Focus on the future: CMA's pro-growth strategic priorities for 2025-6

The Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) published its Annual Plan for 2025-6 (the “Annual Plan”) on 27 March 2025.  It details the CMA’s strategic priorities for the year ahead and is published against a backdrop of increased scrutiny of the CMA’s functions and the use of its powers.  The Annual Plan also reflects the CMA’s proposals to act on the Government’s draft Strategic Steer which emphasises the CMA’s important role in enabling growth and investment in the UK economy. 

This Annual Plan is the last to be published in the current strategy cycle, which began in 2023.  Later this year, the CMA will begin a new cycle centred upon a revised set of medium-term priorities for the next three years.  Further details on this will be published ahead of the 2026/27 Annual Plan.

Overarching themes in the 2025-6 Annual Plan

The CMA’s Chief Executive, Sarah Cardell, highlights in the Foreword that the fundamentals of the CMA’s role (promoting dynamic markets, supporting productivity, innovation and investment  and protecting consumer interests) remain unchanged.  However, the CMA must adapt its work and processes to respond to the changing external landscape in which it operates.  The Annual Plan outlines three key ways in which the CMA aims to deliver on this overarching objective:

• Unlocking competition to drive growth and investment: Particular focus will be given to strategically important sectors identified in the Government’s Industrial Strategy (advanced manufacturing, clean energy industries, creative industries, defence, digital and technologies, financial services, life sciences, and professional and business services) and cross-economy enablers such as public procurement and technology adoption.
• Focus on effective consumer protection: The CMA will address unfair business behaviour to strengthen consumer confidence and drive growth.  The CMA signals that it will make flexible and proportionate use of its expanded consumer protection powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (“DMCCA”) to achieve this.
• Building business confidence in the CMA’s processes: The Annual Plan reasserts steps the CMA is taking to respond to criticism of how it works and how it engages with business and investors.  The CMA will further implement the four key principles (referred to as the “4Ps”) of pace, predictability, proportionality and process across its functions.  It will also seek to reach decisions as soon as possible while minimising burden on businesses.

Focus areas for the year ahead

Markets

The CMA will continue its ongoing programme of consumer-facing markets work, giving sharper focus to sectors that could have a multiplier effect on growth or which have potential to unlock investment in critical infrastructure. 

The CMA also intends to leverage the capabilities of the Microeconomics Unit (“MU”) to evaluate how the CMA’s markets work can support the successful implementation of the Government’s Industrial Strategy.  The MU will shortly publish its analysis of recent industrial policy interventions in the UK and overseas, including their impact on productivity and competition, which will help shape the CMA’s work in this area.

Merger control

The CMA has already announced significant reforms to its process for undertaking merger control reviews, as reflected in its Mergers Charter published on 12 March 2025.  It is also currently consulting on its approach to remedies in merger control cases. 

The Annual Plan highlights the need for further work to be done to improve understanding of when transactions will be subject to merger review (predictability).  The CMA will update its guidance on how it interprets and applies the tests of ‘material influence’ and ‘share of supply’ and will issue draft guidance on these issues for consultation in June.  There are also commitments to improve the pace of reviews.

Consumer protection

The CMA is mindful of the need for predictability, proportionality and strong engagement with businesses as the new consumer protection regime is launched under the DMCCA.  As from 6 April 2025, the CMA has powers to impose fines of up to 10% of annual worldwide turnover on infringing firms, as well as directly enforcing undertakings agreed with firms to resolve consumer protection concerns.  The CMA will continue to make clear to businesses what is required to ensure compliance, especially in areas where the law has been updated or is less clear-cut.

The CMA has published important guidance for businesses and practitioners to explain the scope of the new regime and the CMA’s enforcement priorities.  This includes guidance on the Consumer Protection Enforcement Regime and the Unfair Commercial Practices Guidance.  On 7 April the CMA published its Approach Document, which details the CMA’s ambition for consumer protection, its enforcement priorities for the next 12 months and how the CMA will implement the 4Ps in its consumer protection work. 

Digital markets

The CMA commits to streamline strategic market status investigations and prioritise issues where it can deliver positive outcomes for UK businesses quickly and effectively.  There will also be more clarity on the form and timing of any future interventions.  The CMA will publish a ‘roadmap’ when it consults on a proposed designation decision which will indicate the issues the CMA is likely to prioritise for earlier action and those which may be deprioritised, or remain subject to further consideration.

Stakeholder engagement

The CMA will double-down on external engagement, and will draw lessons from the participative approach in the new digital markets regime that can be applied across other areas of the CMA’s work.  The CMA will continue regular engagement with industry bodies and its new Growth and Investment Council, comprising senior representatives from business, investor and financial interests to discuss, agree and track recommendations.

Outlook

Whilst its statutory remit remains unchanged, the CMA's Annual Plan underlines its commitment to aligning to the Government’s growth agenda, protecting consumers and enhancing business confidence in the CMA’s activities and as an organisation.  With a focus on strategic sectors, proactive stakeholder engagement, and internal transformation, the CMA aims to adapt to the evolving political and economic landscape in which it operates. 

Guided as of last year by an almost entirely new senior executive team with a mix of competition, consumer and corporate expertise, the CMA appears to be well-positioned to deliver on its program of reforms ahead of the next strategy cycle in 2026.   Time will tell if the CMA’s proposals go far enough to satisfy the Government’s pressure on all regulators to contribute to growth and investment in the UK economy.

For more information, please reach out to your usual CMS contacts or one of the key contacts included in this article.

Article co-authored by Marelize Abercrombie, Trainee Solicitor at CMS.