Research and analysis

Assimilated Law Parliamentary Report: December 2024 to June 2025 executive summary

Updated 17 July 2025

This executive summary duplicates that in the PDF version of the Assimilated Law Parliamentary Report: December 2024 to June 2025 report.

Executive summary

The Retained EU Law Bill received Royal Assent on 29 June 2023. Section 17 of the act requires the Secretary of State to report to Parliament on REUL and assimilated law every 6 months until 23 June 2026. Under the legislation, the report must:

(a) provide a summary of the data on the assimilated law dashboard

(b) set out the “progress that has been made in revoking and reforming” assimilated law during the reporting period to which the report relates

(c) set out His Majesty’s Government’s plans to revoke and reform assimilated law in subsequent reporting periods

To begin with, this report provides an update on the Retained EU Law (REUL) and assimilated law dashboard. The dashboard provides the public with information on the amount of assimilated law (formerly known as REUL) and where it sits across departments. The dashboard was updated on 17 July 2025 and reflects the position as on 23 June 2025.

Departments have undertaken further analysis and identified some additional pieces of assimilated law. The total number of assimilated law now stands at 6,911 instruments concentrated over approximately 400 unique policy areas on the dashboard.

Since the previous update to the dashboard, 137 assimilated law instruments have either been revoked or reformed. As a result, 2,532 instruments have now been revoked or reformed in total.

The report then provides a list of revocations and reforms enacted during the reporting period (24 December 2024 to 23 June 2025). Since the publication of the last Assimilated Law Parliamentary Report, this government laid 12 statutory instruments (SIs) using powers under the REUL Act to amend assimilated law. This is detailed in the section ‘Detailed list of revocations and reforms’. This government laid a further 29 SIs revoking and reforming assimilated law under other domestic legislation, including, for example, an SI made under the Procurement Act 2023.

During this reporting period, the government has continued to reform assimilated law to support economic growth, as its number one mission. The government recently published the UK’s modern Industrial Strategy which is central to that Growth Mission. To be successful, the UK’s Industrial Strategy requires regulatory frameworks that foster competition, innovation and investment. Examples of reforms to assimilated law supporting this vision, as well as wider government priorities, include The Airports Slot Allocation (Alleviation of Usage Requirements etc.) Regulations 2025, which was made under the REUL Act and addresses previously limited regulations, and The Human Medicines (Amendment) (Modular Manufacture and Point of Care) Regulations 2025 which was made under the Medicines and Medical Devices Act 2021 and is intended to pioneer access to innovative treatments through a tailored regulatory framework for new ways of manufacturing medicines closer to the patient.

Regarding our plans for future use of the REUL Act powers, the government remains committed to reforming assimilated law where this will foster a pro-business environment through a streamlined regulatory framework that drives growth, supports innovation, and delivers on important strategies while maintaining environmental protections. These strategies include the UK’s modern Industrial Strategy, the Trade Strategy, the 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy, and a strategy for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This commitment to effective regulation is also reflected in the Prime Minister’s pledge to reduce regulatory administrative costs by 25% during this Parliament, and the chancellor’s Action Plan published on 17 March 2025 to overhaul the regulatory landscape. An example of a planned reform to assimilated law to support this target and the Action Plan includes proposed amendments that will enable claimants to send a copy, as opposed to the original, of their maternity certificate (MATB1) to employers to claim Statutory Maternity Pay, which would reduce the time businesses are required to spend completing these administrative processes.

We will also reform assimilated law in the context of the government’s national missions as well as our work to strengthen relationships with the devolved governments to deliver for people across the UK. We will continue to be guided by this government’s work to strengthen its new strategic partnership with the EU. The government will continue to update Parliament as to the detail of our plans for assimilated law.

Finally, the report details actions which have been taken to preserve so-called “section 4 rights”.