Corporate reporting reform 2026: what it means for SECR

SECR is being reformed, not scrapped. The government's Modernising Corporate Reporting consultation, open until 30 November 2026, abolishes the directors' report and lets companies place their SECR disclosure anywhere in the first half of the annual report. A separate DESNZ consultation on SECR and ESOS is due later in 2026. Until new rules are made, the 250-employee, £36 million and £18 million tests still apply.

Updated 7 October 2026 by the Carbon Recycling team. Figures use the official UK government conversion factors and are checked against the current gov.uk guidance.

What has actually been published

Three government documents in 2026 shape where Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) goes next:

Date	Document	What it says about SECR
29 January 2026	DESNZ evaluation of the SECR regulations	An independent review of how SECR has worked since 2019, using a business survey, interviews, energy meter data and Companies House filings.
15 May 2026	Regulatory Policy Committee opinion on the SECR post-implementation review	DESNZ's recommendation is to amend SECR: clearer guidance, more consistency, better alignment with other reporting frameworks and less duplication. The committee rated the evidence fit for purpose.
7 September 2026	Modernising Corporate Reporting consultation (Department for Business and Trade)	Moves SECR out of the abolished directors' report, asks about a new "very large" company threshold, and confirms a DESNZ consultation on SECR and ESOS later in 2026.

None of these changes the law today. They tell you the direction, and they give anyone affected a chance to say what should change.

Change 1: the directors' report is going

In October 2025 the government said it would remove the requirement to produce a directors' report, moving some of its contents elsewhere and dropping others. SECR currently lives in the directors' report, so it has to move. The consultation's answer is not to prescribe a place: companies in scope will be free to put the SECR disclosure in any section of the first half of the annual report, including the strategic report. The content of the disclosure stays the same. The statutory instruments that make this change are still to be laid before Parliament.

Change 2: a possible "very large" company category

Company law has more than ten different size tests for different reports, which the consultation calls out as confusing. It asks whether some non-financial reporting should be tied to a single new "very large" company threshold, and how that threshold should be set. The government says it has an open mind. It is a question, not a proposal, and the consultation does not say SECR would move to it. Today's SECR tests are unchanged:

Who	When SECR applies today
Quoted companies	Always, covering UK and global energy and emissions
Unquoted companies and LLPs	When they meet two of: 250 or more employees, £36 million or more turnover, £18 million or more balance sheet
Everyone else, including most SMEs	Not covered

The higher Companies Act size thresholds that applied from April 2025 did not change these SECR tests. Our SECR checker uses the current rules.

Change 3: a DESNZ consultation on SECR and ESOS itself

The bigger reform is still to come. The consultation says DESNZ intends to consult on SECR and the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme later in 2026, to look at the whole landscape of energy and carbon reporting and longer-term options for SECR. Question 26 of the current consultation already asks which areas of energy and carbon reporting should be prioritised. Things worth watching for when it arrives:

whether SECR and ESOS are brought closer together, since many of the same companies do both;
whether Scope 3 reporting is extended beyond the small amount of business travel SECR asks for today;
how SECR lines up with the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards, which listed companies start using from 2027.

These are open questions. We'll update this post when DESNZ publishes its consultation.

What to do now

If you report under SECR, keep reporting exactly as now. The next annual report still needs UK energy use, the emissions from it, an intensity ratio, a methodology statement and a narrative on energy efficiency. Our SECR guide lists every item.
If you're near the thresholds, check again each year. Crossing two of the three tests brings you in, whatever happens to the reform.
If you're a small business, SECR almost certainly doesn't apply to you. Customers and tenders asking for a Carbon Reduction Plan are the more likely reason to measure your footprint. See do small companies need to do SECR?
If you want a say, respond to the consultation on gov.uk before 30 November 2026.

How Carbon Recycling helps

Carbon Recycling produces an SECR report and a Carbon Reduction Plan from the same records, using the government conversion factors for each year. When the rules change, we update the report format, and your past figures stay as they were.

Frequently asked questions

Is SECR being scrapped?

No. Nothing published so far scraps SECR. The Modernising Corporate Reporting consultation keeps the disclosure but lets companies put it anywhere in the first half of the annual report, because the directors' report it currently sits in is being abolished. A separate DESNZ review recommends amending SECR, not removing it.

Have the SECR thresholds changed?

Not yet. SECR still applies to quoted companies and to unquoted companies and LLPs that meet two of three tests: 250 or more employees, £36 million turnover or a £18 million balance sheet. The consultation asks about a new "very large" company category for some non-financial reporting, but it makes no firm proposal for SECR's thresholds.

When does the consultation close?

The Department for Business and Trade's Modernising Corporate Reporting consultation opened on 7 September 2026 and closes at 11:59pm on 30 November 2026.

Will there be a separate consultation on SECR itself?

Yes. The consultation says DESNZ intends to consult on SECR and ESOS later in 2026, building on an evaluation of SECR published on 29 January 2026 and an ESOS evaluation that is still under way.

Should a small business respond?

It can, and question 26 asks directly which areas of energy and carbon reporting should be reviewed. But SECR rarely applies to small businesses, so for most the bigger influence on what they report stays with their customers and public sector buyers.

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