Moving to a single list for UK sanctions designations, 28 January 2026
Source: gov.uk (2025-10-13)

Guidance to help business and industry prepare to use the UK Sanctions List as the only source for UK sanctions designations after the closure of the OFSI Consolidated List of Asset Freeze Targets.

Introduction

UK designations are currently detailed in 2 lists, the UK Sanctions List (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-uk-sanctions-list) (UKSL), published by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Consolidated List of Asset Freeze Targets (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-sanctions-consolidated-list-of-targets), published for HM Treasury by OFSI. The publication of sanctions lists by the UK government is changing on Wednesday 28 January 2026.

This guidance is to help you understand and prepare for the change, in particular for businesses and industry that regularly use the UK Sanctions List and the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation Consolidated List (OFSI Consolidated List) for sanctions compliance, in order to prepare systems.

Systems that source data from the OFSI Consolidated List or that rely on the ‘OFSI Group ID’ identifier will need to be updated.

What is the UK Sanctions List?

The UK Sanctions List has been the primary list of sanctions designations made under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (SAMLA) since launching in 2020. It provides a comprehensive list of those persons placed under sanctions through regulations made under SAMLA. The sanctions restrictions can include financial, immigration, trade or transport sanctions. This differs from the OFSI Consolidated List which provides information on those subject to UK financial sanctions only.

Moving to a single list for UK sanctions designations

The Cross-government review of sanctions implementation and enforcement (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sanctions-implementation-and-enforcement-cross-government-review-may-2025/cross-government-review-of-sanctions-implementation-and-enforcement) announced earlier this year that the UK will be moving to having a single list for all UK sanctions designations. This is in response to industry feedback that a single list will remove duplication of effort and simplify checks of who is subject to UK sanctions.

When will this happen?

From 09:00 GMT on Wednesday 28 January 2026, the UK Sanctions List (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-uk-sanctions-list) (UKSL) will be the only sanctions list which details sanctions designations published by the UK government. The OFSI Consolidated List (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-sanctions-consolidated-list-of-targets) and its search tool (https://sanctionssearchapp.ofsi.hmtreasury.gov.uk/) will no longer be updated from this date.

What do I need to do?

You will need to ensure that by Wednesday 28 January 2026, any systems that use the OFSI Consolidated List for sanctions screening purposes are instead using the data from the UK Sanctions List. Any systems that use ‘OFSI Group ID’ as an identifier will need to use the UK Sanctions List’s ‘Unique ID’ for new DPs.

All UK Sanctions List formats will retain historic OFSI Group ID identifiers for DPs designated prior to 28 January 2026. These historic Group IDs will remain valid for use, for example in licence applications, frozen asset or suspected breach reporting, though UKSL Unique IDs can also be used.

You should not wait to begin this process and can make adaptations immediately. If you use a specialist screener or other third-party providers, you should speak to your supplier to understand the impact, if any, on data you receive.

You should use this period before January 2026 to prepare any systems for the formal closure of the OFSI Consolidated List.

How to prepare for the change

Make sure you understand the impact of the closure of the Consolidated List to you and your organisation. Alongside this guidance, we will continue to engage with businesses and industry.

We recommend that you switch to the UK Sanctions List (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-uk-sanctions-list) as your primary source of designations data now, and in any case no later than 28 January 2026.

We will not be publishing a draft template of the UK Sanctions List. This is because the UK Sanctions List is currently live and can already be used for screening and to compare any differences between the structure of the 2 lists.

We will not be making structural changes to the published UK Sanctions List formats as part of this work. Which format of the UK Sanctions List you use is a decision for you and your organisation.

Current and future UK Sanctions List formats

There will be no change to formatting of existing UKSL file types. New file types will be published to match those offered by the OFSI Consolidated List.

The 4 current UK Sanctions List file types: ODS (Excel), ODT (Word), HTML and XML, will keep their existing structure and layout. An additional 3 formats of the UK Sanctions List will be published alongside the 4 current file types. These will be:
- Delimited (.csv)
- PDF
- Plain Text (.txt)
These additional UK Sanctions List formats will start to be published before the end of 2025.

The current published format for the UKSL will otherwise not be modified, retaining the same data fields in the same order.

The ‘OFSI Group ID’ identifier is being retired

There will be a change to how newly designated persons (DPs) subject to financial sanctions are identified.

Any external systems that use ‘OFSI Group ID’ to identify DPs subject to financial sanctions will need to be updated to use the UK Sanctions List ‘Unique ID’ and ‘Sanction Type’ fields instead.

Currently all DPs and specified ships are given a ‘Unique ID’. Those DPs subject to financial sanctions are also given an ‘OFSI Group ID’.

From 28 January 2026, newly designated DPs subject to financial sanctions will not be assigned an ‘OFSI Group ID’ and will only have a ‘Unique ID’ as an identifier.

All UK Sanctions List formats will retain historic OFSI Group ID identifiers for DPs designated prior to this date. These historic Group IDs will remain valid for use, for example in licence applications, frozen asset or suspected breach reporting, though UKSL Unique IDs can also be used.

Will you still publish a sanctions list search tool?

A UK Sanctions List search tool (https://search-uk-sanctions-list.service.gov.uk/) has been available on GOV.UK since July 2024. Filters allow users to search for DPs specifically subject to an asset freeze. There will be functional upgrades to this search tool to make it easier to use and to display search results in a better, more useful way, including the introduction of fuzzy logic searching.

The OFSI Consolidated List (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-sanctions-consolidated-list-of-targets) and its search tool (https://sanctionssearchapp.ofsi.hmtreasury.gov.uk/) will no longer be updated from 28 January 2026.

Will designation notices be published?

Financial sanctions notices are currently published when updates are made to the UK Sanctions List. These notices are published when new listings, amendments, de-listings and corrections are made for financial sanctions designations only.

We intend to continue publishing designation notices, but for all types of sanctions designations. The format for future designation notices will be finalised in time for the Consolidated List closure date in January 2026.

Further information

For specific queries about the content of this notice, please email: xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx)

Stay informed about this change by signing up to get UK sanctions email alerts (https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKORGESO/subscriber/new).