Briefing

Final call for consultation comments: UK captives

Key takeaways

This week is the last chance for industry submissions, with the UK’s insurance captives consultations (FCA CP26/29 and PRA CP11/26) closing 14 October 2026.

To recap, the new regime is expected to be implemented in mid-2027, while provision for PCCs is planned for a later stage.
With useful indications of PRA and UK Treasury thinking on some key points, the PRA has published the minutes of its September 2026 CP11/26 industry roundtable. This update provides an overview, together with our analysis of why it matters.
Our previous updates are here, here, here, and here, and our recent Insurance Day article here.

Snapshot

The PRA and UK Treasury roundtable responses are clarificatory rather than revolutionary. We anticipate that the outcome of the consultations will largely be fine-tuning of the authorities’ existing proposals.

Use cases

The PRA has confirmed that the proposed regime could support emerging risks and risks that are difficult to insure, where they remain within scope of the regime and firms demonstrate appropriate expertise, governance, and risk-management capabilities.

This is an important clarification that UK captives’ business models can stretch beyond vanilla group company coverage. It is particularly important given the UK’s pre-eminence as a global (re)insurance market for speciality risks.

Capital

On a related note, the PRA has confirmed that the Captive Capital Requirement is a minimum. Boards would be required to consider whether the captive should hold additional resources where it is covering emerging or complex risks, or where the captive is concentrated towards certain risks.

Redomiciling

As expected, industry feedback has raised questions about the lack of a statutory redomiciliation framework. Unfortunately, there seems to be no near-term prospect of a statutory solution, necessitating piecemeal structures including novations, commutations and other solutions.

PCCs

In our view, PCCs are an essential component of a full spectrum captives regime. UK Treasury has confirmed that further regulatory consultation and policy development will follow the required legislation. With no firm timelines, our concern remains that PCCs will be lost in the legislative long grass.

Tax

The UK Treasury’s position remains unchanged; captives will be taxed in the same manner as other insurance undertakings. This is a policy decision by the UK Government, balancing the extent of the UK’s tax net and economic growth through the regulatory perimeter.

As we previously observed, while the decision may be neutral for an entity with an existing UK tax presence, other UK captive candidates will need to weigh all of the interlocking factors (including UK tax) when deciding whether to establish a captive in the UK.

Next steps

The new regime is expected to be implemented in mid-2027 while provision for PCCs is planned for a later stage.

While it is clear that there is no likelihood of policy changes in some areas (for example tax), the industry roundtable confirms common industry themes, such asthe importance of a UK regime including PCCs and key logistics such as redomiciling.

With the Government’s and regulators’ incredibly full to-do lists in many sectors, consultation feedback by 14 October 2026 and continuing industry advocacy is vital.

Poppy Flury, Trainee Solicitor, assisted in the preparation of this briefing.