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UK Politics Decoded is now a formally regulated member of IMPRESS, the UK's only press regulator recognised under the Royal Charter framework established following the Leveson Inquiry. Our application, which we wrote about back in March 2026, has been accepted.
This is a significant milestone for the platform, and I want to explain clearly what it means in practice for us, and for the people who read our work.
What IMPRESS is
IMPRESS was established in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry as an independent regulator for news publishers. It is the only press regulator in the UK that operates to the standards set by the Press Recognition Panel under the Royal Charter, a framework designed to ensure press regulators are genuinely independent of both government and the newspaper industry.
That independence matters. IMPRESS is not a trade body protecting its members. It is a regulator that holds them to standards, including on accuracy, fairness, privacy, and the separation of fact from opinion. Membership is not a badge you buy. It involves meeting those standards and submitting to an independent complaints and arbitration process.
Why we applied
We applied because we thought it was the right thing to do. The platform is growing. More people rely on what we publish to make sense of policy, legislation, and public affairs. That creates an obligation to be held to account externally, not just to hold ourselves accountable internally.
The standards IMPRESS requires accuracy, clear sourcing, transparent corrections, an independent complaints route are standards we already work to. Formal regulation means readers have a guaranteed mechanism to challenge us if we fall short, and that mechanism sits outside our control. That is exactly how it should be.
We also think the principle matters beyond our own platform. Independent journalism that voluntarily submits to rigorous external regulation is a different proposition to journalism that simply claims to be trustworthy. One is verifiable. The other isn't.
What changes for readers
In terms of what we publish and how we publish it, very little changes because we were already working to these standards. What does change is what you can do if you believe we've got something wrong.
As an IMPRESS regulated publisher, any reader can now bring a formal complaint to IMPRESS directly if they feel our internal complaints process has not resolved their concern. IMPRESS provides independent adjudication at no cost to the complainant. Details of how to make a complaint are on our complaints page and at https://www.impressorg.com/.
Our corrections policy is published and applied consistently. If we make an error, we correct it openly and promptly. That is not new but it is now part of a regulated framework with external oversight.
A note on independence
IMPRESS regulation does not affect our editorial independence. We remain unaffiliated with any political party, campaign, or commercial interest. IMPRESS has no role in determining what we cover or how we cover it, its role is to ensure that what we do publish meets standards of accuracy, fairness, and transparency. Those two things are complementary, not in tension.
We have always believed that a free press and a regulated press are not opposites. Accountability frameworks protect readers and, in the long run, protect the credibility of independent journalism itself.
What this means going forward
Becoming a regulated member of IMPRESS closes the loop on a process we started because we take this work seriously. Our Standards Hub sets out our editorial code, corrections policy, complaints procedure, and independence statement in full. Those documents are now underpinned by external regulatory oversight.
If you have any questions about what IMPRESS regulation means for UKPoliticsDecoded, you can contact us directly or visit impress.press for information about the regulator itself.
Thank you to everyone who has followed and supported the platform. This is the right foundation to build on.