Guidance

Transition of Development Consent Orders and Transport and Work Act Orders to Lawmaker

Published 25 September 2026

Applies to England and Wales

1. Who this guidance is for

This guidance is for Development Consent Order (DCO) and Transport and Works Act Order (TWAO) applicants and drafters.

2. What is changing

As applicants and drafters of DCOs and TWAOs may be aware, the UK government is making changes to the platform it uses to draft and register secondary legislation. From the end of December 2026, the SI template will start to be withdrawn, as the government completes its transition to using Lawmaker, the shared software service for drafting all UK and devolved legislation.

In due course, Lawmaker will become the standard way for draft DCOs and TWAOs to be prepared, managed and submitted.

The move to Lawmaker is intended to bring practical benefits for everyone involved in DCO and TWAO drafting. These include:

• removing the separate delaying validation process
• providing real-time error reporting
• improving the management of tracked changes
• enabling documents to be imported and exported more easily
• supporting simultaneous editing by more than one person

The immediate priority is to make sure this transition happens smoothly and without disruption to DCO and TWAO applications.

There is nothing applicants or their drafting teams need to do at this stage. In the first instance, the Planning Inspectorate and relevant consenting teams will manage the move from the SI template to Lawmaker. For now, applicants and their drafting teams should continue to prepare draft orders using the SI template and follow the current validation requirements unless advised otherwise.

Looking further ahead, the aim is to provide access to Lawmaker for applicants and their drafting teams, so that Lawmaker is used throughout the DCO and TWAO processes. This will be most efficient in the long term, and should reduce the administrative burden and cost across all process stages, including during the pre-application phase.

The National Archives is taking the practical steps required to extend Lawmaker access and engaging with the sector to ensure plans are informed by applicant experience and requirements. Once this is confirmed, further guidance will be issued explaining what access means in practice and how it will affect processes.

We recognise that this is an important change for applicants, legal advisers and other stakeholders. We will therefore provide regular updates from now until the transition is complete, including further information on timing, process changes, training and support as these details are confirmed.

Legal firms keen to help inform the transition process through involvement in trials and testing of Lawmaker software should contact The National Archives at lawmaker@nationalarchives.gov.uk to express interest.

3. Frequently asked questions

My application is due for decision close to the 31 December cut-off for registration in the SI template format. How will government ensure that a decision on my application is not delayed?

Contingency planning is underway to ensure that decisions are not delayed by this transition.

What are the anticipated timescales for Lawmaker’s implementation and when will my team be granted access?

Lawmaker will be introduced for DCOs and TWAOs over the coming months, with most orders expected to be registered on Lawmaker software before summer 2027. We will provide further advice and information in due course.

If in future I draft my DCO or TWAO in Lawmaker, does that mean that it will be visible to government organisations?

No. Documents in Lawmaker are visible by default only to the organisation that creates them. Your draft order will therefore only be visible to colleagues in your organisation.

Lawmaker provides a range of methods for sharing documents between organisations, and specific guidance for how to manage handovers in the process would be provided in due course.

How can I be assured that if Lawmaker is used to process my DCO or TWAO, any sensitive information included will be safe and handled in accordance with legal responsibilities?

Lawmaker has been designed and built from the outset to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive legislative documents. A range of security controls are in place to ensure the ongoing security of the service. It is already in use across government organisations and parliaments for other similarly sensitive legislation.

Will applicants be expected to upload their DCO from the SI template to Lawmaker in the middle of an examination?

No. As part of transition planning, we will identify a range of points in the DCO process that may be suitable for a transition to take place from the SI template to Lawmaker without disruption, but that is unlikely to include during the middle of an examination.

What training and support would be available for the initial transition to Lawmaker and beyond?

Self-guided training material is available for all users of Lawmaker through the Lawmaker user manual. In addition, a trainer-led, day-long course is available for organisations at a reasonable cost.

All Lawmaker users have access to the Lawmaker support service, which provides expert technical and domain knowledge to help ensure documents are drafted to a high quality and registered without delay.

For more information, see the Lawmaker frequently asked questions about SI/SR/SSI template retirement.