HM Treasury and its Arm's Length Bodies comply with their obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) in the Equality Act 2010 and carefully consider the implications of policy and other decisions for those sharing protected characteristics. HMT’s approach to PSED compliance is set out on the following gov.uk page: Equality and diversity - HM Treasury - GOV.UK.

2 FTE posts provide support, guidance and training to colleagues across the Treasury on fulfilling their legal responsibilities under the PSED. The information on equivalent FTE posts for the Arm's Length Bodies is not held centrally by HM Treasury.

Ensuring that decisions taken are PSED compliant, including through the provision of well-evidenced advice to Ministers, is the responsibility of the relevant members of staff and teams working on those issues. Accordingly, the Department does not maintain centrally held records of staffing, costs or outputs attributable solely to PSED compliance. HM Treasury also does not hold corresponding information for its Arm's Length Bodies and seeking to obtain it would involve a disproportionate cost.

Reform of the UK’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CTF) supervision regime will improve the effectiveness and consistency of supervision that regulated firms receive. It will not change the underlying obligations firms must meet under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information of the Payer) Regulations 2017.

While AML/CTF regulation is reserved in the UK, the Government and FCA recognise Scotland's distinct legal framework and will continue engaging with Scottish stakeholders to ensure implementation is proportionate, compatible and minimises unnecessary regulatory burdens such as dual regulation.

The Financial Services and Markets Bill currently before Parliament will pave the way for AML/CTF supervision reform, with full implementation due to be brought in though subsequent changes to secondary legislation.

Reform of the UK’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CTF) supervision regime will improve the effectiveness and consistency of supervision that regulated firms receive. It will not change the underlying obligations firms must meet under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information of the Payer) Regulations 2017.

While AML/CTF regulation is reserved in the UK, the Government and FCA recognise Scotland's distinct legal framework and will continue engaging with Scottish stakeholders to ensure implementation is proportionate, compatible and minimises unnecessary regulatory burdens such as dual regulation.

The Financial Services and Markets Bill currently before Parliament will pave the way for AML/CTF supervision reform, with full implementation due to be brought in though subsequent changes to secondary legislation.

The Government has not made an assessment of the total monetary value of insurance company deductions from business interruption insurance payouts.

The Supreme Court published its final judgment in the FCA’s Business Interruption Insurance test case in 2021. At the time of the judgment, the FCA set out its expectation that insurers should communicate to all impacted policyholders what the judgment meant for their claim and should move quickly to resolve claims as determined by the judgment.

The FCA court case did not cover all potential issues with business interruption policies. The FCA has been clear that, in the event of further court rulings, insurers will need to consider carefully how the rulings impact claims they have already decided.

The FCA is continuing to supervise firms to ensure they are meeting their expectations and has robust powers to take action where necessary.

Please see the table below for the number of agency staff at HM Treasury over the past five financial years. These figures represent year-end headcount, defined as the number of agency workers in post during March of each financial year.

The Government consulted extensively on reform of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CTF) supervision regime, including with representatives of the legal sector from across the UK. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is well placed to undertake this role, with extensive existing AML/CTF expertise and oversight of legal and accountancy sector supervision through its Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS).

The Government will ensure successful implementation by providing funding from the Economic Crime (Anti Money Laundering) Levy (ECL) and is working closely with the FCA to ensure it further develops the capability and sector-specific expertise required. The FCA will consult on its future fee arrangements as implementation progresses.

Reform of the UK’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CTF) supervision regime will improve the effectiveness and consistency of supervision that regulated firms receive. It will not change the underlying obligations firms must meet under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information of the Payer) Regulations 2017.

While AML/CTF regulation is reserved in the UK, the Government and FCA recognise Scotland's distinct legal framework and will continue engaging with Scottish stakeholders to ensure implementation is proportionate, compatible and minimises unnecessary regulatory burdens such as dual regulation.

The Financial Services and Markets Bill currently before Parliament will pave the way for AML/CTF supervision reform, with full implementation due to be brought in though subsequent changes to secondary legislation.

Reform of the UK’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CTF) supervision regime will improve the effectiveness and consistency of supervision that regulated firms receive. It will not change the underlying obligations firms must meet under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information of the Payer) Regulations 2017.

While AML/CTF regulation is reserved in the UK, the Government and FCA recognise Scotland's distinct legal framework and will continue engaging with Scottish stakeholders to ensure implementation is proportionate, compatible and minimises unnecessary regulatory burdens such as dual regulation.

The Financial Services and Markets Bill currently before Parliament will pave the way for AML/CTF supervision reform, with full implementation due to be brought in though subsequent changes to secondary legislation.

The Government consulted extensively on reform of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CTF) supervision regime, including with representatives of the legal sector from across the UK. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is well placed to undertake this role, with extensive existing AML/CTF expertise and oversight of legal and accountancy sector supervision through its Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS).

The Government will ensure successful implementation by providing funding from the Economic Crime (Anti Money Laundering) Levy (ECL) and is working closely with the FCA to ensure it further develops the capability and sector-specific expertise required. The FCA will consult on its future fee arrangements as implementation progresses.

The Government consulted extensively on reform of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CTF) supervision regime, including with representatives of the legal sector from across the UK. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is well placed to undertake this role, with extensive existing AML/CTF expertise and oversight of legal and accountancy sector supervision through its Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS).

The Government will ensure successful implementation by providing funding from the Economic Crime (Anti Money Laundering) Levy (ECL) and is working closely with the FCA to ensure it further develops the capability and sector-specific expertise required. The FCA will consult on its future fee arrangements as implementation progresses.

The Government has not made an assessment of the total monetary value of insurance company deductions from business interruption insurance payouts.

The Supreme Court published its final judgment in the FCA’s Business Interruption Insurance test case in 2021. At the time of the judgment, the FCA set out its expectation that insurers should communicate to all impacted policyholders what the judgment meant for their claim and should move quickly to resolve claims as determined by the judgment.

The FCA court case did not cover all potential issues with business interruption policies. The FCA has been clear that, in the event of further court rulings, insurers will need to consider carefully how the rulings impact claims they have already decided.

The FCA is continuing to supervise firms to ensure they are meeting their expectations and has robust powers to take action where necessary.

The Government consulted extensively on reform of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CTF) supervision regime, including with representatives of the legal sector from across the UK. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is well placed to undertake this role, with extensive existing AML/CTF expertise and oversight of legal and accountancy sector supervision through its Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS).

The Government will ensure successful implementation by providing funding from the Economic Crime (Anti Money Laundering) Levy (ECL) and is working closely with the FCA to ensure it further develops the capability and sector-specific expertise required. The FCA will consult on its future fee arrangements as implementation progresses.

The Government consulted extensively on reform of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CTF) supervision regime, including with representatives of the legal sector from across the UK. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is well placed to undertake this role, with extensive existing AML/CTF expertise and oversight of legal and accountancy sector supervision through its Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS).

The Government will ensure successful implementation by providing funding from the Economic Crime (Anti Money Laundering) Levy (ECL) and is working closely with the FCA to ensure it further develops the capability and sector-specific expertise required. The FCA will consult on its future fee arrangements as implementation progresses.

In July 2025, Parliament passed legislation to bring Buy-Now, Pay-Later (BNPL) products within the scope of Financial Conduct Authority regulation. The new regulatory regime came into force on 15 July 2026 and last month the FCA published its final rules for BNPL lending.

Under these rules, BNPL providers will be required to carry out affordability checks as well as provide consumers with clear and upfront information about costs and repayment obligations. Consumers will also benefit from stronger rights, including access to the Financial Ombudsman Service and protection under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, making it easier to obtain refunds where purchases go wrong. These new rules will ensure that BNPL products remain a useful payment option while protecting consumers from harm.

Cyber security is a top priority for the Government, and HM Treasury works with the financial regulators, industry and with international partners to strengthen the financial sector’s resilience to threats and hazards of all origins.

The financial authorities deploy a range of tools to test and ensure financial sector firms are resilient to the wide range of risks that they could face, and we also maintain robust exercising and incident response frameworks to ensure readiness for disruption and coordination across government and industry. The UK financial regulators have implemented an operational resilience framework for the UK financial sector, which sets out rules and supervisory expectations on operational resilience and risk management for financial services firms, including relating to third-party risk management. Technical advice on security and resilience is also provided by the National Cyber Security Centre and the National Protective Security Authority.

The Critical Third Party (CTP) regime complements but does not replace financial sector firms’ obligations in this area. Designated third parties will be subject to oversight by the UK financial regulators, helping to ensure they have robust arrangements in place to identify, manage and recover from operational disruption affecting critical services used across the financial sector. Through the new regime, the regulators will be able to gather information, assess resilience, and work with third parties to address risks to the continuity of critical services, including through making and enforcing CTP-specific rules where necessary. The regulators’ rules and guidance for CTPs include requirements on incident management.

Cyber security is a top priority for the Government, and HM Treasury works with the financial regulators, industry and with international partners to strengthen the financial sector’s resilience to threats and hazards of all origins.

The financial authorities deploy a range of tools to test and ensure financial sector firms are resilient to the wide range of risks that they could face, and we also maintain robust exercising and incident response frameworks to ensure readiness for disruption and coordination across government and industry. The UK financial regulators have implemented an operational resilience framework for the UK financial sector, which sets out rules and supervisory expectations on operational resilience and risk management for financial services firms, including relating to third-party risk management. Technical advice on security and resilience is also provided by the National Cyber Security Centre and the National Protective Security Authority.

The Critical Third Party (CTP) regime complements but does not replace financial sector firms’ obligations in this area. Designated third parties will be subject to oversight by the UK financial regulators, helping to ensure they have robust arrangements in place to identify, manage and recover from operational disruption affecting critical services used across the financial sector. Through the new regime, the regulators will be able to gather information, assess resilience, and work with third parties to address risks to the continuity of critical services, including through making and enforcing CTP-specific rules where necessary. The regulators’ rules and guidance for CTPs include requirements on incident management.

On 10 July 2026, the Government announced it had designated four major global cloud services and technology providers as Critical Third Parties (CTPs). These designations came into force on 13 July 2026.

As part of a rolling regime, further providers may be designated over time where this is necessary to protect UK resilience. To maintain the integrity of the regime, it is not appropriate to comment on how many designations may be made in future.

The Government is committed to ensuring that people who need in-person banking can continue to access essential services.

That is why the Government commissioned an independent Review into Access to Banking Services, to assess whether changes to access to in-person banking services are causing consumer detriment, the scale of any detriment, and who it affects, including the digitally excluded. The Review will consider access to in-person banking services for both personal and business customers.

As part of this, the Review will consider existing forms of in-person banking provision. The Post Office provides banking services through over 10,000 branches via the Banking Framework agreement and, as such, the provision of services by the Post Office on behalf of banks will be considered as part of the Review.

Alongside the Review, the Financial Services and Markets Bill includes a power to allow the Government to take action in future to protect access to banking services, should this be necessary. This power ensures the Government can act swiftly and proportionately, including through future regulation, if the evidence from the Review supports intervention.

There are significant measures in place to protect vulnerable mortgage borrowers. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules require lenders to engage individually with their customers who are struggling or who are worried about their payments to order to provide tailored forbearance. This could include a range of options; the right option will depend on the borrower’s circumstances.

The Government’s Mortgage Charter, which is a voluntary industry agreement that covers 90% of the mortgage market, provides additional flexibilities to help borrowers who are up-to-date with their repayments, manage their repayments over a short period.

If any borrower does not believe they have been treated fairly by their lender, they may be able to take their complaint to the independent Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which provides a free, independent dispute resolution service.

Importantly, any borrower who is concerned about making their repayment should contact their lender. Seeking support and engaging with lenders to discuss options will not affect a borrower’s credit score in any way, and earlier engagement will mean that lenders can offer more support.

The Government is committed to ensuring that people who need in-person banking can continue to access essential services.

That is why the Government commissioned an independent Review into Access to Banking Services, to assess whether changes to access to in-person banking services are causing consumer detriment, the scale of any detriment, and who it affects, including the digitally excluded. The Review will consider access to in-person banking services for both personal and business customers.

As part of this, the Review will consider existing forms of in-person banking provision. The Post Office provides banking services through over 10,000 branches via the Banking Framework agreement and, as such, the provision of services by the Post Office on behalf of banks will be considered as part of the Review.

Alongside the Review, the Financial Services and Markets Bill includes a power to allow the Government to take action in future to protect access to banking services, should this be necessary. This power ensures the Government can act swiftly and proportionately, including through future regulation, if the evidence from the Review supports intervention.