The Law Commission has published its Annual Report 2025–26 and Business Plan 2026–27, highlighting progress on criminal law reform projects and setting out its priorities for the coming year. Among its planned work, the Law Commission intends to publish a final report on criminal appeals in 2026 and a consultation paper on homicide offences in summer 2026, while continuing its review of contempt of court, with Part 2 of its final report due in early 2027. The report also notes the publication of the Law Commission's final report on evidence in sexual offences prosecutions in July 2025 and that the government has subsequently announced reforms based on some of its recommendations, which are included in the Courts and Tribunals Bill. For 2026–27, the Law Commission's broader priorities are to deliver its programme of law reform, strengthen engagement with stakeholders and the public, enhance its international profile and improve organisational effectiveness.

The Law Commission has published a discussion paper examining legal issues raised by artificial intelligence (AI) in England and Wales. The paper, released on 31 July 2025, explores challenges across private, public and criminal law under three themes: AI autonomy and adaptiveness, interaction with and reliance on AI, and AI training and data. While containing no reform proposals, it aims to identify areas requiring future law reform. The Commission notes it has completed work on automated vehicles and AI deepfakes in intimate image abuse, with ongoing projects on aviation autonomy and product liability that will consider AI implications.

The Law Commission has published an interim statement on reforming business tenancies under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954). The statement follows its first consultation, running from 19 November 2024 to 19 February 2025. The Commission has provisionally decided that the current ‘contracting-out’ model is appropriate, as it provides a favourable balance between landlords and tenants and avoids undue market disruption. It confirms that certain tenancy types, such as agricultural tenancies, remain excluded, and proposes increasing the six-month minimum duration for security of tenure, with some support pending further consultation for extending this threshold to two years. These provisional conclusions will form the basis of the Commission’s second consultation paper, which will address the technical details of reforming the Act, including potential adjustments to the contracting-out procedure, with final recommendations to be published in a subsequent report.

The Law Commission of England and Wales has published its final report ‘Modernising Wills Law’ including its recommendations (Volume I) and a draft Bill (Volume II) that seeks to repeal and replace the Wills Act 1837 (WA 1837). The 31 recommendations aim to enhance testamentary freedom, increase protections for those vulnerable to undue influence and fraud and provide clarity and certainty in the law. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has further welcomed the report, stating it will make further announcements in due course. Expert commentary provided by Clare Archer, Partner, Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP & Alex Adams, Associate, Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP.

The Law Commission has published its final report on the legal framework governing social care for disabled children in England. The review was commissioned by the Department for Education following recommendations from the 2022 Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. It sets out recommendations aimed at simplifying the law, improving consistency, aligning it with related legislation and ensuring it better meets the needs of disabled children and their families.

The Law Commission has published a final report recommending a legal framework for the approval and regulation of new funerary methods in England and Wales. The proposals would enable the Government, the Secretary of State and the Welsh Ministers to approve and regulate individual new funerary methods, including alkaline hydrolysis and human composting, through secondary legislation. The report recommends allowing controlled trials before a method is formally approved where the deceased person gave prior consent, requiring the registration of each use of a new funerary method and the inspection of facilities, and creating criminal offences for using unapproved methods or making false statements to obtain their use. It also recommends against a licensing system, concluding that regulation through secondary legislation would provide equivalent oversight. The report is accompanied by two draft Bills, one for England and one for Wales, for the respective Governments to review and consider the recommendations for reform.

The Law Commission has published terms of reference for a comprehensive review of kinship care legislation in England and Wales. The review aims to reform legal frameworks affecting an estimated 141,000 children in kinship care arrangements. Key focus areas include developing a statutory definition of kinship care, evaluating existing legal orders and exploring a new bespoke kinship care order. The Commission plans to publish a consultation paper in Spring 2026, excluding broader reforms to care orders, adoption law, and non-statutory matters from its scope.

The Law Commission has published a scoping review examining UK international cooperation and extradition laws. The review, authored by Durham University's Gemma Davies, identifies significant issues with the Extradition Act 2003, including case volume pressures and forum bar operation problems. It also finds the UK's mutual legal assistance system lacks clear statutory framework and highlights fragmented criminal jurisdiction rules.

The Law Commission has published a scoping paper on decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs), which considers how DAOs can be characterised and identifies current issues around them to inform any future law reform or innovations.

The Law Commission has published a scoping report on agricultural law applicable in Wales, concluding that the fragmented legislative framework could be modernised, simplified and made more accessible through a potential bilingual code. The report examines approximately 150 laws originating from the Senedd, UK Parliament, EU-derived assimilated law and secondary legislation, identifying which legislation could form part of a future code and highlighting technical issues requiring modernisation, repeal or further analysis. The report forms part of the Welsh Government’s wider programme to improve the accessibility of Welsh law and ministers must provide an interim response within six months and a full response within a year.

The Law Commission has published terms of reference for a comprehensive review of kinship care law in England and Wales. The project aims to examine legal statuses and orders affecting children in kinship care, with focus on cases under section 17(10) of the Children Act 1989. The review will consider creating a legal definition of kinship care and potential introduction of a new bespoke order. The scope excludes reforms to care orders beyond kinship care applications, practice changes, and adoption law reform. The Commission intends to assess how current legislation affects rights, entitlements and support access across different family circumstances.

The Law Commission published a report, recommending reforms to evidence handling in sexual offences trials. The proposals include new evidence rules to address misconceptions about sexual violence, mandatory training for legal practitioners, and establishment of specialist courts. Key reforms include updating evidence rules to prevent rape myths from influencing juries, improving complainants’ privacy protections, and providing them with independent legal advice when their personal records or sexual history are considered. The report also recommends mandatory training for all legal practitioners on rape myths and misconceptions, alongside improved judicial directions to juries and the potential use of expert evidence in complex cases. These proposals aim to make trials fairer and less traumatic, while upholding justice for all parties.