The Government Legal Department has published its Business Plan for 2026-27 alongside its Annual Report and Accounts for 2025-26, setting out where Whitehall's main in-house legal service expects to focus its work over the coming year. According to the plan, GLD's 3,900 lawyers and legal professionals will support legislation and implementation across a broad reform programme, including employment rights, housing law, cyber security, financial services, rail reform and mental health. For policy readers, the document sets out the legal capacity behind ministerial commitments rather than the political case for them.
The programme described by GLD reaches into several of the government's largest domestic commitments. The department says it will support implementation of the Employment Rights Act 2025, help underpin the programme to build 1.5 million new homes and continue the legal work needed to finalise the US/UK Economic Prosperity Deal. That is a reminder that major policy change does not end with a bill receiving Royal Assent or a deal being announced. Departments still need legal advice on how measures are brought into force and applied in practice, and GLD's business plan indicates that demand will remain heavy through 2026-27.
In employment policy, GLD says it is advising across government on the implementation of the Employment Rights Act 2025 and helping the Civil Service prepare for the changes it brings. The Act is presented as one of the most substantial revisions to employment law in decades, covering workers' rights, trade union recognition and fair pay. Housing is the other clear area of concentration. GLD links its work both to the wider housebuilding programme and to the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, which is intended to make commonhold the default tenure for new flats and end the creation of new leasehold flats. Alongside the Renters' Rights Act 2025, that places the department inside a broad reshaping of housing law affecting renters, leaseholders, developers and local authorities.
The business plan also places GLD inside several technically demanding bills with major regulatory effects. These include the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, intended to strengthen the UK's cyber defences and widen oversight for essential services and critical national infrastructure, and the Financial Services Bill, which covers cryptoasset markets and stablecoin regulation. The same document points to legal support for the Railways Bill, which would establish Great British Railways, and for the Victims and Courts Bill, which seeks stronger protections for victims through new sentencing powers and a larger role for the Victims' Commissioner. GLD also identifies work connected to the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, showing that its caseload extends beyond primary legislation into wider delivery programmes.
International and cross-cutting work also features prominently. GLD says it is supporting the legal process to finalise the US/UK Economic Prosperity Deal and advising on implementation of the Mental Health Act 2025. Taken together, the portfolio shows the breadth of the department's remit. The same legal service is expected to cover trade arrangements, public service reform, market regulation, transport restructuring and justice policy, which helps explain why GLD describes its role in terms of support across government rather than for any one department alone.
Alongside the legislative programme, GLD's 2026-27 plan sets out a continued shift in where its staff are based. The department says the number of employees outside London rose by 22% over the past year, with offices in Leeds, Manchester and Bristol all expanding. During 2026-27, GLD plans to increase the number of senior staff based outside the capital, publish quarterly data on its geographic distribution and move its Bristol office to a new city-centre location. The department says it operates across London, Leeds, Manchester, Bristol and Croydon, as well as client sites, so the regional move is also about where senior legal capacity sits inside the Civil Service.
The operational reform agenda is more administrative, but it has clear delivery value. GLD says it will introduce new roles intended to free lawyers for complex and high-value work, replace its existing case management system with a modern platform and invest in early talent and new career pathways into the profession. Treasury Solicitor and Permanent Secretary Douglas Wilson KC (Hon) OBE said the department's task is to support elected government on difficult issues while updating the skills and systems needed for the next decade. The Annual Report and Accounts published alongside the plan provide the recent performance context. GLD says it remains one of the country's largest legal organisations, that its litigation teams have held Lexcel accreditation since 2006, and that its staff engagement index reached 65% in 2025-26, six points higher than in 2022 and level with the Civil Service average. With 2026-27 marking the final year of GLD's 2024-2027 strategy, the department has now set out a clear benchmark against which its support for the government's legislative programme can be judged.