On 20 January 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Payment Systems Regulator issued a joint prioritisation statement on commercial variable recurring payments – UKPI scheme (Phase 1/Wave 1). The joint statement confirms that the regulators will not, at this stage, prioritise a Competition Act 1998 investigation into the centralised ‘access fee’ pricing model being developed by the UK Payments Initiative (UKPI) for commercial Variable Recurring Payments (cVRPs). The purpose is to give UKPI the certainty to continue developing its cVRP product – including for certain regulated financial services, utilities and public sector payments – without delay.

The pricing arrangements addressed by the joint statement relate only to Phase 1/Wave 1 of UKPI’s cVRP scheme, as defined by reference to the information provided to the regulators. Phase 1/Wave 1 relates to limited types of payment use cases known as ‘lower risk’ use cases. The joint statement is intended to apply for the period of time ahead of implementation of the legislative framework under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 or other relevant legislative mechanism or until July 2027, whichever is earlier. In the event that the legislative framework is not implemented by July 2027, the regulators will consider whether it would be appropriate to issue a further statement to cover the pricing arrangements outlined in the joint statement – if so, the content and form will be decided at the time, taking into account developments in the market.