026 King's Speech; where privacy safeguards are won or lost

  21. 2026-27 delivery period
    Growth and Skills Levy: first funded starts under the new design

    The levy design a funded provider helped shape begins distributing money; the moment to test whose recommendations landed

2027

  1. Jan 2027
    Lifelong Learning Entitlement launches (loans-only)

    Confirms absence of any grant-based retraining instrument

  2. Feb 2027
    NHS Federated Data Platform contract break clause

    The one-shot exit window; after renewal, lock-in is the default

  3. Mar 2027
    Civil Contingencies Act post-implementation review

    Main statutory vehicle for resilience-framework reform

  4. 2027
    Anti-Corruption Strategy 'explore whistleblowing reform by 2027' deadline

    Office of the Whistleblower window

  5. Apr 2027
    British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme starts

    Two-tier electricity pricing begins; levy rebalancing unresolved for everyone else

  6. Apr 2027
    Local Audit Office takes over the audit backstop programme

    Disclaimed-years recovery either gets a plan or is normalised

  7. Spring 2027
    Revised national curriculum published (first teaching Sep 2028)

    Clock starts on the teacher AI-CPD entitlement gap

  8. 2027 Spending Review
    FPA funding conduit, social-care bridge, Preventative DEL decisions

    The fiscal moment most health and care gaps depend on

  9. Summer 2027
    Welsh Basic Income pilot final evaluation

    Only UK income-floor evidence for AI-transition instruments

  10. Oct 2027
    FCA full cryptoasset regime live

    Final shape of the perimeter mutual credit and community currencies sit outside

2028

  1. Mar 2028
    SEND statutory override expires (£2.9–3.9bn/yr hits council balance sheets)

    Scheduled municipal fiscal cliff; failure-regime gap becomes acute

  2. Apr 2028
    First Fair Pay Agreement takes effect

    Unfunded-mandate risk crystallises without a funding instrument

  3. Sep 2028
    Reformed curriculum first teaching (AI literacy from KS2)

    End of the three-year AI-literacy vacuum, if the workforce is trained

  4. 2028
    Casey Commission final report (funding reform)

    The social-care settlement, past the next election

  5. ~2028
    Biometrics/LFR legislation expected (~2y after Feb 2026 consultation)

    The Biometrics Act window; deployment continues meanwhile

2029 and beyond

  1. 2028–2032
    Pension mandation reserve power window (exercisable once, then lapses)

    Deadline for UK growth vehicles to absorb DC capital

  2. By 2029
    Next general election

    First with votes at 16 and cheap synthetic media; registration, first-vote and deepfake gaps all bind here

  3. 2029
    Digital right-to-work checks planned mandatory on One Login

    A privacy-preserving credential alternative must exist before this

  4. ~2029
    EU adequacy mid-point review (full renewal decision 2031)

    Caps how far UK data-protection divergence can drift

  5. ~2030
    Ofqual on-screen exams (small-entry subjects only)

    The assessment-integrity crisis runs unmitigated until then

  6. 2039
    Flood Re expires, no successor designed

    Adaptation-finance gap becomes an uninsurable-homes crisis