meta_id 3142063

On May 11 2026, HM Treasury (HMT)  published the outcome of its consultation on Commercial Credit Data Sharing (CCDS) and the Bank Referral Scheme (BRS), which closed on December 22, 2025. The government has confirmed its intention to legislate, when parliamentary time allows, to strengthen and modernise CCDS, but will not take forward legislative changes for the BRS. In its consultation response, the government confirmed the following: The government intends to take forward changes to CCDS when Parliamentary time allows which will require changes to both primary legislation (t he Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 )  and secondary legislation ( the Small and Medium Sized Business (Credit information) Regulations 2015 ). It is also likely to involve further consultation, where necessary. The government has confirmed its intention to take forward the following specific proposals to the CCDS: Expanding the regime to be able to designate entities other than only regulated banking institutions, the government also plans to revise the existing designation criteria. Ensuring that voluntary participants’ SME customer information is shared with all designated CRAs. Ensuring that SMEs that qualify for CCDS reporting exit the scheme once they have clearly and consistently exceeded the turnover threshold. Allow individual entities to qualify for CCDS reporting. Revising the information mandated to be included within CCDS reporting and excluding categories of data that are no longer necessary (such as stocking loans). Ensuring that older SME accounts (i.e. those opened prior to the 2015 regulations coming into force) are included in the scheme. Inclusion of charities and the not-for-profit sector. Revising the roles of the public authorities, particularly the FCA and HMT to better support the expanded scope. Expanding the regime to be able to designate entities other than only regulated banking institutions, the government also plans to revise the existing designation criteria. Ensuring that voluntary participants’ SME customer information is shared with all designated CRAs. Ensuring that SMEs that qualify for CCDS reporting exit the scheme once they have clearly and consistently exceeded the turnover threshold. Allow individual entities to qualify for CCDS reporting. Revising the information mandated to be included within CCDS reporting and excluding categories of data that are no longer necessary (such as stocking loans). Ensuring that older SME accounts (i.e. those opened prior to the 2015 regulations coming into force) are included in the scheme. Inclusion of charities and the not-for-profit sector. Revising the roles of the public authorities, particularly the FCA and HMT to better support the expanded scope. Following the BRS consultation, the government will be looking to improve the bank referral process through industry-led action rather than changes to legislation at this time. Specifically, the government would like the private sector to deliver proposals for how to improve bank referrals and support SME finance by December 18, 2026. The announcement did not include an email address for responses, but the responses to the previous consultation were made to SMELending@hmtreasury.gov.uk . Specifically, the government would like the private sector to deliver proposals for how to improve bank referrals and support SME finance by December 18, 2026. The announcement did not include an email address for responses, but the responses to the previous consultation were made to SMELending@hmtreasury.gov.uk .