The UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU) has published its 2023-2024 SARs Annual Report.

The UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU) has published its January 2025 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) Reporter Booklet. This publication, intended for reporters of SARs, includes case studies and summaries of feedback from law enforcement agencies on their utilisation of SAR intelligence to instigate and inform ongoing investigations into high-priority threats identified by the National Strategic Assessment of Serious and Organised Crime, with a particular focus on money laundering and fraud cases. The booklet aims to share perspectives on SARs usage among regime participants, encourage best practices among reporters, and provide a feedback mechanism to the UKFIU regarding the regime's operation.

The UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU) of the National Crime Agency (NCA) has published its May 2025 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) Reporter Booklet, highlighting recent cases where SARs led to successful law enforcement outcomes. This publication includes case studies of successful interventions, including a £270,000 drug-related money laundering investigation resulting in £800,000 in asset restraints and a £400,000 shell company fraud case leading to Account Freezing Orders. The booklet outlines UKFIU's coordination with the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) and provides updated guidance on Defence Against Money Laundering (DAML) request procedures.

The UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU) has published its November 2024 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) reporter booklet, providing sanitised case studies demonstrating the effective use of SARs in law enforcement investigations. The booklet showcases how SARs have been instrumental in tackling high-priority threats identified in the National Strategic Assessment of Serious and Organised Crime. Notable outcomes include the forfeiture of over £1.5m in a counterfeit goods case, the voluntary surrender of £300,000 towards a confiscation order in a fraud case, and the restraint of over £50,000 in a drug-related investigation. The publication aims to share best practices and provide feedback to reporters on the operation of the SARs regime, underlining the critical role of financial intelligence in combating various forms of serious and organised crime.

The UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU) of the National Crime Agency (NCA) has published its November 2025 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) Reporter Booklet, highlighting recent cases in which SARs have contributed to successful law enforcement outcomes. Notable cases include a money laundering investigation leading to an Account Freezing Order exceeding £2m, multiple fraud cases resulting in forfeitures totalling £800,000 and £450,000, respectively and a romance fraud operation recovering £25,000 in assets. The booklet also demonstrates how refusals of Defence Against Money Laundering (DAML) requests by the UKFIU have facilitated law enforcement action in cases involving money mule activity, VAT fraud schemes and organised crime proceeds.

The UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU) has published a three-chapter best practice guidance covering the new SAR Portal system for submitting Suspicious Activity Reports. The guidance mandates that all users register for new accounts, regardless of prior use of the legacy SAR Online system, and introduces two-factor authentication requirements. The documents comprehensively detail the SAR submission processes, including defence requests under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (PoCA 2002) and the Terrorism Act 2000 (TA 2000).

The UK Financial Intelligence Unit’s (UKFIU) magazine, SARs in Action, has published its 27th issue focused on professional enablers. This issue examines case studies on professional enablers and how SAR intelligence aided investigations. It also covers the National Crime Agency's (NCA) analysis on fraud and organised crime, HM Revenue and Customs' guidance on money laundering regulations, and the virtual squatting cell's efforts to combat economic crime.

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has published a report following its webinar examining the outcomes of COP30, the UK Autumn Budget, and their combined impact on the built environment. The organisation stated that COP30 exposed a widening gap between global climate ambition and delivery, with limited political engagement and no agreement on a fossil fuel phase out. Forecasts of 2.6°C warming were contrasted with the 1.5°C goal, underscoring the shortfall between commitments and action. UKGBC noted that, while formal negotiations underperformed, investment in renewable energy, particularly solar, continues to accelerate, and sector led coalitions are increasingly shaping progress. COP30 also placed greater emphasis on resilience, recognising the need for buildings to reduce emissions and withstand intensifying climate impacts.

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has announced the establishment of a Regenerative Places Framework Task Group, comprising 36 industry experts to advance place-based regenerative approaches in the built environment. The task group will create guidance for industry and policy makers on embedding regenerative principles into projects from the earliest design stages. Building on the UKGBC’s Regenerative Places Programme and the Local Authority Retrofit Accelerator pilot projects, the initiative will also consider how regenerative approaches can be applied to the retrofit of existing homes and communities at scale. The group will define what ‘regenerative’ means in practice, explore how and when these principles should be applied and develop pathways for policy and industry to deliver more regenerative project outcomes.

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has published a blog by its chief executive, Simon McWhirter, calling for stronger industry-wide collaboration and ‘brave’ leadership to accelerate sustainability progress amid challenging economic and political conditions.

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has launched its Regenerative Places Framework for Housing, which sets out a regenerative approach to the planning, design, delivery and long-term stewardship of new housing and retrofit projects. The framework establishes nine ‘Dimensions of Place’, identifies six key transitions required to support regenerative approaches and sets out policy levers needed to enable them. It is intended for organisations and professionals involved in funding, planning, commissioning, designing, developing, constructing and managing housing, including local authorities, housing providers and professionals across planning, design, development and construction. UKGBC states that the framework is not a new standard or compliance tool but is intended to provide a structure for organisations to implement and connect existing standards and make more deliberate decisions about the long-term impact of housing projects on people, place and nature. It also includes practical case studies from projects in design and completion.

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) launched the UK Climate Resilience Roadmap on 26 June 2025, the first guidance of its kind to outline how the UK’s built environment—including homes, schools, offices, hospitals, parks and infrastructure—is increasingly vulnerable to five key climate hazards: overheating, flooding, drought, wildfires and storms. The roadmap identifies 13 areas across the UK most at risk from extreme weather events, noting that places such as Peterborough and Fairbourne could become ‘likely uninhabitable’ by the end of the century due to flooding. It also identifies regions particularly susceptible to storms, wildfires and drought, and outlines strategies to help adapt buildings for a warmer, wetter future. The guidance calls on the government to treat climate resilience as a national emergency and includes several policy recommendations, such as establishing an Office for Resilience within the Cabinet Office, reinstating the Minister for Resilience, protecting all communities with trees, parks and ponds, and fostering a new generation of green professionals. It also sets out a four-stage framework designed to help built environment professionals integrate climate resilience into decision-making across organisations and project teams.