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5 February 2026 - Minutes of the meeting of the Board of Commissioners

Minutes of the meeting of the Board of Commissioners, Thursday 5 February 2026.

10:00 Board room at Victoria Square House, Birmingham.

Commissioners:

  • Charles Counsell (Interim Chair)
  • Lloydette Bai-Marrow
  • Helen Dodds
  • Sheree Howard (via Teams, from 11:00)
  • Helen Phillips
  • David Rossington.

Executive team:

  • Helen Child
  • Katharine Diamond
  • Sarah Gardner
  • Helen Gibson
  • Natasha Harris
  • Tim Miller
  • Alistair Quigley
  • John Tanner.

In attendance: REDACTED.

Apologies:

  • Claudia Mortimore
  • Andrew Rhodes.

1. Private session for Commissioners and Secretariat

This session was not minuted.

2. Welcome, apologies and declarations of interest

Apologies were noted.

There were no new declarations of interest.

3. Minutes, actions and forward look

The minutes of the board meetings of 20 November 2025, the extraordinary board meeting of 15 December 2025 and the extraordinary board meeting of 23 January 2026, were all agreed as true and accurate records of those meetings.

REDACTED.

REDACTED.

4. Chair’s report

Board noted the Chair’s report for information.

The Interim Chair highlighted key points:

  1. REDACTED.
  2. A supplier has been selected for the external Board Effectiveness Review (BER) and work will begin shortly.
  3. Recruitment to the Gambling Commission Chair role has opened. Colleagues were encouraged to share the post.
  4. REDACTED.

There were no questions on the Chair’s report.

5. CEO’s report

Board noted the report for information.

The Deputy CEO highlighted key points:

  1. The Commission’s CEO had a meeting with REDACTED on 20 January 2026. REDACTED.
  2. The Department’s Illegal Gambling Taskforce (IGT) has met for the first time.
  3. The Commission and Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) quarterly partnership meeting took place on 22 January 2026. REDACTED.
  4. The Commission’s CEO and colleagues visited Inspired Gaming (IG) on 14 January 2026. REDACTED.
  5. REDACTED.

REDACTED.

The IGT has met for the first time, chaired by the DCMS Minister; the IG sub-group is chaired by the Commission’s Director of Research. REDACTED.

REDACTED.

REDACTED.

REDACTED.

Recruitment to replace the Head of Governance is underway; a Commissioner will sit on the interview panel and the Interim Chair will carry out the fireside chats with shortlisted candidates. It was suggested a permanent recruitment may attract better candidates. People Services maintain a fixed term appointment is the best approach.

6. Finance and procurement reports

Board noted the Finance and Procurement reports for information.

On the Finance report, Board noted:

  1. REDACTED.
  2. REDACTED.
  3. REDACTED.
  4. On budget, the Finance Team are modelling the impact of the tax increases on Gross Gambling Yield (GGY), using HM Treasury assumptions.
  5. REDACTED.
  6. REDACTED.

On the commercial report, Board noted:

  1. The commercial strategy has been aligned with the corporate strategy and the Commercial Team are looking to adopt a business partnering model. Mandatory contract management training has been rolled out across the Commission.
  2. REDACTED.
  3. Commercial practice across the Commission is improving, and the team have better visibility of the contract pipeline.

REDACTED.

7. Financial resilience and risk

Board received a verbal update on illegal markets funding. REDACTED.

REDACTED.

8. Strategic Risk Review (SRR)

Board noted the report for information:

  1. REDACTED.
  2. REDACTED.
  3. REDACTED.
  4. REDACTED.

9. Business plan and budget 2026 to 2027

Board noted the paper for decision:

  1. REDACTED.
  2. REDACTED.
  3. REDACTED.
  4. REDACTED.
  5. REDACTED.

10. Operational performance report December 2025

REDACTED.

11. Growth agenda

Board noted the paper for information.

Board were invited to ask questions and make comments:

  1. Nine initial, uncosted proposals on the topic of administrative burden reduction have been shared with DCMS. They are not commitments at this stage.
  2. The paper focuses on actions impacting the Commission. The National Audit Office (NAO) has recently released a report into the work of HM Treasury and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) in this space. It found a lack of guidance on offer and noted that this is the 10th challenge to regulators to reduce administration burden since 2005.
  3. The Commission will continue to work with the impact of burden in mind, to embed reporting on burden within our processes (annual reporting and/or business planning) and to develop ways to estimate and track cost impacts.
  4. The key costing question for the Commission is that its licensees are very diverse in terms of size – the Commission is trying to land this point with DBT. This can make impact and cost reporting very complex.

12. REDACTED

13. People and Culture Strategy one year on

Board noted the paper for assurance.

Board were invited to ask questions and make comments:

  1. There has been good progress made on filling the previous, fundamental gaps in the HR framework. These have included increased representation, adapting pay and reward, the development of a new competency framework and redesigning the HR and organisational development team.
  2. Areas of focus for the next few months are management and leadership, embedding the Commission’s values into our organisation and using our Employee Value Proposition (EVP) as a real lever to highlight continued benefits for colleagues working at the Commission. People Services will be considering sequencing the EVP work in line with other current Commission changes.
  3. People Services are considering a disclosure campaign with colleagues to encourage disclosure of disability and other protected characteristics to allow a range of pay gap reporting.
  4. Capturing data on the completion rates of statutory and mandatory online training is challenging in the current system. It is hoped that procuring a different Learning Management System will assist. There also needs to be a review of the extent and suitability of the current portfolio of mandatory training.

REDACTED.

REDACTED.

14. Gambling Act Review (GAR) matters for decision and update

Board noted the paper for decision.

Board received a brief update on Gaming Machine Proposals:

  1. The first part of the response to the gaming machines consultation was issued at the end of January 2026. The proposals tabled at today’s meeting are a set of less complex proposals following the consultation. The remaining, more complex proposals, will be brought to Board at its board meeting on 21 May 2026.
  2. On introducing a new technical standard addressing losses disguised as wins, it is the intention that this will be recommended for new machines only as this is considered to be proportionate, balancing the cost to the industry compared to consumer benefits.
  3. It is likely to take some time for the existing state of machines where losses disguised as wins are phased out. Some of the legacy machines from 2005 are still in use.

REDACTED.

REDACTED.

DECISION: Board:

  1. Agreed the recommendations to proceed with the set of gaming machine proposals set out in the paper, and delegate in line with paragraph 20 in Annex A to the paper.
  2. REDACTED.

15. Legal Services Framework Agreement – Contract Agreement

Board noted the item for decision.

Board was invited to ask questions and make comments:

The Commission is confident that it has sufficient funds for the next year on the existing value of the contract.

DECISION: the Board approved an extension of the Legal Services Framework (the Framework) for up to one year, as provided for under the Framework contract, to enable a smooth transition to new arrangements. It is intended that the existing Framework Agreement will be brought to an end once the transition has taken place, which may be sooner than February 2027.

16. Decision on £10 Interactive Instant Win Games (IIWGs) Section 6 variation

REDACTED.

17. Any other business and review of the meeting

Attendees shared their views on the meeting.

REDACTED.

18. Below the line items

Audit and Risk Committee (ARC) assurance report. REDACTED.

SID session (Commissioners only) – not minuted

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