UK Government PFAS Plan heralds liability uptick

Background

“Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often called ‘forever chemicals’, represent one of the most pressing chemical challenges of our time.“  

These are not our words. These are the words of the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in February 2026.

We have written on several occasions about the risks that these chemicals pose, the emerging worldwide regulation aimed at controlling them, and the cleanup and damages claims that are starting result from their use and proliferation.

PFAS Plan

PFAS regulation and claims have been slower to materialise in the UK than in other jurisdictions.  However, things may soon speed up if the actions set out in the UK Government’s February 2026 policy paper (PFAS Plan: building a safer future together - GOV.UK) start to be taken.

This PFAS Plan is structured around three things:

• understanding and identifying the sources of PFAS including where they originate from;
• accounting for the movement of PFAS around society and the environment, which means tackling PFAS pathways; and
• reducing and managing ongoing exposure to PFAS for people, animals and the environment.

The PFAS Plan sets out a number of “Actions” that are being or will be taken in these three areas. A number of these Actions are very material indeed from a future liability perspective.

Key Actions

As we have pointed out before, the main reason why PFAS liability has been slower to materialise in the UK is because of a lack of key scientific information and established benchmarks. For example:

• There is no formal concentration limit for PFAS in drinking water, making it difficult for water suppliers to launch the types of damages claims that have taken place in, for example, the USA.
• The risks of different types of PFAS to human health are insufficiently quantified, making personal injury claims hard to prove.
• Clear standards and thresholds of concern are largely absent for the water environment, making related civil and regulatory claims difficult to sustain.
•  Information and advice on PFAS to support local authorities’ (“Part 2A”) contamination land regulatory functions, and indeed other regulatory regimes like planning and environmental permitting, is lacking.  

Many of the Actions set in the PFAS Plan will serve to eradicate these problems. Of particular note are:

• Actions 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 aimed at introducing restrictions on PFAS use in new products under UK REACH.
• Actions 2.10, 2.11, 2.12 and 2.13 aimed at introducing additional regulation (for example through the environmental permitting regime) to reduce emissions from industrial processes.
• Action 3.1 to complete a review of evidence to support human health risk assessment.
• Action 3.6 to consult on the introduction of a statutory limit for PFAS in public water supply regulations.
• Action 3.7 to continue to develop toxicological thresholds for PFAS that may impact on the quality of the water environment.
• Actions 3.14 and 3.15 to provide updated information, advice and guidance to local authorities so that they can fulfil responsibilities under the contaminated land regime, and develop technical guidance for regulatory across other related regimes.

Concluding points

The barriers to increased PFAS liability in the UK have not been overcome yet but they may well be soon, as the PFAS Plan’s Actions are progressed. It may not be long before the UK starts to see its fair share of drinking water pollution damages claims, regulatory contaminated land clean up proceedings, and even personal injury actions.