The UK move to T+1 – Accelerated Settlement UK

The UK’s move to T+1

The UK Accelerated Settlement Taskforce (AST) is recommending that the UK moves to the T+1 settlement cycle for securities on 11 October 2027.

Phase 1: Accelerated Settlement Taskforce review

The UK Accelerated Settlement Taskforce (AST) is recommending that the UK moves to the T+1 settlement cycle for securities on 11 October 2027.

As part of the Edinburgh Reforms announced in December 2022, HM Government established the Accelerated Settlement Taskforce (AST) chaired by Charlie Geffen. The AST published its Geffen report in March 2024 including ten recommendations, all of which were accepted by the government in its response.

The key recommendations agreed by HM Government were that:

The UK should move to T+1 settlement no later than 31st December 2027
The UK and other European jurisdictions should collaborate closely to see if a coordinated move to T+1 is possible, and if other European jurisdictions commit to a transition date then the UK should consider whether it wishes to align with that timeline
A Technical Group should be established to make detailed recommendations on how the transition should be delivered.

Phase 2: Accelerated Settlement Taskforce Technical Group planning

The UK government accepted all of the recommendations made in the “Accelerated Settlement Taskforce Report” and subsequently established the Accelerated Settlement Technical Group, led by Andrew Douglas, to carry out the next phase of the work.

The government asked the Technical Group to produce a report with its findings and recommendations by the end of 2024. The interim report was published in September with the final report expected in January 2025.

These recommendations may include actions for government, the UK financial services regulators and industry participants.

Phase 3: Accelerated Settlement Taskforce implementation

The AST concluded the optimal UK T+1 transition date to be 11 October 2027.

The Taskforce’s final recommendations and implementation plan will be published at the start of February 2025 and an online and in-person event for market participants will be held on 20 February.

This date and associated scope recommendations will be written into UK CSDR legislation via a statutory instrument initiated by HM Treasury.

The activities to be completed in the transition period, 01/01/2025-11/10/27 will be governed by the UK T+1 Code of Conduct – UK-TCC