UK’s new Payments Forward Plan to help firms ‘plan ahead’ amid raft of initiatives

In the UK, a new Payments Forward Plan has been published, setting out “a clear and coordinated regulatory roadmap for the payments sector over the next three years”, including timings related to the Open Banking Future Entity and commercial variable recurring payments (cVRPs).

The Payments Vision Delivery Committee – comprising HM Treasury, the Bank of England, Financial Conduct Authority and Payment Systems Regulator – has released the plan to provide the industry with “clarity on what is coming and when”, enabling firms to plan ahead and to encourage innovation in the private sector.

The new plan provides an overview of all the payments-related initiatives being delivered by the government and public authorities, as well as how each initiative supports delivery of the National Payments Vision.

On the immediate horizon for Open Banking is the first live cVRPs under the industry-led scheme, the UK Payments Initiative, which are expected to rollout in the first quarter of 2026.

The plan reveals that, in April this year, the industry will select an organisation to take forward the “establishment of a body capable of becoming the Future Entity for Open Banking”, with the aim to establish the Future Entity in the third to fourth quarter of 2026.

The FCA consultation paper on the Open Banking Long-Term Regulatory Framework interface rules is planned for the third quarter, followed in the fourth quarter by the HMT Data (Use and Access) Act Statutory Instrument being laid in Parliament. This paves the way for the FCA to oversee the future ecosystem, including regulating the Future Entity and commercial schemes, and for revocation of the CMA Order.

The plan also reveals that the government has developed a consultation about the design of a digital identity scheme, which will be launched “very soon”.

On LinkedIn, Megan Coulson, UK public policy lead at TrueLayer, called it “the next step in bringing coherence to an increasingly busy payments policy landscape”.

“At its core, the plan is a coordination tool, setting out how multiple initiatives across retail and wholesale payments are expected to sequence and interact, rather than progressing in isolation,” she said.

“If implemented well, the Payments Forward Plan could begin to replace regulatory silos with a genuinely coordinated roadmap. That clarity and certainty is what allows industry to translate policy intent into practical delivery.”

Adam Jackson, chief strategy officer at Innovate Finance, wrote on LinkedIn: “One area where pace is essential is Open Banking cVRP – rolling out the new account-to-account UK Payments Initiative which will be the first tangible manifestation of the National Payments Vision.

“The Plan helpfully confirms end Q1 2026 as the start of wave 1 live payments but omits to set out the actions needed from Government and regulators to ensure successful extension to e-commerce later this year and indicates a timetable on some regulatory underpinnings that will be too slow.”

He added: “This is a flagship for UK payments innovation and we need the authorities to focus on delivering in a timely manner the framework industry needs.”

Further reading: What’s in store for the UK and European ecosystem in 2026?