The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has made the Marine Recovery Funds Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/1230) under section 292 of the Energy Act 2023. The instrument was made on 24 November 2025, laid before Parliament on 25 November, and comes into force on 17 December 2025. It extends to England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The Regulations authorise the Secretary of State to establish, operate and manage one or more marine recovery funds (MRFs) to finance measures that compensate for the adverse environmental effects of relevant offshore wind activities. The terms “adverse environmental effects” and “relevant offshore wind activity” take their meanings from sections 291(4) and 290 of the Energy Act 2023.
Key definitions are fixed in regulation 2. A “measure” must be approved before any payment can be made from an MRF towards its delivery or acquisition (regulation 6). Once approved, measures will be published on a list maintained by the Secretary of State. An “allocated measure” is an approved measure assigned to an applicant to discharge a consented project’s compensation condition.
Regulation 3 allows the Secretary of State to establish funds for the whole UK or for specific territories in any combination, and to specify which offshore wind activities are in scope for payments into and out of a given fund. A territory‑specific fund may support activities within that territory’s inshore or offshore region, or outside it, reflecting the ecological reach of compensation measures.
Under regulation 4 the Secretary of State must operate and manage each fund and may delegate those functions. Delegation is permitted only to a Scottish, Welsh or Northern Ireland public authority and requires the consent of the relevant Ministers or DAERA. Delegated functions may be cancelled by the Secretary of State, subject to consultation duties set out later in the instrument.
The application route is determined by the Secretary of State (regulation 7). The process may include an expression of interest, an initial agreement that is conditional on securing consent for the underlying offshore wind activity, a deposit or reservation fee, and the reservation of an approved measure. The Secretary of State may set application windows, allow transfers of applications, abridge steps where consent already exists, and amend the process over time.
Approval of an MRF application hinges on a prior determination by or on behalf of the consenting authority that an MRF payment would discharge all or part of the relevant compensation condition (regulation 8(2)). On approval, the Secretary of State allocates sufficient approved measures, sets the amount and terms of the MRF payment, and offers to enter into an MRF contract. The payment may include contributions towards measure development and the monitoring and adaptation activities required by regulation 15.
The MRF contract is concluded between the Secretary of State (or a delegated operator) and the approved applicant (regulation 9). It identifies the offshore wind activities and their adverse effects, the compensation condition being discharged, the allocated measure and its expected outcomes, the payment amount and schedule, and the monitoring period during which the measure’s performance will be assessed.
Payments into a fund may be made by the Secretary of State, by an applicant in anticipation of a contract, or by a participant under a signed contract (regulation 12). Once the full payment, or the first instalment, is received in accordance with the contract, responsibility for delivering the allocated measure transfers to the Secretary of State (regulation 13).
Regulation 14 permits payments out of a fund for developing measures and approving them, delivering all or part of approved measures (whether or not allocated), acquiring already delivered measures, and meeting the costs of monitoring, adaptation and decommissioning. This structure allows pipeline development as well as retrospective acquisition where appropriate.
Performance management is codified in regulation 15. During the contractually defined monitoring period, the Secretary of State must monitor efficacy. If expected outcomes are not being achieved-or would be better achieved otherwise-the Secretary of State may adapt the measure, replace it with a different approved measure, add another approved measure, or combine these steps. Adaptations do not remove a measure’s approved status. At or after the end of the monitoring period, decommissioning or preparation for reallocation is permitted.
Cost recovery is provided for in regulation 10. The Secretary of State may charge fees to applicants or participants, including non‑refundable fees, and may set them by reference to the estimated value of the approved measure. Regulation 11 requires the publication of the application procedure, fee information and any amendments.
Territorial flexibility and governance safeguards appear in regulations 16 to 19. A fund established for some, but not all, territories may subsequently be extended to additional territories. The Secretary of State may close all or part of a fund to new applicants, but must consult the relevant devolved Ministers where a territory‑specific fund is affected and must continue to perform functions under existing contracts. Any consultation to cancel a delegation or to close a fund must allow at least 12 weeks.
For project promoters and consenting authorities, the Regulations create a defined route for discharging compensation conditions attached to offshore wind consents by paying into a statutory fund. Responsibility for delivery of allocated measures sits with the Secretary of State once payments commence, providing a single point of accountability alongside published lists of approved measures, a configurable application process and statutory monitoring and adaptation powers.
The instrument is signed by Emma Hardy, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, dated 24 November 2025. An impact assessment and Explanatory Memorandum are available alongside the instrument on legislation.gov.uk.