On 26 March 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published Consultation Paper 26/11: FCA regulated fees and levies: rates proposals for 2026/27 (CP26/11).

Background

The FCA is funded by fees and levies from the firms it regulates. CP26/11 consults on rules that would enable the FCA to raise regulatory fees and levies in 2026/27 to fund its operations and that of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), as well as collecting specific levies on behalf of government departments. CP26/11 applies to all FCA fee-payers, FOS general levy payers, firms considering FCA authorisation or registration, and firms that pay relevant government department levies.

Proposals

The FCA outlines the following in CP26/11, in particular:

  • Annual Funding Requirement (AFR): The FCA’s  AFR for 2026/27 is £788.9m and is made up of the ongoing regulatory activities (ORA) budget, which is the the baseline cost of operating the FCA that is increasing by 1%, and exceptional projects costs, which recover the costs of additional work the FCA undertakes including implementing government initiatives and legislation.
  • Periodic fees: The FCA is proposing that minimum and flat rate fees will be uplifted by 1% in line with the ORA and are also proposing changes to fees in certain fee-blocks. The FCA have provided a Fee Calculator to enable firms to calculate their periodic fees for the forthcoming year.
  • Application, transaction and notification fees: The FCA are proposing to raise application fees in line with the 1% increase in its ORA budget and round them to the nearest £10.
  • FOS general levy: The FCA sets out proposed allocation of the FOS levy for 2026/27 across the respective industry blocks, with 2025/26 rates for comparison. Firms would either pay a minimum levy, which then increases in line with how much ‘relevant business’ the firm conducts (i.e. business with consumers as set out in the ‘relevant business’ Handbook Glossary definition), or a flat fee, as applicable for each relevant industry block.
  • Amendments to the FEES Manual: The FCA proposes to make applications for permissions under the cryptoasset regime consistent with other FSMA applications and to update its guidance to clarify that direct debit is our preferred method of payment.

Next steps

The deadline for comments on CP26/11 is 30 April 2026. Subject to FCA Board approval in June 2026, the FCA plans to publish a Policy Statement in early July 2026.