UK Collective Proceedings: Mid-2025 Review

State of Play

A number of significant developments in the UK collective proceedings regime (the UK CPO regime) have marked the past several months. The current landscape continues to evolve. Recent Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) decisions refusing to certify various collective proceedings, which we unpack below, follow the first-ever substantive judgment of the CAT in collective proceedings in Le Patourel v. BT. In late 2024, the CAT handed down a lengthy judgment, dismissing the claim on the basis that, broadly, landline prices charged by BT, although excessive, were not unfair. From the perspective of defendants and companies potentially facing the threat of a collective action, the judgment demonstrates that the CAT will carefully scrutinize merits on a case-by-case basis.