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Since then, two seemingly opposing regulatory instincts have run in parallel: the FCA is proposing a targeted narrowing of the Duty's scope and a more proportionate approach to applying it, while its enforcement and supervisory functions have grown noticeably more assertive. Understanding how these threads fit together now is central to firms seeking to achieve compliance with the Duty's substantive outcomes.

Three years of change: from saying to doing

The Duty originated in CP21/13 and was finalised in PS22/9, which retained the "determine or materially influence" test, bringing into scope any firm that determines or materially influences retail outcomes, even without a direct customer relationship. Implementation of the Duty was required by 31 July 2023 for new business and 31 July 2024 for back-book products. That history is well known; less familiar perhaps is how much firms have had to change in practice. The consumer support outcome, for example, had little real precursor in the FCA Handbook, and many firms initially struggled to build the systems needed to deliver it. Price and value, similarly, existed only in pockets, notably asset management, before the Duty, and proved challenging for firms to apply elsewhere: value is not simply a financial metric but a holistic assessment of benefits, limitations and target market fit, which many firms found hard to assess and to evidence. Underpinning both is the same shift: management information and outcomes monitoring have moved from something firms say to something they must show they are doing. As the FCA put it in June, firms "must be able to evidence better outcomes on an ongoing basis, not just frameworks or good intentions".

The rule review and the move towards simplification

FCA FS25/2 (March 2025) committed to clarifying how product governance and fair value rules interact and how the Duty applies through distribution chains, a commitment reinforced after the 2025 Mansion House speech. This has crystallised into CP26/23, which proposes to remove non-UK customers from scope, clarify "retail market business" and "material influence", carve out further activities, and permit reasonable reliance on other firms in a distribution chain. Feedback closes on 18 September 2026, with a policy statement expected in Q1 2027.

One of the more contentious proposals in CP26/23 introduces "principal" and "secondary" manufacturer categories, replacing co-manufacturing with rules based on which firm has "substantive control" over a product's design, operation or value proposition. This has been poorly received by parts of industry: identifying substantive control in a complex chain remains a difficult, fact-specific exercise that the reform does little to simplify. Firms should also be wary of treating CP26/23 as wholesale deregulation. Several proposals, including the manufacturer test, do not fundamentally shift the Duty's scope, and implementing any changes is likely to be costly for firms that have only recently finished mapping distribution chains to comply with the Duty as currently drafted.

A central, and costly, regulatory relationship

Given the volume of good and poor practice guidance the FCA has published since February 2024, now — or once the CP26/23 policy statement lands — feels like the right moment for firms to revisit their Duty frameworks. The Duty now sits at the heart of virtually all regulatory engagement with retail firms, from permission assessments through business-as-usual supervision to intervention when things go wrong. Notably, the FCA's PS26/2 on operational incident and third-party reporting uses "intolerable" consumer harm, meaning harm from which consumers cannot easily recover, as a notification trigger.

The enforcement counterweight

Set against this is a hardening enforcement posture. Enforcement Watch 1, published in January, disclosed six open Duty investigations concentrated on fair value; by Enforcement Watch 2 (July 2026), that figure had grown to 11, spanning insurance, pensions, wealth management, consumer investments, peer-to-peer lending and claims management.  The FCA has commissioned around 30 skilled person reviews referencing the Duty and stresses that fair value goes beyond price.  

The contrast is instructive for banking and financial services firms: the FCA is simultaneously narrowing the Duty's perimeter and intensifying scrutiny within it. Firms with wholesale-facing or distribution-chain roles may welcome the greater certainty promised by CP26/23 in some areas including limiting the Duty rules to UK retail consumers and excluding certain activities from its scope, but retail-facing and product-manufacturing functions should expect fair value and consumer support to remain firmly in the enforcement spotlight as the Duty enters its fourth year.