Habitats Regulations Reporting for the period 2019 to 2024
Every six years, statutory reports are produced under the Habitats Regulations and the Offshore Regulations. The four UK countries each publish separate reports under their respective Habitats Regulations (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland), while JNCC has produced a report under the Offshore Regulations on behalf of the Sectary of State. The current reports cover the period 2019–2024 with publication in January 2026, and:
- Assess the conservation status of Annex I habitats and Annex II/IV/V species
- Assess the status of relevant wild bird species; and
- Review the implementation of measures taken to support their protection and recovery.
Reporting requirements originate from the EU Habitats and Birds Directives, now retained in UK law. A composite UK report will be published by JNCC by January 2028, including:
- an evaluation of progress in maintaining and/or restoring listed habitats and species; and
- an assessment of how the National Site Network contributes to this progress.
Further detail on Habitats Regulations Reporting can be found on the JNCC Habitats Regulations Reporting webpage.
What are the Habitats Regulations Reports?
The Country and Offshore reports provide an overview of progress in implementing measures to meet the requirements of the Habitats and Birds Directives (the Directives), as transposed into the relevant national habitats and UK offshore regulations.
These are the first reports under the Habitats Regulations since the UK left the EU, when reporting requirements changed from a single UK-wide report to separate reports for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the UK offshore. The reports are similar in approach to previous Article 12 and 17 reports under the Habitats Directive when the UK was part of the European Union, which can be found on The National Archives (2019 Article 17 Article 12, older). Equivalent reporting requirements have been written in to Gibraltar legislation.
These reports include:
- the current condition of habitats and species (excluding birds) of national interest (Annex I habitats, Annex II, IV, and V species);
- how their condition has changed and their future prospects;
- the current trends and population of naturally occurring UK bird species;
- measures taken for the conservation of these habitats and species (including birds – naturally occurring, Annex I, and regular migrants); and
- the effectiveness of these measures.
You can access the country reports by following the links below: (links will be available following publication)
- England Report
- Northern Ireland
- Scotland Report
- Wales Report
The 2019–2024 UK Offshore report
Under the Conservation of Offshore Marine Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (as amended), JNCC have produced and published the UK Offshore reporting on behalf of the Secretary of State. The UK offshore marine area extends beyond 12 nautical miles from the shore and covers 72.2 million hectares of the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone and the UK continental shelf. The report includes the Annex I habitats, Annex II, IV & V species, and all relevant wild bird species found within the UK offshore marine area. This includes 3 marine habitats, 17 marine mammal species, 15 seabird species, and one species of marine turtle, resident Annex I habitats, Annex II, IV & V species, and all relevant wild bird species.
The UK Offshore reporting for the Reporting Period 2019-2024 is made up of:
- Offshore Regulations General Implementation Report: A summary of the current status, pressures, and details of the measures implemented to protect resident Annex I habitats, Annex II, IV & V species, and all relevant wild bird species.
- Individual habitats and species feature assessments: Reporting data and conservation status conclusion for UK Offshore Annex I habitats, Annex II, IV & V species.
- Summary offshore bird species assessment: Overview of reporting data and status for relevant UK Offshore bird species.
- Supporting data for the UK Offshore habitat, species, and bird assessments.
A copy of the UK Offshore reporting, including accompanying appendices will be available on JNCC's Resource Hub (when published).
A copy of the habitat, species, and bird feature assessments, including supporting data will be available on JNCC's Resource Hub (when published).
Approach to Assessing Status of Habitats and Species
A shared UK‑wide approach was used by all countries and for the UK Offshore report to ensure consistency in assessing the status of protected habitats and species for the 2019–2024 reporting period. This common approach is set out in a suite of guidance documents and a detailed Approach Document, which describe how conservation status should be assessed and how the feature‑level reporting fields should be completed. These materials apply to feature reporting only, and not to the general implementation reporting required under the Regulations.
The guidance is consistent to the Bern Convention reporting guidelines, ensuring that the reporting meets international requirements and follows a common assessment framework for habitats, species and regularly occurring wild bird species.
Together, these documents provide the consistent methods used across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the UK Offshore Marine Area to produce comparable, transparent and internationally aligned assessments for the 2019–2024 reporting period.
A copy of the approach document and guidelines used is available on JNCC's Resource Hub.
UK Bird population and distribution data to support reporting
For the 2019–2024 reporting period, assessments of wild bird species were undertaken at a UK scale. Many of the species included are regularly occurring migratory birds that are present in the UK only seasonally and move widely across internal borders. Because of this high mobility, country‑level reporting would not have provided a meaningful or coherent picture of their populations or distribution. Reporting at a UK scale therefore offered the most accurate and consistent basis for assessing the status and conservation needs of these species across both the Country and UK Offshore reports.
Therefore, to support the country and UK Offshore reporting, JNCC compiled data for all regularly occurring wild bird species at a UK scale. This included information on:
- population size and trends
- breeding distribution and trends
- conservation status and extinction risk
A copy of this data, including seabird distribution maps used in the reporting will be available on JNCC's Resource Hub (when published).
Additional information on pressures and conservations measures, species actions plans, and populations within the protected site network, for birds were compiled by country ornithologists and are included within the relevant county and UK offshore reporting.
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