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Arbitration Act 2025

The Arbitration Act 2025 was introduced in the House of Lords on 18 July 2024 as the Arbitration Bill [HL] 2024-25.

Explanatory notes and an overview of the bill’s parliamentary progress are available on the UK Parliament website. Government documents relating to the bill, including a factsheet, an impact assessment, and human rights and delegated powers memoranda, are available on gov.uk.

Reforming the Arbitration Act 1996

Arbitration involves the fair resolution of a dispute by an arbitrator or impartial tribunal, which then reaches a decision on that dispute.

The Arbitration Act 1996 governs arbitration in England and Wales and Northern Ireland. London is recognised as a leading seat of arbitration: a significant number of commercial agreements internationally are governed by the law of England and Wales.

In March 2021 the Conservative government asked the Law Commission to review the 1996 act with a view to ensuring it remained fit for purpose.

The Commission consulted on reforms to the act in September 2022 and again in March 2023. It produced a final report on its recommendations (PDF) in September 2023, which included proposals on the law governing arbitration agreements, challenging arbitrator decisions, the power of the courts to support arbitration proceedings, and enabling arbitrators to dismiss claims lacking in legal merit.

In setting out its recommendations, the Law Commission noted it was “mindful of the consensus that the Act works well, and that root and branch reform is not needed or wanted”.

The Conservative government accepted the Law Commission’s recommendations and introduced the Arbitration Bill [HL] 2023-24 in the House of Lords on 21 November 2023. The bill reached, and was amended by, special public bill committee before falling when Parliament was prorogued on 24 May 2024 ahead of the General Election.

Arbitration Bill [HL] 2024-25

The Labour government committed in the King’s Speech of 17 July 2024 to reintroduce the Arbitration Bill (PDF), which was read for the first time in the House of Lords the following day. The intent of the bill was to achieve the government’s policy objective of promoting the UK as one of the world’s premier seats of arbitration, against a backdrop of recent legislative updates in competing jurisdictions.

The new bill reflected amendments made to the previous bill and incorporated a change relating to the law applicable to arbitration agreements in the context of investor-state agreements.

On 11 September 2024, the bill was amended by a committee of the whole House in relation to leave to appeal decisions on staying legal proceedings. A consequential amendment was also made to the bill’s long title.

The bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 6 November 2024 and read for a second time on 29 January 2025.

It was committed to a committee of the whole House for scrutiny on 11 February 2025, to be followed by all remaining stages.  

The bill was reported without amendment and read for a third time on 11 February 2025.

It received Royal Assent on 24 February 2025.

The Arbitration Act 2025 extends to England and Wales and Northern Ireland.