Next Steps for Consumer Duty – Key Takeaways from the Westminster Business Forum

Burges Salmon recently attended the Westminster Business Forum’s policy conference on the Consumer Duty. The session brought together regulators, academics and industry leaders to assess the regime’s evolving impact on the UK's financial services landscape. The discussion highlighted both progress and persistent challenges as firms move from implementation to demonstrating tangible outcomes. 

Outcomes testing and vulnerability 

The FCA’s recently published Consumer Duty focus areas for 2025/26 (see our blog post here) underscored the need for more robust outcomes testing. Speakers noted that outcomes testing remains underdeveloped and that stronger conceptual and analytical foundations are arguably required. There were calls for better integration of both objective data and subjective consumer experiences when firms evaluate outcomes, and vulnerability was identified as a central but perhaps underdeveloped concept.  

Regulatory reform and the growth agenda 

Panellists debated the place of the Consumer Duty within the Government's growth agenda. While some welcomed the recent emphasis on simplification and proportionality, others warned that premature streamlining may risk undermining consumer protection. In this context, attendees also cited the FCA's recent letter to the Chancellor regarding the application of the Consumer Duty for firms primarily engaged in wholesale activity.

Governance and accountability 

Embedding the Duty into a firm's culture was a recurring theme. There was an emphasis on action-oriented committees, clear escalation paths and meaningful board engagement. From an accountability perspective, the Duty should not be the sole responsibility of firms' compliance functions and the FCA expects to see evidence of challenge, including via board reports. 

Consumer support and decision-making 

There was discussion around consumer support as one of the more challenging areas to implement in practice. The role the incoming targeted support regime might play here for certain firms was noted, reinforcing good outcomes under the Duty. 

Looking ahead 

The FCA reaffirmed that the Consumer Duty remains the anchor for other regulatory change on the agenda, consistent with the objective of Duty-led improvement rather than prescriptive rule-writing. As for the Duty itself, firms should continue to adapt to the shift in attitude from “implementation” to “impact” and the regulator's expectation that firms are able to evidence good outcomes.