The Treasury's policy statement on Consumer Credit Act 1974 reform is progressing through Parliament via the Financial Services and Markets Bill. As the legislation advances through the House of Lords, firms face an earlier-than-expected implementation timeline and must prepare for the FCA's upcoming consultation on new rules for a modernized consumer credit regime.

This week's infrastructure planning update examines the Planning Inspectorate's revised advice following the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, explores Ofgem's proposed reforms to manage the data centre grid connection queue, and recounts how a Harry Potter filming location influenced an electricity interconnector route in Pembrokeshire.

Telecoms operators rely on the Electronic Communications Code to secure rights over land, but landowners retain important powers that can affect network deployment and maintenance. Understanding the interplay between statutory protections, lease renewal regimes, and contractual relocation provisions is essential to managing risk and avoiding costly disputes over apparatus installation and removal.

The UK government has formally responded to the Competition and Markets Authority's comprehensive review of the Subsidy Control Act 2022, accepting key recommendations for improvement. The response outlines planned changes to guidance, streamlined routes, and transparency measures, while the CMA's assessment reveals how the regime is functioning in practice and what challenges public authorities face in implementation.

The FCA and Bank of England have simultaneously published significant material examining how frontier AI models with cyber capabilities are being used in financial services. While these publications introduce no new rules, they reveal detailed regulatory thinking on governance, harness design, and organisational resilience that signals the direction of future supervisory expectations.

The law on cohabitation has struggled to keep pace with changing family structures, leaving unmarried couples with far fewer rights than married partners. With the government's proposed reforms potentially bringing the biggest change to cohabitants' rights in a generation, understanding the current legal position, the consultation proposals, and how other jurisdictions approach this issue has never been more important.

Hosting overseas employees in the UK creates complex tax, payroll and immigration obligations that extend far beyond contractual arrangements. What practical risks emerge when international working becomes routine, and how can employers ensure compliance when form doesn't override substance?

Matt Grimwood and John Howells from Newmark explore the explosive growth of the UK data centre sector, examining how power availability, grid capacity constraints...