2026 Horizon Scanning – What General Counsel and Company Secretaries need to know for 2026

As organisations reflect on a year of significant legal and regulatory change, 2026 is shaping up to be a defining period for both governance professionals and employers. Across corporate governance and employment law, heightened regulatory scrutiny, evolving stakeholder expectations, and landmark legislative reforms mean that boards, General Counsel, Company Secretaries and HR leaders must be proactive, informed and ready to adapt.

On the employment front, the dust is settling on a headline-grabbing year for UK employment law. The Employment Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent in December 2025, marking the start of a new era for employers. Several substantial reforms will take effect during 2026, with further transformative changes to unfair dismissal rights anticipated in January 2027. Together, these developments will have far-reaching implications for workforce strategy, policies, reward structures and risk management. Now is the time for employers to assess the impact, update practices and ensure compliance ahead of enforcement.

At the same time, the corporate governance landscape continues to evolve at pace. 2026 will bring renewed focus on board accountability, corporate actions, stakeholder engagement and governance resilience. Against a backdrop of regulatory reform and increasing expectations around transparency and decision-making, General Counsel and Company Secretaries will play a critical role in helping organisations navigate change and stay ahead of emerging risks.

This Horizon Scan highlights the key legal, regulatory and governance trends to watch across Corporate Actions & Governance and Employment, Compensation & Benefits, and sets out practical insights to help organisations prepare for the year ahead.

White & Case UK Corporate Actions and Governance

Our UK Corporate Actions and Governance (CAG) team advises UK public and private companies outside their transaction cycles on their ongoing legal affairs, with extensive experience handling continuing obligations, corporate advisory and governance issues.

The CAG team has extensive experience in advising on complex, technical, multijurisdictional corporate advisory matters, including intra group reorganisations, returns of capital, demergers and joint ventures. The team also advises on listed company disclosure obligations, the implementation and operation of governance structures for corporates as well as different forms of unincorporated organisations in different jurisdictions.

The team is often called upon by companies to provide direct advice to their boards as and when needed and works hand in hand with the firm's market leading activism practice. The team works closely with the firm's wider international listed companies practice to ensure truly global coverage.

In addition to providing support to GCs and their legal teams, we also advise company secretaries and their secretariats on company secretarial matters and provide support directly to non-legal functions (e.g. finance and compliance and governance teams). We have successfully advised a wide range of clients, including newly-listed, mature, FTSE 100, small cap and global companies.

Please contact any member of our CAG team for any questions or queries and to see how they can assist.

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_{This article is prepared for the general information of interested persons. It is not, and does not attempt to be, comprehensive in nature. Due to the general nature of its content, it should not be regarded as legal advice.}

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