Solvency UK Reporting: QRTs, Taxonomy and Deadlines

What Solvency UK is

Solvency II has applied to UK insurers since 1 January 2016 (Bank of England). When the UK left the EU, the rules stayed in UK law, and the UK has since reformed them. The PRA calls the new regime Solvency UK, though its own rules still say Solvency II in places (PRA, PS15/24).

The reforms came in steps. A smaller risk margin took effect on 31 December 2023 (legislation.gov.uk). The reporting reforms, and the move of the rules into the PRA Rulebook, followed on 31 December 2024. Solvency UK now applies to all insurance regulatory reporting with reference dates of 31 December 2024 and later (Bank of England).

31 Dec 2024Solvency UK applies to all insurance regulatory reporting from this reference dateBank of England →

107templates removed from the UK reporting package, net of new ones: a third of the totalPRA, PS3/24 →

2.2.0the Bank of England Insurance Taxonomy for reference dates from 31 December 2026Bank of England →

Who reports

The PRA regulates 568 insurers of all types: general and life insurers, friendly societies, mutuals, the London market and insurance special purpose vehicles (PRA Business Plan 2026/27, as at 1 January 2026). Not all of them report under Solvency UK. Smaller firms, in general those with gross premium income below £25 million and gross technical provisions below £50 million, are non-Directive firms with simpler returns of their own (Bank of England).

Firms in Solvency UK file one of three sets of returns.

01Insurers and reinsurers (QRS and ARS)A quarterly and an annual return for each insurance or reinsurance undertaking, the solo returns.

02Insurance groups (QRG and ARG)A quarterly and an annual return for the group as a whole.

03Third-country branches (ARB)UK branches of insurers from outside the UK file an annual return. From 31 December 2026 they no longer file quarterly returns (PRA, PS13/26), so the Bank has deleted the quarterly branch return from its taxonomy.

What they file

The Reporting Part of the PRA Rulebook sets out which templates each firm reports (Bank of England). Since the 2024 year end, most templates are numbered IR, where Solvency II’s start with S: the balance sheet is IR.02.01 (PRA, PS3/24).

Firms file XBRL built on the Bank of England Insurance Taxonomy, one package for all XBRL insurance reporting since 31 December 2024 (PS3/24), and submit it through the Bank’s BEEDS portal. The Bank publishes each release with its validation rules, sample files and a change log, and keeps a deny list of the rules it has switched off or downgraded. Release 2.2.0, published on 2 September 2026, applies to reporting with a reference date on or after 31 December 2026. Returns for earlier dates in 2026 use 2.0.2, or 2.1.0, which added the liquidity returns (Bank of England).

The taxonomy holds more than the quarterly and annual templates.

01Quarterly and annual returns (IR)The core templates, from the balance sheet (IR.02.01) to own funds (IR.23.01), for solo firms, groups and third-country branches.

02Public disclosure (APS and APG)The templates in the firm’s public Solvency and Financial Condition Report. They sit in the taxonomy, but the PRA does not ask for them as a separate return through BEEDS (PRA Q&A).

03Internal models and market risk (IMO, MRS and AIS)Outputs for firms with an internal model, market risk sensitivities, and the standard formula figures some internal model firms also report (Bank of England).

04Matching adjustment and liquidity (MAL, CFL, CFS, COL and LMR)The matching adjustment return, moving from Excel to XBRL for 2027, and the liquidity returns for the larger firms in scope, in force since 30 September 2026 (Bank of England).

A UK return is not an EU return with a different address. It has its own taxonomy, its own templates and its own rules.

How it differs from EIOPA’s Solvency II

Same roots, separate rulebooks. In the EU, Solvency II returns are built on EIOPA’s taxonomy; in the UK, on the Bank of England’s. The Bank keeps EIOPA’s dictionary concepts where they still apply (Bank of England), so much will look familiar. But the PRA is clear that the two taxonomies are not interchangeable (PRA Q&A).

01Fewer templatesThe UK reforms removed 107 templates from the reporting package, net of the new ones: a third of the total, counted by firm type and frequency (PRA, PS3/24).

02A taxonomy of its ownBEEDS gives a fatal error for a return built on another taxonomy (PRA Q&A, October 2025), and the Bank has told firms not to implement EIOPA’s taxonomy 2.7 or any later release (Bank of England).

03No regular supervisory reportThe requirement to send the private regular supervisory report (RSR) was removed with effect from 31 December 2023. Firms still publish a Solvency and Financial Condition Report every year (Bank of England).

04Rules of its ownThe Bank writes its own validation rules, with codes such as IR_bv0674_01, keeps its own deny list and known issues log, and asks firms to follow its own XBRL Filing Manual (Bank of England).

Key dates for the 2026 year end

For a firm with a 31 December year end, the Bank’s reporting schedule gives solo firms and branches 30 business days after each quarter end and 70 after the year end. Groups get 55 and 100 (Bank of England).

Liquidity reporting came into force on 30 September 2026 for the larger firms in scope. The short form of the cash flow mismatch return is due one business day after each month end, and the long form ten business days after (Bank of England).

0131 December 2026The first reference date on taxonomy 2.2.0, with the reporting changes of PS18/26 and the new matching adjustment framework (MAL).

0212 February and 19 March 2027The last days for the Q4 2026 quarterly returns, solo and then group. They are the first quarterly returns on 2.2.0.

0313 April and 26 May 2027The last days for the 2026 annual returns, solo and then group.

04During 2027The first matching adjustment returns (MALIR) in XBRL instead of Excel (PRA, PS18/26).

An example: equities that don’t add up

The balance sheet reports a firm’s equities as a total, and split into listed and unlisted. One of the Bank’s rules checks that the two parts add up to the total.

This is real, from the Bank of England’s validation rules for taxonomy 2.2.0, with simple numbers to show the sums.

Equities, in the balance sheet (IR.02.01)

All equities: Equities, in the Solvency II value column (row R0100, column C0010). Say 2,000.
Listed: Equities, listed (row R0110). Say 1,500.
Unlisted: Equities, unlisted (row R0120). Say 400.
Checked by: Bank of England rule IR_bv0674_01. Equities must equal listed plus unlisted, with a small margin allowed for rounding. The Bank sets it as an error, not a warning, for the quarterly solo and group returns (QRS and QRG).

The failure, and the fix, in plain words

Your balance sheet says you hold 2,000 of equities, but listed (1,500) and unlisted (400) add up to 1,900. Either a holding is missing from one of the two rows, or the total is wrong. Correct whichever is wrong, so the total is the sum of its parts, and check the return again before you submit.

The Bank’s rule message, with these numbersShow

[IR_bv0674_01];[(t: IR.02.01.02.01, r: R0100, c: C0010) reported as 2000 = (t: IR.02.01.02.01, r: R0110, c: C0010) reported as 1500 + (t: IR.02.01.02.01, r: R0120, c: C0010) reported as 400]

The message is the one the Bank writes for this rule in its validations workbook for 2.2.0. The numbers are illustrative.

Check a return before you submit

BEEDS runs the Bank’s rules when you submit, and reports back at most 100 lines of validation errors (PRA Q&A). It pays to find them first. Line4 Check for Solvency UK runs the Bank of England’s own validation rules on a return in your browser, free, without uploading it. It covers five returns on taxonomy 2.2.0: quarterly and annual, solo and group, and the annual return for third-country branches (QRS, QRG, ARS, ARG and ARB).

It runs 1,173 of the Bank’s 2,292 rules for those returns (51%). Every check it runs gave the same result as Arelle, the open-source XBRL processor, on the Bank’s own sample returns. It does not check the Bank’s filing rules yet, and it is no substitute for the validation the Bank runs when you submit.

Supervision is moving towards real time, and fast, open validation is its foundation: the published rules, run in seconds, before a return leaves the firm.

Free tool · Line4 CheckCheck your Solvency UK returns against the Bank of England's rules, in your browser

Line4 Check runs 1,173 of the Bank's 2,292 rules (51%) for these five returns on taxonomy 2.2.0, on the XBRL-XML instance itself. Your file never leaves your computer. It does not check the Bank's filing rules yet, and it is not a substitute for the validation the Bank runs when you submit.

Quarterly solo return QRS, taxonomy 2.2.0127 of 267 rules · 47%
Quarterly group return QRG, taxonomy 2.2.094 of 213 rules · 44%
Annual solo return ARS, taxonomy 2.2.0983 of 1,847 rules · 53%
Annual group return ARG, taxonomy 2.2.0213 of 425 rules · 50%
Annual return for third-country branches ARB, taxonomy 2.2.0307 of 696 rules · 44%

Check a Solvency UK return Try the Bank's quarterly solo sample →

Put it to workGetting your returns ready for the 2026 year end

1Move your quarterly and annual returns to taxonomy 2.2.0 for reference dates from 31 December 2026.
2Check that your software builds each return on the Bank’s entry points, not EIOPA’s.
3Read the Bank’s deny list and known issues log before each round: they change which rules apply.
4Run a real return through the Bank’s rules early, and fix what fails well before the deadline.
5If you have a matching adjustment portfolio, plan your first XBRL matching adjustment return for 2027.
6If you are in scope of liquidity reporting, put the monthly cash flow mismatch deadlines in the diary.

Where Line4 fits

Line4 is SupTech software for financial regulators. It collects returns in XBRL, Excel and CSV by portal, API or MCP, validates them against your taxonomies and rules at the point of submission, and puts AI to work reading them, with supervisors making every decision. If you work with a standard we have not yet run in production, we will say so plainly and show you how we would approach it.

For UK insurers, Line4 Check for Solvency UK runs the Bank of England's own validation rules on your returns to the PRA, quarterly and annual, solo and group, and the annual return for third-country branches, in XBRL-XML on taxonomy 2.2.0, in your browser, without uploading anything. It is free to use. Filing in the EU or EEA? Read Solvency II reporting and use the Solvency II checker, under EIOPA's rules.

Questions

What is Solvency UK?

The UK’s prudential regime for insurers. It grew out of the EU’s Solvency II, which the UK kept in its own law after Brexit and has since reformed. The PRA supervises it, and it applies to all insurance regulatory reporting with reference dates of 31 December 2024 and later. The PRA’s own rules still call it Solvency II in places.

Is Solvency UK the same as Solvency II?

Same roots, different rules. The UK has changed the risk margin and reporting, among other things. UK returns have a third fewer templates, numbered IR rather than S, and are built on the Bank of England’s taxonomy, with the Bank’s own validation rules.

What taxonomy do UK insurers use?

The Bank of England Insurance Taxonomy. Version 2.2.0, published on 2 September 2026, applies to reporting with a reference date on or after 31 December 2026. Returns for earlier dates in 2026 use 2.0.2, or 2.1.0 for firms in scope of liquidity reporting.

How do I validate a Solvency UK XBRL file?

Run the Bank’s validation rules for your return and taxonomy release on the file before you submit. BEEDS runs them again when you do. Line4 Check for Solvency UK does the first step free, in your browser, without uploading the file: it runs 1,173 of the Bank’s 2,292 rules for the quarterly, annual and branch returns on taxonomy 2.2.0. It does not check the Bank’s filing rules yet.

When are Solvency UK QRTs due?

For a 31 December year end, quarterly returns are due 30 business days after the quarter end for solo firms and 55 for groups. Annual returns are due 70 business days after the year end for solo firms and branches, and 100 for groups. For the 2026 year end, that is 13 April 2027 for solo firms and 26 May 2027 for groups (Bank of England reporting schedule).

Does the PRA accept EIOPA taxonomy files?

No. The PRA says the Bank’s and EIOPA’s taxonomies are not interchangeable, and BEEDS gives a fatal error for a return built on another taxonomy. The Bank has told firms not to implement EIOPA’s taxonomy 2.7 or any later release.

Do UK insurers still send a regular supervisory report?

No. The requirement to submit the regular supervisory report (RSR) was removed with effect from 31 December 2023. Firms still publish a Solvency and Financial Condition Report each year.

Sources

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Solvency UK reporting: returns, taxonomy and deadlines