CMA Charts a New Course for 2026/27

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (the "CMA") has unveiled its Annual Plan for 2026–2027 (the "Plan"), setting out the authority's strategic priorities and workplan for the year ahead.

The Plan arrives at a pivotal moment for the CMA. Following a period of significant institutional transition — including the replacement of the CMA chair, a formal pro-growth mandate issued by the UK government, and far-reaching legislative reform through the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (the "DMCCA") — the CMA is seeking to chart a clearer and more defined course with material implications for businesses operating in the UK.

The message is clear: the CMA is entering a new phase, and its recalibrated priorities will have tangible and immediate implications for dealmaking, digital markets, and consumer-facing businesses in the UK.

Key Takeaways

• Merger control reset. The CMA plans to apply its merger control function in a highly targeted way.
  • In global mergers, the CMA will seek to "step back" and avoid unnecessary duplication with international counterparts.
  • The CMA will be open to exploring wider remedy packages, including behavioural remedies, which it had previously been very reluctant to accept save in exceptional cases.
  • Structural reform of the merger control process is on the horizon, including changing the current Phase 2 decision-making structure, and clarifying the statutory tests for investigating a transaction (so that the CMA's wide discretion to assert jurisdiction over certain transactions is more circumscribed).
• Tech-enabled enforcement. The CMA is investing heavily in AI and data analytics to detect anti-competitive behaviour, including algorithmic collusion and bid-rigging.
• Industrial strategy and sustainability. The CMA is actively encouraging pro-competitive collaboration, particularly in eight priority sectors¹ identified in the Industrial Strategy, and in relation to environmental sustainability agreements.
• Focus on consumers. The CMA will place a strong emphasis on championing consumer interests. This focus is already evident in its recent activity: within the past month alone, the CMA has launched a competition investigation in the hotel sector, a market study into the private dentistry sector, the monitoring of petrol and diesel prices, and the conclusion of its veterinary services investigation (with major reforms required, e.g. on pricing).
• Digital markets acceleration. Following the first "Strategic Market Status" designations,² the CMA is now in the process of designing and implementing remedies in the UK. Further Strategic Market Status designations are expected in Q2 2026.
• Institutional shift. The 4Ps programme (pace, predictability, proportionality and process) will continue to underpin all CMA activity.

Core objectives

The Plan is the first detailed implementation plan under its 2026-2029 Strategy. It is underpinned by the following five core strategic aims:

1. Advocating for and enforcing effective competition across the UK economy
2. Championing the interests of consumers
3. Enabling competition through the provision of advice and recommendations to government
4. Contributing to a UK regulatory landscape that instils business confidence and attracts investment
5. Prioritising UK interests.

Merger Control

• Calibrated merger scrutiny: The CMA notes that the way the merger regime is operated is crucial to business and investor confidence in the UK. According to the Plan, "[t}he CMA is clear that every deal capable of being cleared unconditionally, or with effective remedies, should be".
• "Wait and see" approach: Where a merger is under investigation by another competition authority, the CMA will consider whether it can wait to see whether those proceedings resolve any potential UK concerns (e.g. through a global remedy) before opening its own investigation. This reflects the CMA's broader commitment to avoiding unnecessary duplication with international counterparts — a significant development for multi-jurisdictional transactions.
• Remedies: The CMA will implement its revised remedies guidance, published at the end of last year, which widens the scope for behavioural remedies and provides greater clarity on when remedies can secure rivalry-enhancing efficiencies and how the CMA assesses relevant customer benefits. The revised guidance also facilitates earlier engagement with merger parties on remedies.
• Legislative reform: The CMA will work closely with government on proposed legislative changes to the merger regime. On 20 January 2026, the UK government announced a consultation on planned reforms that include:
  • Change of how Phase II merger decisions are taken by replacing the Phase II independent panel (CMA panel, consisting of a pool of more than 30 independent senior experts) with sub-committees of the CMA board, comprising CMA executives, non-executive directors and non-CMA staff industry experts. The proposed reform increases the influence of CMA staff on merger control outcomes and aims to "ensure that those ultimately accountable to Parliament are directly involved in the most significant mergers and markets decisions".
  • Clarifying certain statutory tests that determine whether the CMA can investigate a transaction, in particular the "share of supply" and "hybrid" tests that allow the CMA to review transactions where the parties together supply or acquire at least 25% (share of supply) or 33% (hybrid) of a particular good or service in the UK or a substantial part of it. The aim is to limit the CMA's discretion with a closed set of specified statutory criteria.
  • Clarifying the "material influence" and "de facto" control tests (which enable the CMA to review transactions that fall below the "control" test of "decisive influence" that applies in EU merger control cases as well as in many other jurisdictions).
  • Extending the period following a Phase I decision for agreeing remedies.

Antitrust Enforcement

• Key growth sectors and areas that can help improve household prosperity. The CMA intends to actively target anti-competitive conduct "that prevents innovative firms from entering and scaling – particularly in strategically important markets".
• Business collaboration. The CMA is stepping up its facilitation of pro-growth business collaboration, particularly in the eight Industrial Strategy priority sectors and in relation to environmental sustainability agreements. The CMA has invited sectors to come forward where there is concrete evidence that competition law concerns are chilling beneficial collaborations, and where it may be able to provide comfort or guidance.
• Public Procurement and Bid-Rigging. The CMA is escalating its enforcement efforts against bid-rigging in public procurement, leveraging AI and data science tools to scan bidding data and identify illegal activity at scale. Critically, the deterrent effect of enforcement action is expected to increase significantly now that cartelists face debarment under the Procurement Act 2023 (inclusion in a central debarment register and exclusion from public tenders for up to five years).
• Algorithmic Collusion. The CMA intends to invest further into its dedicated in-house capability in technology, data and AI to scan the market for signs of unlawful algorithmic activity. It will continue to help businesses understand how to remain compliant when using or offering algorithmic pricing services.

Market Studies/Investigations and Advocacy

• Focus on consumer markets. The CMA is placing greater emphasis on consumer-facing markets. The Plan states it will progress its market study in the private dentistry sector, and the implementation of remedies that result from its veterinary services market investigation.
• Supporting Industrial Policy. The CMA aims to help to unlock cross-economy barriers to growth, such as more interoperability and access to data.
• Unlocking public procurement. The CMA aims to complete its civil engineering market study to improve how projects are scoped, planned, procured and regulated to better support UK growth. The CMA will continue to assist the Ministry of Defence in their review of defence contracting with a focus on increasing participation from SMEs, innovators and non-traditional suppliers.
• Review of existing market remedies. The CMA will progress a strategic review of existing market remedies to determine whether they are still required.
• Removing anti-competitive regulation. The CMA aims to work with wider UK government to examine how reform of the wider regulatory environment can promote competition and unlock investment and growth, in particular in the Industrial Strategy priority sectors, such as defence and life sciences.

Digital Markets

• Strategic Market Status designations. The CMA has completed its first Strategic Market Status ("SMS") designations in respect of search and mobile platforms. It is now moving to design and implement interventions with a phased approach. The CMA will consider further SMS designation investigations (to be considered by the CMA Board before the end of Q1 2026).
• International coordination. Consistent with its broader approach to merger control and other areas of antitrust enforcement, the CMA has confirmed that it will only act on digital markets issues where interventions by international counterparts do not adequately and effectively address UK harms.

Consumer Protection

• Targeted areas for enforcement. The CMA is focusing its enforcement on more egregious practices where the law is clear, including aggressive sales tactics targeting vulnerable consumers, fake reviews, hidden fees and unfair contract terms. Its first investigations under the new DMCCA regime target price transparency and misleading online choice architecture across sectors, including secondary ticketing, homeware and personal fitness.
• Advisory letters. The CMA wants to continue to use advisory letters as a cost-effective tool to drive behavioural change, having already observed significant compliance improvements without the need for full enforcement proceedings.
• Process improvements and promotion of legal certainty. The CMA plans to actively streamline cases "to focus on the most important potential concerns, standing down lines of inquiry as quickly as possible where appropriate". It proposes to publish regular investigation updates (with timings and next steps) and use information-gathering powers proportionately to minimise burdens on business. The CMA will also publish accessible guidance materials to promote legal certainty, in view of the limited case law in some areas of consumer law.
• Engagement. The CMA states that it will continue to engage directly with businesses and consumer groups to support compliance.

Looking Ahead: What the Plan Means in Practice

The CMA's Annual Plan for 2026–2027 reflects a regulator that is seeking to recalibrate rather than retreat. Whilst the alignment with the UK's growth agenda marks a notable shift, the substance of the Plan confirms that the CMA will remain assertive where it matters most—particularly in digital markets, consumer protection and strategically important sectors. For businesses, this means a more predictable and navigable regulatory environment in some areas, especially merger control, but also a more sophisticated and data-driven enforcement landscape overall. Successfully managing CMA risk will therefore require not only strong compliance systems, but increasingly proactive engagement and strategic positioning in the light of the CMA's evolving priorities.

_{1 The priority sectors are Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy, Creative Industries, Defence, Digital and Technologies, Financial Services, Life Sciences and Professional and Business Services.
2 The DMCCA empowers the CMA to designate a firm as having "Strategic Market Status" where it concludes that the firm (i) engages in a digital activity which has a link to the UK and exceeds the minimum turnover threshold of global turnover of GBP 25 billion or UK turnover of more than GBP 1 billion in the previous 12 months; (ii) has substantial and entrenched market power; and (iii) is in a position of strategic significance. SMS designation is not a finding of wrongdoing, but a gateway to potential tailored, firm-specific conduct requirements regulating behaviour in relation to the designated}

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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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