On 19 June 2025, we welcomed partners, experts and collaborators to The Charterhouse in London for our Annual Review — a particularly special one as it also marked 40 years since Registry Trust was founded and assumed stewardship of the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines, working closely with the Ministry of Justice.

But this was much more than a moment to look back. It was a moment to look forward.

Our goal for the day was to create a space where we could reflect, yes — on how far we’ve come, on what the Register has enabled, and on the people who’ve helped build and maintain it — but also to ask deeper, more searching questions about the future:

• How can the Register evolve to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing economy?
• What does trust in public data mean in a digital-first world?
• What data can we provide that helps lenders, local and national decision-makers, academics and others?
• And how can we ensure that the Register continues to support financial inclusion, fairness and transparency — not just in principle, but in practice?

We were joined by a diverse group of thinkers and doers — from across government, credit, fintech, debt advice, justice, data ethics and beyond. What united them was a shared belief: that open, accurate, accessible data can make a material difference in people’s lives.

Throughout the day, we heard powerful insights from the floor, saw creative ideas emerge from small group conversations, and captured live feedback from Slido polling during our chair, Mick McAteer’s, presentation of some of the new data we’ve been busy capturing. A brilliant live illustration pulled together the day’s themes in real time — a visual reminder that this is a living, evolving story.

A few things stood out for me:

• The Register remains a critically important instrument to stakeholders across the debt landscape.
• People want to be part of shaping the Register’s next chapter — the appetite to collaborate is strong.
• Transparency and accountability are still cornerstones — but they must be reinterpreted for a data-saturated era.
• And across every conversation, there was a consistent call to keep users — citizens, consumers, professionals — at the centre of the Register’s future design.

It was inspiring to hear people talk about the Register not just as a dataset, but as a public service.

As we enter our fifth decade, we’re taking everything we heard on the day into the next phase of our work. We’re analysing the input, identifying priorities, and working with the Ministry of Justice and other stakeholders to co-create a Register that’s more useful, more trusted, and more future-ready than ever before.

My thanks to everyone who attended, contributed, supported and challenged us. And to the Registry Trust team — your commitment to public purpose is what makes this work possible.

Here’s to the next 40.