UK Space Agency scrapped to cut red tape 

The UK Space Agency (UKSA) will no longer operate as an independent agency as part of a government shake-up aimed at streamlining support for the space industry. 

It will become part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) in April 2026. 

The move will cut duplication, reduce bureaucracy, and allow for clear ministerial oversight, the government said.  

UKSA will keeps its name and brand and will be staffed by officials from the existing agency and DSIT. 

Space minister Chris Bryant said: “You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see the importance of space to the British economy. This is a sector that pulls investment into the UK and supports tens of thousands of skilled jobs right across the country, while nearly a fifth of our GDP is dependent on satellites. The aims for growth and security at the heart of our Plan for Change can’t be met without a vibrant space sector. 

“Bringing things in house means we can bring much greater integration and focus to everything we are doing while maintaining the scientific expertise and the immense ambition of the sector.”

The space sector contributes an estimated £18.6bn to the British economy and employs 55,000 people across the country, of which over 8,000 are north of the border. 

UKSA chief executive Paul Bate welcomed the announcement, saying “a single unit with a golden thread through strategy, policy and delivery will make it faster and easier” to achieve the UK’s space ambitions.  

The UK aims to become a leading space nation and has allocated more than £10bn in funding to the sector until 2033.  

Scotland is key in the UK’s ambitions to become a space superpower, with the country’s first vertical launch set to take off from the SaxaVord spaceport in Shetland later this year. 

The announcement came alongside 60 new recommendations on how to improve regulation for space missions, including Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) – where spacecraft work together in orbit. The government said these missions will be “key” to unlocking a future market worth £2.7bn by 2031. 

“With the right support” UK space firms could capture a quarter of the global market for in-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing, it added. 

The announcement forms part of a wider government strategy to review every arm's-length body (ALB) in a bid to remove “unnecessary bureaucracy and duplication, and to put public accountability first”.

Earlier this year, ministers announced NHS England would be abolished as part of this process.