Knowledge Notes

UK Knowledge Collection | Regulatory outlook, investment security rules, and the Building Safety Act's retrospective reach

Published on 25th July 2025

Welcome to this week's Knowledge Collection

People in a meeting, hands holding pens and going over a graph on a screen

Our July Regulatory Outlook explores what lies on the horizon in 19 areas of business compliance and offers a handy "summer reading list" of headline items to prepare for. These include the new failure to prevent fraud offence (which comes into force on 1 September), the implementation stages of the new Data (Use and Access) Act, and the government's roadmap for the Employment Rights Bill.

The government is currently consulting on updating the sectors that come within the scope of the National Security and Investment Act 2021. It has also proposed a simplification of investment security rules to lessen the regulatory burden on business and allow the government to focus on deals that are a higher risk to national security. Our Insight considers the proposed reforms and the government's recently released annual report on the regime.

The Court of Appeal has confirmed that section 124 of the Building Safety Act applies with retrospective effect, allowing remediation contribution orders to apply to costs incurred before the Act came into force. Our Insight looks at the implications for developers of this and another recent Court of Appeal decision on cost recovery under the Act.


Recent Insights

UK draft 'umbrella' company tax legislation gives staffing supply chains eight months to prepare for change

End clients, managed service providers, agencies and "umbrellas" face big decisions on how they will operate after the government published draft tax legislation to form a new chapter of part 2 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 from April next year.
Read more >

What does the UK government's ambitious sector plan for life sciences mean for the industry?

The government's sector plan, one of eight underpinning its new industrial strategy, aims to transform the UK into Europe’s leading life sciences economy by 2030.
Read more >

UK government proposes changes to scope of National Security and Investment Act

A simplification of investment security rules is proposed, with a consultation on updating sectors within scope of the legislation running until 14 October.
Read more >

English Court of Appeal upholds retrospective effect of Building Safety Act in further warning for landlords and developers

The court has affirmed the policy of the Act that original developers and their associated entities should bear the primary financial responsibility for the remediation of buildings.
Read more >

Regulatory Outlook

This month's edition includes the progress of the EU's omnibus package (with consequent changes to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive), the enactment of the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill, and consultations under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Act 2024, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations and on online safety measures.
Read more >


Events

Future of Infrastructure 2025

24 September | IMechE | 16:00-20:00
The government's announcements on its infrastructure programme mean multi-billion pound investments, accelerated delivery plans, and substantial private investment opportunities. How is the infrastructure industry preparing for and managing change?
Register now >

* This article is current as of the date of its publication and does not necessarily reflect the present state of the law or relevant regulation.

Connect with one of our experts

Interested in hearing more from Osborne Clarke?