The Bathing Water (Amendment) (England and Wales) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/1129) have been made to modify the Bathing Water Regulations 2013. Signed on 27 October 2025 and laid before Parliament and Senedd Cymru on 28 October 2025, the instrument staggers commencement across jurisdictions and provisions to allow regulators and local authorities to adjust operational plans.
In England, most provisions come into force on 21 November 2025. Two elements-new designation tests and the definition of environmental protection measures-start later, on 15 May 2026. In Wales, the instrument commences on 1 April 2026. The Regulations extend to England and Wales only.
The instrument introduces a more flexible approach to setting bathing seasons. While the default period remains 15 May to 30 September each year, the Secretary of State or Welsh Ministers may now determine different seasons for specific waters. Determinations must be made before 15 May in the year they take effect (or within 12 months of the first day of any existing determined period), can be revoked before the upcoming season or by 15 May, and must be recorded on a maintained list.
Ministers must actively disseminate information on designated bathing waters-classification and, where relevant, the specific bathing season-using appropriate media, including online channels and languages. This must be done before the earlier of 15 May each year or the start of any site‑specific season. The requirement clarifies annual communication timelines for central government and supports local signage and public information duties.
A new definition of environmental protection measures is inserted, covering actions to protect people and the natural environment from the effects of human activity, as well as activities to maintain, restore, enhance, monitor, assess, advise on or report those measures. The definition of permanent advice against bathing is also aligned with Regulation 13 so that advice is expressly given by the appropriate agency for at least one upcoming season that would otherwise have applied.
The rules governing when a waterbody may be designated as a bathing water are tightened. Ministers must not designate a site if the appropriate agency-after consulting the local authority that controls the surface water-advises that achieving at least a “sufficient” classification would be infeasible or disproportionately expensive, or if high bather numbers would significantly undermine environmental protection measures. Ministers must also refuse designation where there are reasonable grounds to expect significant physical safety risks to bathers. In England, this designation test applies from 15 May 2026; in Wales, from 1 April 2026.
The approach to persistently poor sites is overhauled. Where a bathing water is classified as “poor” for five consecutive years, the appropriate agency must advise Ministers-following consultation with the controlling local authority-on whether achieving at least “sufficient” status is feasible and not disproportionately expensive within a specified period, capped at five years from the date of the latest published classification. Ministers may decline to allow extra time if the agency advises improvement is infeasible or disproportionately costly; they may also end any extended period if improvement is not achieved within the approved timeframe.
Short‑term pollution procedures are updated. Contact details provided to the public must be those of the appropriate agency. Agencies may take a verification sample as soon as reasonably practicable after a short‑term pollution event is presumed to have ended, may disregard samples taken during the incident from the dataset, and must take additional samples where necessary to reach the minimum seasonal sample count. They may also take replacement samples even where they expect to meet the minimum count.
Provisions on abnormal situations are clarified in Schedule 4. During an abnormal situation, the appropriate agency may suspend the monitoring calendar for the duration. After the event and before the end of the bathing season, the agency must secure sufficient additional samples to meet the minimum requirement and may take further replacements where appropriate. Sample handling rules are tightened so that every sample is clearly identified and linked to its documentation.
Annual reporting duties are updated. Following the end of the latest bathing season that applies in England or Wales each year, Ministers must prepare and publish a report covering that year’s bathing season or seasons. Regulation 20 of the 2013 Regulations is omitted. A minor amendment to Regulation 5 clarifies that compliance with Directive 2006/7/EC applies except where alternative provision is made in the domestic Regulations.
A technical change aligns the statistical method used in Schedule 5 by replacing the percentile expression (µ + 1.65 σ) with (µ + 1.645 σ). This corrects the standard 95th percentile value used in classification calculations without altering the underlying regime’s structure.
For delivery bodies, the changes concentrate on three operational areas: designation decisions, communications, and monitoring. Local authorities controlling bathing waters will be consulted on feasibility advice for persistently poor sites and should prepare for site‑specific seasons and earlier publication duties. The Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales will need to adjust sampling calendars for short‑term pollution and abnormal situations, maintain clear sample identification, and plan for the annual report after the latest applicable season. Applicants seeking new designations should note the strengthened designation test and the explicit safety ground for refusal. Ministers exercised powers under section 2 of, and paragraph 20(1)(b) of Schedule 1 to, the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999 following consultation with the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and representative bodies. No full impact assessment has been produced, with departments assessing no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector.