The Financial Conduct Authority has launched CP25/33, a joint consultation with the Prudential Regulation Authority, on changes to how FCA fees will be raised from 2026/27 and how levies for the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme will be collected. The proposals span new and evolving regimes, levy reporting and collection mechanics, and a set of fees policy updates ahead of the spring 2026 consultation on 2026/27 fee and levy rates. The package proposes (i) a new periodic fee model for Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System operators from 2026/27, placing them in a new ‘B’ fee-block with a GBP 2,200 minimum annual fee and a variable fee above GBP 500,000 of regulated income, with the variable fee-rate intended to remain fixed across the five-year sandbox and expected to be below GBP 12 per GBP 1,000 of regulated income, (ii) fee and levy treatment for the forthcoming targeted support regime by extending fee-block A.13 to include targeted support, setting a Category 2 variation of permission fee (currently GBP 550) for existing A.13 firms and a Category 4 application fee (currently GBP 2,790) for new authorisations, and adding targeted support to Financial Ombudsman industry blocks 8 and 9 and FSCS Class 2 Category 2.1 while seeking feedback on whether income is an appropriate levy tariff base, (iii) proposed application fee categories for future regulated cryptoasset activities, including Category 7 (currently GBP 27,870) for operating a qualifying cryptoasset trading platform, (iv) the fee approach for deferred payment credit lenders coming into regulation from 15 July 2026, including a Category 5 application fee (currently GBP 5,850) for full permission and a Category 1 registration fee (currently GBP 280) for entry to a Temporary Permissions Regime alongside periodic fees in that regime based on projected income, with deferred payment credit added to the Financial Ombudsman’s credit-related industry blocks while remaining outside FSCS cover, (v) removal of the GBP 3 per-agent registration and high-volume change notification fee for payment institutions, registered account information service providers and electronic money institutions, reallocating around GBP 160,000 of annual assessment costs to relevant PI and EMI fee-blocks, (vi) withdrawal of the planned expansion of the Financial Ombudsman levy tariff base definition of “relevant business” that had been deferred to 1 April 2026, keeping the consumer-only basis after analysis indicating non-consumer complaints represent around 3.8% of forecast complaints across affected blocks and that system and reporting changes for 20,000 plus firms would be disproportionate, and (vii) a joint FCA and PRA proposal to move “payments on account” invoicing due dates for firms paying GBP 50,000 or more in FCA and or PRA fees from 1 April and 1 September to the last working day in March and the last working day in August. Fees policy updates include a proposal to credit back 100% of the GBP 12.48m skilled person review costs paid by 10 motor finance lenders and recover the costs from the broader population of lenders in scope of the proposed discretionary commission arrangements redress scheme, as well as consultation on a possible quarterly pro-rating of periodic fees for firms cancelling permissions, potentially implementable from 1 April 2027. Comments on targeted support proposals are requested by 9 January 2026 and on all other proposals by 16 January 2026. The FCA plans to publish feedback and any resulting Handbook rules in February 2026 for targeted support and in March 2026 for other FCA rule changes, while the PRA expects to publish feedback and any PRA rules for the joint chapter in April 2026.

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