This month, the FRC published the UK Stewardship Code 2026, an updated set of principles which offers a framework for reporting that demonstrates high-quality stewardship to support economic growth and investment.
The new Code follows an extensive consultation involving over 1500 stakeholders, and will now take effect from 1 January 2026. It aims to support long-term sustainable value creation while significantly reducing the reporting burden for signatories, and enhancing engagement between market participants.
The UK Stewardship Code operates as part of a comprehensive regulatory framework alongside the FCA's oversight of financial markets, the Pensions Regulator's protection of member interests, and the DWP's pension scheme regulations. It has established itself as a global benchmark for best practice in stewardship, driving transparency and accountability in the investment chain. It currently has nearly 300 signatories who represent around £50 trillion in assets under management (AUM).
The 2026 Code builds on this success while responding to feedback from signatories and the wider investment and corporate issuer community.
Richard Moriarty, FRC CEO, said:
"The UK Stewardship Code 2026 provides signatories with a flexible principles-based framework that provides greater transparency on their stewardship in the face of unprecedented uncertainty.
“Extensive consultation confirmed strong investor backing for the Code's importance and has directly informed the changes we have made to ensure it remains fit for the future. The updated Code focuses on long-term sustainable value creation while cutting unnecessary reporting and improving engagement quality. New dedicated principles for proxy advisers increase transparency in the investment chain.
“The Code is not prescriptive and does not direct how any signatory should choose to invest. It takes a principles-based approach which is focussed on delivering a clear outcome of value creation for clients and beneficiaries.”
Learn More:
Read more about the updates here.