You’ll learn:
- The latest figures on UK business reporting readiness
- Hilary Eastman’s top tips on how to start preparing
- How Sweep can help
UK SRS: What businesses need to know
The UK Sustainability Reporting Standards, or UK SRS, are now final. They are not yet mandatory for every UK company, but businesses should start preparing now.
What’s happened so far?
The government endorsed UK SRS S1 on general disclosure requirements and UK SRS S2 on climate-related disclosures in February 2026. Based closely on the ISSB Standards, they provide a framework for more consistent, decision-useful sustainability reporting. Companies can use them voluntarily today, whether to align their current sustainability reporting or to test their readiness, identify data gaps and strengthen internal processes for when they become mandatory.
The FCA has now published its final policy statement on aligning listed issuers’ sustainability disclosures with the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards. The final rules will replace the existing TCFD-aligned listing requirements and apply on a comply-or-explain basis across UK SRS S1 and S2.
For in-scope listed companies, the rules will apply to accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027, with the first reporting expected in 2028. UK S1 disclosures benefit from a two-year transitional period and will therefore apply from accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2029.
Companies should treat 2027 as a preparation deadline, even where they may ultimately choose to explain rather than provide particular disclosures.
What’s next?
The government is considering whether economically significant private companies should also report against UK SRS. The thresholds and timing are not yet confirmed, but businesses should not wait for clarity before improving their reporting capabilities. Existing Companies Act, FCA and SECR obligations continue to apply where relevant, while investors, customers, lenders and supply-chain partners are already demanding more comprehensive sustainability information.
The message is simple: start now. Identify your likely obligations, assign ownership, assess your data, close the key gaps and put robust controls in place and gather necessary evidence. Early preparation will help companies identify and manage risk, strengthen resilience and make better use of sustainability data.
That is why we asked Hilary Eastman, CEO and Founder of Confluence Advisory and a member of the UK Sustainability Disclosure Technical Advisory Committee, to share five practical tips for companies preparing for the next phase of sustainability reporting.
The UK compliance readiness gap
To understand how prepared UK businesses are for rising sustainability disclosure expectations, Sweep and Capgemini commissioned research with senior business and sustainability leaders across multiple markets. The UK findings point to a significant gap between the direction of regulation and the quality of the data currently available to support compliance.
- 92% of UK respondents say their ESG data is not comprehensive enough to inform sustainability strategy.
- Only 10% say that more than 75% of their reportable ESG data is audit-ready.
- 86% say domestic policy changes, including the rollout of UK SRS, have driven increased sustainability investment.
The findings suggest that the immediate challenge for UK businesses is not simply understanding the standards. It is putting reliable, traceable and reviewable data processes in place before reporting requirements become mandatory.
Hilary’s top tips for UK companies
1. Treat sustainability data with the same discipline as financial data
UK SRS reporting will require companies to explain not only what they know, but how they know it. Start by establishing clear ownership and accountability for every important datapoint.
For each figure or disclosure, companies should be able to identify its source, reporting period, reporting boundary, calculation method, assumptions and give supporting evidence, with reviewer and approval status. This creates a stronger basis for reporting and will help ensure readiness for assurance when it comes. It also helps boards, investors, customers and suppliers assess the reliability of the information.
2. Build one controlled data foundation for multiple reporting needs
UK SRS should not be treated as a standalone annual reporting exercise. Sustainability information needs to connect with Finance, Risk, Procurement, Operations and general business planning.
A shared and controlled data foundation can support UK SRS alongside existing climate disclosures, SECR, investor requests, customer requirements and relevant international frameworks. Establishing common definitions, consistent boundaries and traceable data flows will reduce duplication and make it easier to respond as reporting requirements evolve.
3. Start now to assess your relevant sustainability issues
Although UK SRS S1 is still a few years away, that time will go by quickly and data and processes needed for climate disclosures will also be needed when reporting on topics beyond climate.
The identification of sustainability-related risks and opportunities, or SRROs, centres around three criteria: cash flows, access to finance and cost of capital. An issue only needs to affect one of those, over the short, medium or long term, to qualify and, if it does, disclosures about it will be required.
Companies should put in place processes for looking across the business for potentially relevant issues and determining thresholds. The outcome of this assessment will determine what disclosures need to be made so it’s critical to get this right.
4. Determine how ready you are to prepare the new disclosures
UK SRS S1 and S2 require more detailed disclosures than sustainability reporting has in the past. More granular and, in some cases, quantitative information will be needed and assessing readiness for preparing the disclosures should start early on. Assessing where the gaps in information are is not enough; you should also look at gaps in processes and policies, including preparation and review roles and responsibilities.
A dry run of some disclosure requirements can show where more information is needed and where processes need to be improved.
5. Bring investor relations into your planning
UK SRS, unlike most other sustainability reporting frameworks, is designed for meeting investor information needs about sustainability issues facing a business. Its focus on cash flows, access to finance and cost of capital brings UK SRS disclosures squarely into the financial models and investment pricing analysis, and is likely to require new ways of communicating about sustainability. It can be helpful to involve investor relations in how to present the information to a mainstream investor audience, both to ensure it’s clear and understandable and to minimise the risk of misinterpretations.
How Sweep can help
- Start with structure: Use a dedicated module pre-mapped to UK SRS S1 and S2, with guidance for every datapoint. Sweepy helps draft narratives and populate quantitative data for your review.
- Build once, report many times: Connect your existing data and reuse it across UK SRS, CSRD, CDP, GRI, and investor reporting.
- Share the work, keep control: Assign tasks, manage approvals, track changes, and maintain a complete audit trail.
- Bring in your value chain: Collect supplier data, use validated datasets to fill gaps, and keep everything in one workflow.
Get to a stronger UK SRS draft faster, with the data and governance to support it.
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