Changes will help smaller businesses safeguard their work and modernise design protection.
The government has today (4 November 2026) announced a major overhaul of the UK’s designs system. Reforms will make design protection and enforcement simpler for the country’s 80,000 design businesses.
The UK’s design sector contributed close to £137 billion to the economy in 2023 and supports more than 2 million jobs . But the current designs system has long been criticised as overly complex, placing a disproportionate burden on lone designers and microbusinesses. These have been estimated to make up 92% (PDF, 15.8 MB) of design businesses.
Following a consultation led by the Intellectual Property Office ( IPO ), which closed in November 2025, the government is today (4 November 2026) setting out a package of targeted reforms.
give smaller design businesses a simpler, more affordable route to court when they believe their designs have been copied
reduce the administrative burden of registering designs, with more consistent processes and simpler registered and unregistered protections