The Royal Mail have added barcodes to their regular stamps. After 31 July 2023, regular stamps without a barcode will no longer be valid. You can either use up these stamps before this deadline or swap them for the new barcoded ones.
The stamps that are changing are the stamps that will be very familiar to you. They feature the profile of Her Late Majesty The Queen on a plain coloured background.
Your non-barcoded stamps can be exchanged for the new barcoded version through the Stamp Swap Out scheme.
Unregulated Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) agreements will fall under full FCA regulation from 15 July 2026. For the first time, BNPL lenders will need to meet the same expectations as other consumer-credit providers. With almost 11 million UK adults using BNPL in 2024, according to an FCA survey, this is a significant change.
The government has published the draft secondary legislation for the UK’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which is due to go live on 1 January 2027. This is an important development for UK businesses importing affected materials.