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
- Jul 2026Government review touching lobbying due before summer recess
Window for extending the register to in-house lobbyists
- Jul 2026Online Safety Act categorisation register published
Determines which small/community services face heavier duties
- Aug 2026Local Youth Transformation pilot ends, no successor confirmed
Youth-services duty review vehicle at risk of lapsing
- 31 Aug 2026DSIT data-intermediaries consultation closes
Decides whether a personal-data-store authorisation regime happens
- Sep 2026FCA stablecoin authorisation gateway opens (£350k capital floor)
Confirms no proportionate route for community/mutual money systems
- From mid-2026, quarterlySingle 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
- 30 Sep 2026Wales: mandatory care-worker registration begins
Live comparator strengthening the England-register gap case
- Oct 2026Adult Social Care Negotiating Body established (secondary legislation)
Fair Pay Agreement machinery starts with still no funding conduit
- Autumn 2026Local Audit Office launches
Fixes system leadership, not the disclaimed-accounts assurance hole
- Autumn 2026NFER independent evaluation of Oak's Aila reports
First real evidence on the government's flagship AI education tool
- Autumn 2026 BudgetTreasury fiscal devolution roadmap
Decides whether mayors get revenue tools or another document
- Nov 2026Covid Inquiry twice-yearly implementation updates begin
Recurring accountability moment for every resilience gap
- 18 Nov 2026Companies House identity-verification deadline for existing directors
ECCTA credibility test; ACSP supervision gap becomes visible
- Winter 2026Exercise Pegasus report due
Cygnus-redux risk: recommendations with no owner or timeline
- End 2026Health Data Research Service first services
Statutory footing and SDE funding settlement still unresolved
- End 2026PwC evaluation of the No Interest Loan Scheme due
Evidence base for a permanent affordable-credit facility
- 2026Law Commission final report: co-operative & community benefit society law
The reform is drafted; the gap becomes purely a legislative slot
- 2026Casey Commission phase 1 report (within existing resources)
Natural vehicle for care-worker register and delivery-unit recommendations
- 2026Investigatory Powers Tribunal ruling: Apple/Privacy International TCN case
Only live scrutiny of secret encryption orders
- By 31 Dec 2026Digital 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
- 2026-27 delivery periodGrowth 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
- Jan 2027Lifelong Learning Entitlement launches (loans-only)
Confirms absence of any grant-based retraining instrument
- Feb 2027NHS Federated Data Platform contract break clause
The one-shot exit window; after renewal, lock-in is the default
- Mar 2027Civil Contingencies Act post-implementation review
Main statutory vehicle for resilience-framework reform
- 2027Anti-Corruption Strategy 'explore whistleblowing reform by 2027' deadline
Office of the Whistleblower window
- Apr 2027British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme starts
Two-tier electricity pricing begins; levy rebalancing unresolved for everyone else
- Apr 2027Local Audit Office takes over the audit backstop programme
Disclaimed-years recovery either gets a plan or is normalised
- Spring 2027Revised national curriculum published (first teaching Sep 2028)
Clock starts on the teacher AI-CPD entitlement gap
- 2027 Spending ReviewFPA funding conduit, social-care bridge, Preventative DEL decisions
The fiscal moment most health and care gaps depend on
- Summer 2027Welsh Basic Income pilot final evaluation
Only UK income-floor evidence for AI-transition instruments
- Oct 2027FCA full cryptoasset regime live
Final shape of the perimeter mutual credit and community currencies sit outside
2028
- Mar 2028SEND statutory override expires (£2.9–3.9bn/yr hits council balance sheets)
Scheduled municipal fiscal cliff; failure-regime gap becomes acute
- Apr 2028First Fair Pay Agreement takes effect
Unfunded-mandate risk crystallises without a funding instrument
- Sep 2028Reformed curriculum first teaching (AI literacy from KS2)
End of the three-year AI-literacy vacuum, if the workforce is trained
- 2028Casey Commission final report (funding reform)
The social-care settlement, past the next election
- ~2028Biometrics/LFR legislation expected (~2y after Feb 2026 consultation)
The Biometrics Act window; deployment continues meanwhile
2029 and beyond
- 2028–2032Pension mandation reserve power window (exercisable once, then lapses)
Deadline for UK growth vehicles to absorb DC capital
- By 2029Next general election
First with votes at 16 and cheap synthetic media; registration, first-vote and deepfake gaps all bind here
- 2029Digital right-to-work checks planned mandatory on One Login
A privacy-preserving credential alternative must exist before this
- ~2029EU adequacy mid-point review (full renewal decision 2031)
Caps how far UK data-protection divergence can drift
- ~2030Ofqual on-screen exams (small-entry subjects only)
The assessment-integrity crisis runs unmitigated until then
- 2039Flood Re expires, no successor designed
Adaptation-finance gap becomes an uninsurable-homes crisis