On 9th June 2026, thousands of businesses across the UK will come together for Better Business Day: a coordinated moment of noise, action and advocacy for one of the most significant proposed changes to UK company law in twenty years.
The Sustainable Wedding Alliance is proud to be part of the coalition backing the Better Business Act, and we want to explain why it matters, why the wedding industry has a particular stake in seeing it succeed, and what you can do right now to add your voice.
What is the Better Business Act?
The Better Business Act is the flagship policy campaign from B Lab UK, the organisation behind B Corp certification. Its goal is straightforward but transformative: to amend Section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 so that every company in the UK is legally required to align the interests of shareholders with those of wider society and the environment.
That one sentence carries a lot of weight, so let us unpack it.
Right now, UK company law says that directors must act in a way that promotes the success of the company for the benefit of its shareholders. Directors can consider employees, communities and the environment in their decision-making, but they are not required to. The law gives them permission to care about people and planet, but it does not make it a duty.
The Better Business Act would change that. It would make consideration of wider society and the environment a legal requirement, not an optional extra, for every company in the UK by default.
This is not a radical idea. Over 3,000 businesses and organisations already support the campaign, including names like Patagonia, Innocent, Ben and Jerry’s, Danone, Iceland and the Big Issue. It is co-chaired by Mary Portas OBE. And the public is behind it: 77% of UK adults believe businesses should have a legal responsibility to people and planet alongside profit, and 62% of company directors agree that businesses should not exist solely to make money.
The law has simply not caught up with how most people, including most business owners, already think business should work.
Why this has not happened yet
The Companies Act came into force in 2006. In the twenty years since, the world has changed enormously. The climate crisis has accelerated. Public expectations of business have shifted fundamentally. The concept of purpose-led business has moved from fringe to mainstream. And yet Section 172, the part of the law that defines what directors must prioritise, has not changed at all.
The campaign’s message for Better Business Day 2026 is deliberately pointed: twenty years, same system. It is time for an upgrade.
Why the wedding industry should care
The wedding industry might seem like an unlikely place to start a conversation about company law reform. But there are two reasons why it is exactly the right place.
The first is that you are already doing this
The businesses in and around the SWA community have not waited for the law to require them to consider their environmental impact, their suppliers’ welfare, their clients’ values, or the communities they operate in. They are already running businesses that try to balance people, profit and planet, often at real cost and effort. The Better Business Act would not ask you to do anything you are not already doing. It would simply make the legal framework catch up with the values you already hold.
The second is that it would level the playing field
One of the most consistent frustrations we hear from wedding businesses doing genuine sustainability work is that they are competing against businesses making no comparable effort, sometimes at lower cost, and with no requirement to disclose the difference. If the law required every company to consider its wider impact, the businesses cutting corners on people and planet would no longer be able to do so invisibly. The playing field gets leveller. The businesses doing the right thing stop being penalised for it.
There is also the economic argument
Research associated with the Better Business Act campaign estimates that aligning business purpose with legal duty could deliver a £149 billion boost to UK GDP per year, a sevenfold increase in research and development expenditure, and a £5.3 billion pay rise for the lowest paid workers. Purpose-led business is not just better for the planet. It is better for the economy.
What the change would actually mean
The Better Business Act proposes four principles for the amended law:
- Aligned interests. The interests of shareholders are advanced alongside, not instead of, those of wider society and the environment. This creates a new principle of fiduciary duty within Section 172.
- Empowered directors. The change must give directors the confidence and authority to weigh up the interests of all stakeholders and act accordingly, without fear of legal challenge from shareholders who prioritise short-term returns.
- A default change. This applies to all companies in the UK by default. It is no longer optional to consider the interests of wider stakeholders. Every business is included.
- Reflected in reporting. Businesses must report on how they balance people, planet and profit, creating transparency and accountability that currently does not exist.
For wedding businesses, that last point is particularly interesting. Impact reporting is something we are actively building towards as an industry. The Better Business Act would make it a standard expectation, not a differentiator, which ultimately benefits the businesses that have already started doing the work.
What you can do on Better Business Day – 28th May 2026
- Write to your MP. This is the single most impactful thing you can do. The Better Business Act team has made it as easy as possible: it takes less than 60 seconds using their pre-written template. Every message from a constituent matters, and MPs pay particular attention to letters from local business owners. Write to your MP here: betterbusinessact.org
- Join the digital Thunderclap on 28th May. At 12pm on 28th May, the coalition is posting at the same time across social media to create a coordinated wave of visibility. Use the pre-written captions and social media assets from the Better Business Act toolkit, or add your own personal note on why this matters to your business. The hashtag is #BetterBusinessDay.
- Post a 2006 throwback on Better Business Day, 9th June. Share what you were doing in 2006, reflect on what has changed in your business and your industry since then, and say what you hope the change to the Companies Act will achieve. The Better Business Act team has created Canva templates to make this easy: duplicate, edit and download here. The caption to use or adapt is:
“2006 vs. 2026! In 20 years, we’ve changed a lot, but the Companies Act is stuck in the past. This Better Business Day, we’re calling the government to change Section 172, so that all businesses prioritise people, planet and profit. I’ve written to my MP, it took less than 60 seconds. Now it’s your turn. Let’s make some noise and upgrade to Better Business. Write to your MP.”
The moment is now
The Better Business Act has been building momentum since 2021. The coalition has grown to over 3,000 businesses and organisations. MPs have visited coalition businesses. A Private Members’ Bill aligned with the campaign has been introduced. The Liberal Democrats and Greens included it in their manifestos. The groundwork has been laid.
Better Business Day 2026 is a real opportunity to push this over the line. For wedding businesses that are already doing the work, already trying to run operations that consider people, planet and profit, this is your chance to help make that the legal expectation for every business in the UK.
The SWA is proud to be part of this coalition. We hope you will join us.
Write to your MP today and support the Better Business Act →
