UK Stewardship Code meaning

In this issue: Companies House Corporate governance Equity capital markets Accounts and reports Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Companies House Companies House announces fee changes from February 2026 Companies House has confirmed a revised fees schedule from 1 February 2026, following its annual assessment to align charges with the cost of providing services. Notably, the digital incorporation filing fee will rise to £100, and the digital confirmation statement fee will increase to £50. These adjustments are set out in the Registrar of Companies (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/1137), which were laid before Parliament on 30 October 2025 and take effect on 1 February 2026. The accompanying explanatory memorandum states that the updated fees are intended to recover increased costs linked to implementing the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA 2023) and the Economic...

In this issue: Corporate governance Environmental, social and governance issues Directors Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Corporate governance FRC publishes report to support transition to UK Stewardship Code 2026 The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has issued ‘Preparing for the UK Stewardship Code 2026: Applying insights from current reporting’ to support signatories as they move to the refreshed Code, which comes into force on 1 January 2026. The publication offers pragmatic guidance and examples of high-quality disclosures to help asset owners, asset managers and service providers align with the Code’s simplified reporting framework. Under the 2026 Code, a dual reporting approach applies: a Policy and Context Disclosure must be lodged every four years, complemented by an annual Activities and Outcomes Report showing how the Principles are put into practice. The FRC’s paper also explores areas including engagement disclosures, the selection and oversight of external managers,...

In this issue: Immigration Prohibited conduct (discrimination etc) Diversity and gender pay gap Data protection and employee information Corporate Governance Financial services and banking: employment issues Employment Tribunals Dates for your diary Trackers Employment resources on Lexis+® LexTalk®Employment: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts Immigration Home Office announces increase in enforcement activity targeting illegal working The Home Office reports intensified action against unlawful working, undertaking more than 11,000 operations between October 2024 and September 2025. Through Operation Sterling, this activity produced over 8,000 arrests—a 63% uplift on the prior year—and led to the removal of upwards of 1,050 people from the UK who were found to be working without lawful authorisation. The department also indicates that a mandatory digital ID scheme will be in place before the end of the current Parliament to validate individuals’ right to work. The initiative is designed to curb document fraud, bring consistency to...

ARCHIVED : This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. STOP PRESS: On 21 October 2025, within its Regulation Action Plan, the government stated it believed the Investment Association Public Register had fulfilled its role and accordingly asked the IA to wind it up. That day, the IA confirmed the register would cease to be updated, with its aims pursued instead via reporting against the UK Corporate Governance Code and continued stewardship work. Those objectives remain addressed through disclosure under the UK Corporate Governance Code and continuing stewardship activity by the IA. See: Policy paper—A new approach to ensure regulators and regulation support growth, and IA remarks on ending the Public Register. Accordingly, from that date this Practice Note is archived and is no longer maintained or revised. Evolution of the IA public register In November 2016, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) issued a green paper concerning reforms to corporate governance and executive pay. See News Analysis: Lexis®PSL Share Incentives weekly...

Under the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006), there are rules governing payments a company makes to a director by way of compensation for loss of office. Because these arrangements are especially susceptible to misuse, they must be approved by shareholders. Their interplay with the general statutory duties of directors is addressed in Practice Note: Directors' duties—scope, nature, interpretation and application. Among those duties is an obligation to inform the board whenever the director has, directly or indirectly, any interest in a proposed transaction or arrangement with their company, specifying the nature and extent of that interest. In relation to: the requirement to disclose an interest in a company transaction or arrangement, see Practice Note: Declaration of a director's interests—the statutory provisions; a director’s ability to participate, whether as a director or as a member, in decisions on such a transaction or arrangement, see Practice Note: Declaration of a director's interests—articles of association For these purposes, ‘director’ covers anyone occupying the role of...

STOP PRESS A refreshed UK Corporate Governance Code (UKCG Code) was released on 22 January 2024 (the 2024 UKCG Code). It introduces modest amendments to the 2018 iteration (2018 UKCG Code). The 2024 UKCG Code takes effect for accounting periods commencing on or after 1 January 2025, save for Provision 29—covering the board’s declaration on internal controls—which applies to periods beginning on or after 1 January 2026. In parallel, the best practice guidance that accompanied the 2018 UKCG Code has been consolidated into a single digital resource supporting the 2024 UKCG Code. For more detail, see News Analysis: UK Corporate Governance Code 2024 published—what’s changed? This Resource Note distils the principal provisions of Section 1 (Leadership and Purpose) of the UK Corporate Governance Code and signposts pertinent third-party materials, guidance, commentary and analysis, together with resources, to provide practical assistance on applying the Code...