Corporate compliance in 2026 is defined less by new tick-box rules and more by a clear shift in regulatory intent. Across fraud, bribery, employment law, cyber security and financial services, the direction of travel is consistent: broader corporate liability, stronger personal accountability for senior leaders, and higher expectations of training, controls and internal reporting.
For compliance teams, 2026 is about closing gaps before enforcement activity accelerates. Many of the laws coming into force are already on the statute book. What changes next year is how actively regulators and prosecutors are expected to use them.
What are the key corporate compliance trends to watch in 2026, and what should organisations be doing now to prepare?
Failure to prevent fraud: From legislation to lived enforcement
The Failure to Prevent Fraud offence came into force in September 2025. As 2026 begins, there have been no major prosecutions under the new offence yet. That is not a sign of weakness. It is a familiar pattern.
New corporate offences typically sit quietly before enforcement gathers pace, often following high-profile investigations or whistleblower disclosures. The same happened with the Bribery Act and the Failure to Prevent Tax Evasion offences.
Early polling and client discussions suggest that many organisations are still treating fraud as a financial controls issue rather than a workforce training risk. A key compliance question for 2026 is simple: have employees actually been trained on fraud risks, reporting obligations and personal exposure under the new offence?
In 2026, enforcement risk is likely to increase as prosecutors begin testing what “reasonable fraud prevention procedures” look like in practice. Training, reporting channels and documented risk assessments will be central to that analysis.
Tax evasion and bribery: Fewer headlines, not less risk
While fraud dominates attention, tax evasion and bribery enforcement continue to move steadily in the background.
Recent tax evasion prosecutions, including the Bennett Verby case, underline that the Failure to Prevent Tax Evasion regime is not dormant. It remains an active enforcement tool, particularly where professional services, intermediaries or cross-border structures are involved. More cases are expected as HMRC continues to refine how it uses corporate criminal liability powers.
Bribery enforcement also remains a live risk. The past year saw further convictions and regulatory action, reinforcing that bribery exposure has not disappeared simply because it no longer dominates headlines. Cases involving overseas operations, agents and procurement continue to expose weaknesses in training and third-party controls.
What links fraud, tax evasion and bribery in 2026 is a renewed focus on enforcement rather than policy statements. The UK’s 2025 Anti-Corruption Plan makes clear that regulators and prosecutors are expected to use existing powers more assertively, rather than waiting for new offences to be created.
Crime and Policing Bill: Expanded corporate and personal liability
One of the most significant corporate compliance developments heading into 2026 is the Crime and Policing Bill.
The Bill has already passed the Commons and is expected to receive Royal Assent in the first half of 2026. Its impact is substantial. At present, senior executives can generally be held personally liable only for certain financial crimes. The Bill expands that position dramatically.
Under the new framework, senior individuals can be held criminally liable for any crime committed by the organisation where they consented to, connived in, or negligently allowed the offence to occur.
The implications are particularly stark in areas such as health and safety. If a serious incident or fatality occurs at work and senior leadership failures are identified, individual executives could face criminal prosecution alongside the organisation.
Other areas may follow. Persistent harassment failures that escalate into criminal matters, environmental offences, or systemic compliance breakdowns could all trigger personal exposure.
For 2026, this changes the compliance conversation at board level. Corporate compliance is no longer only about organisational fines. It is increasingly about individual accountability.
Cyber security and resilience: Governance under scrutiny
Cyber security continues to move from an IT issue to a core governance obligation.
The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, alongside related regulatory reforms, places greater emphasis on organisational preparedness, resilience planning and board-level oversight. Regulators are increasingly clear that cyber incidents are not unavoidable accidents but foreseeable risks that must be actively managed.
In 2026, organisations should expect closer scrutiny of cyber training, incident response plans, supplier risk management and internal accountability. The message for compliance teams is consistent with other trends this year: documentation, training and demonstrable oversight matter as much as technical controls.
Employment Rights Bill: Compliance without the controversy
The Employment Rights Bill has now become law as the Employment Rights Act 2025, and its reforms will be phased in across 2026 and 2027.
While political debate has focused on unfair dismissal, the Act is set to reduce the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal claims from two years to six months, with implementation expected from 2027 rather than immediately.
Many of the changes now move into consultation and secondary legislation. Key areas include enhanced protections linked to pregnancy and new motherhood, and new bereavement leave rights, reinforcing the need to update policies, manager training and HR processes as commencement dates are confirmed.
From a compliance perspective, the focus is operational readiness. Organisations that do not update training, procedures and documentation in step with phased commencement risk tribunal exposure and reputational damage.
Non-financial misconduct: FCA expectations widen
From 1 September 2026, non-financial misconduct requirements will apply to a much broader range of FCA-regulated firms.
Approximately 37,000 firms will be required to address non-financial misconduct formally, with a particular focus on bullying, harassment and workplace behaviour. For many firms, this represents a significant shift.
Historically, harassment training has been treated as an HR issue rather than a regulatory requirement. That distinction disappears in 2026. FCA-regulated firms that are not currently delivering meaningful harassment and conduct training will need to act quickly.
This trend reinforces a wider regulatory message: culture, behaviour and governance are now core compliance risks, not peripheral concerns.
SFO guidance: Raising the bar for compliance programmes
The Serious Fraud Office issued new guidance setting out what it expects a corporate compliance programme to look like in practice.
This guidance goes beyond high-level principles. It addresses internal controls, risk assessments, reporting mechanisms and the role of senior leadership. It also links directly to forthcoming requirements such as internal controls declarations.
For organisations operating in higher-risk sectors, the guidance provides a clear signal of how the SFO will assess compliance maturity when deciding whether to prosecute, negotiate or defer.
In 2026, this guidance is likely to be used actively in enforcement decisions. Compliance programmes that exist only on paper will be difficult to defend.
FCA naming and shaming: Reputational risk accelerates
A recent court decision confirmed that the FCA has the power to publicly name firms under investigation, even before any findings are made.
This significantly raises reputational risk for regulated firms. Investigations that might previously have remained confidential can now become public almost immediately, with lasting commercial consequences regardless of the final outcome.
For 2026, this reinforces the importance of prevention, early issue identification and rapid internal escalation. Once an investigation becomes public, control over the narrative is largely lost.
What this means for compliance teams in 2026
Across every area of corporate compliance, the pattern is the same. Regulators are less interested in whether a policy exists and more focused on whether it works.
For compliance teams, 2026 should be treated as a year of consolidation and preparation. Key priorities include:
- Updating training to reflect new offences and expanded liability
- Ensuring reporting mechanisms are accessible, trusted and documented
- Embedding compliance expectations into leadership accountability
- Stress-testing policies against real enforcement scenarios
The era of compliance by design is giving way to compliance by demonstration. Organisations that adapt early will be better placed when enforcement activity inevitably increases.
