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ARTICLE · 27 OCTOBER 2025

The Arbitration Act 2025: A New Era For UK Arbitration?

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In the world of international contracting, when contracting parties enter into an arbitration agreement, they agree on a seat of the arbitration (or should).

United KingdomLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Sam Thyne
Sam Thyne
Rhea Yactine
Rhea Yactine
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In the world of international contracting, when contracting parties enter into an arbitration agreement, they agree on a seat of the arbitration (or should).1 The choice of seat requires careful thought, especially where the parties are from different jurisdictions.

The Arbitration Act 2025 (the "2025 Act") came into force on 1 August 2025 and amends the Arbitration Act 1996 (the "1996 Act") with the goal of strengthening the United Kingdom's position as an arbitral seat, by modernising aspects of the legal framework that applies to the popular dispute resolution method.2

Key considerations for choosing a seat include its reliability and how arbitration friendly the applicable law will be. Several of the changes made to the 2025 Act are aimed at clearing up areas of ambiguity that have arisen. It is hoped that the 2025 Act will make dispute resolution clearer, fairer, more efficient, effective and economical – and that these changes will attract parties

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This article is taken from Fenwick Elliott's 2021/2022 Annual Review. To read further articles go to Fenwick Elliott Annual Review 2021/2022

This article is based on recent summaries from the Fenwick Elliott Dispatch, a monthly newsletter which highlights some of the most important legal developments during the last month, relating to the building, engineering and energy sectors. You can find further details here: https://www.fenwickelliott.com/knowledge-hub/dispatch-articles/

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

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