The UK Government is making major changes to the law on late payment – including fines for businesses which fail to pay suppliers on time, a prohibition on payment periods over 60 days and a new adjudication system for certain payment disputes. These measures are likely to lead to a significantly tougher regulatory environment, particularly for larger businesses which regularly use SME suppliers.

Phase 3 of the UK's Energy Saving Opportunities Scheme ("ESOS") might feel uncomfortably fresh in the minds of those responsible for their organisation's compliance with it, but Phase 4 is already in sight. ESOS, which requires large organisations with UK operations to audit their energy usage and consider opportunities for reducing it, operates on a four-year cycle, but delays to Phase 3 reduced that to around two years.

Welcome to the August 2026 edition of Travers Smith's Quarterly Listed Company Update. This issue highlights the latest regulatory developments and guidance relevant to listed companies, as well as key trends and practical points for consideration in the coming months.

On Monday 20th July 2026, the UK will have a new Prime Minister, the current Labour MP for Makerfield, The Rt Hon Andy Burnham.

The corporate reporting element of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 ("MSA") has been widely regarded as ineffective in driving real change in supply chain risk management. The regime requires large commercial organisations to publish annual slavery and human trafficking statements, but says remarkably little about what those statements must contain, imposes no deadline for publication, and has never been the subject of enforcement action.

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

Welcome to the second edition of Travers Smith's Crisis Management and Investigations Circular, providing a bite-size round-up of recent developments in the world of crisis management and investigations.

In November 2025, the European Commission published its legislative proposal to update the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (dubbed "SFDR 2.0"), which was preceded a week before by a leaked draft version that was widely discussed in the media.