L24 Response Accepted in Part

Open Membership Terms

Recommendation

The membership of a regulatory body should be open to all publishers on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, including making membership potentially available on different terms for different types of publisher.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
- The Prime Minister stated on 29 November 2012 that he accepted the principles for independent self-regulation including open membership (Oral Statement to Parliament, Prime Minister's Office, 29 November 2012).
- IPSO states that membership is open to all publishers on published terms, with different categories for national, regional, and digital publishers (IPSO, accessed March 2026).
- IMPRESS states that membership is open to all publishers on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms (IMPRESS, accessed March 2026).
- Both regulators publish their terms of membership, though the existence of two separate regulators with different terms means there is no single unified system of open membership.
Sources
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by Claude (Anthropic) on 10 Apr 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
This recommendation applies across many organisations. The evidence above reflects central policy activity; adoption in individual organisations may vary.
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Accepted in Part
Accepted in Part UK Government
29 Nov 2012

The Prime Minister stated on 29 November 2012 that he accepted "the principles that Lord Justice Leveson has laid out" for independent self-regulation, including "an independent board, a standards code, an arbitration service and the power to demand up-front, prominent apologies and impose million-pound fines." However, he rejected statutory underpinning, expressing "serious concerns and misgivings" about crossing "the Rubicon of writing elements of press regulation into the law of the land." The Royal Charter on Self-Regulation of the Press was granted on 30 October 2013, establishing the Press Recognition Panel as the recognition body. IPSO was established in September 2014 but has not sought Royal Charter recognition. IMPRESS was recognised by the PRP in October 2016. Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/david-cameron-statement-in-response-to-the-leveson-inquiry-report

Read Full Response
Note: PM David Cameron responded to all 92 recommendations with a single statement accepting them "in principle" or "in part". No per-recommendation response was published.
Published Evidence

Published assessments of progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Source type badge indicates whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.

Good Progress
27 Feb 2025
IPSO / IMPRESS Other

Both IPSO and IMPRESS have open membership on published terms. IPSO has different categories for national, regional and digital publishers.

View detailed findings

Open membership on fair terms exists at both regulators.

IPSO and IMPRESS membership terms View Source
Source
Inquiry Leveson Inquiry
Report An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press 29 Nov 2012
View Source
Responsible Bodies
Press Primary
Themes & Tags
Weak Government Accountability & Scrutiny Press Regulation Membership Access
Recommendation age 13.5 yrs
Last formal update 4931 days ago