UK SRS S1 Report Template: Structure and Disclosure Prompts

Short answer

The answer, before the reasoning

Use the template as a controlled question set. Begin with the Basis of Preparation; then disclose material governance, strategy, risk-management and metrics-and-targets information; explain significant judgements and uncertainty; connect the report to the financial statements and Strategic Report; and end with a statement that accurately reflects the reporting basis.

Do not copy illustrative wording without verifying facts, requirements, reliefs and the claim.

Educational practitioner material. Illustrative examples and wording require adaptation and technical review.

Quick orientation

Applies to: Voluntary UK SRS reporters and entities building a future-ready annual-report architecture.
Primary decision: How to structure the disclosure so readers understand its basis, material conclusions, financial connections and claim.
Key source: UK SRS S1 paragraphs 17-64, 72-82 and E1-E5, plus UK SRS S2 for climate-related information.
Common confusion: A template can organise requirements, but it cannot determine materiality, fill evidence gaps or guarantee compliance.

Rule

Current UK position at 2 August 2026

UK SRS S1 and UK SRS S2 were issued on 25 February 2026 and are available for voluntary use. They are not, by themselves, a general mandatory reporting regime. Any future mandatory route, including FCA or Companies Act requirements, must be checked against the final rules applicable to the entity and reporting period.

Why the Basis of Preparation should come first

Readers cannot interpret a UK SRS report correctly unless they know what the entity has prepared. A clear Basis of Preparation explains the reporting entity, period, standards, materiality approach, source hierarchy, reliefs, significant judgements, uncertainty, location and claim. It also gives reviewers a control point: every section of the report can be tested against the same approved basis.

A weak Basis of Preparation creates cascading problems. Readers may assume the report covers all sustainability matters when it is climate-only; interpret selected SASB metrics as mandatory UK requirements; assume cross-referenced web content forms part of the approved report; or read “aligned” as a full compliance statement. The basis should therefore be drafted before the four pillars, not added as a disclaimer at the end.

Template architecture: Basis of Preparation controls the four pillars and the final judgement, cross-reference and approval layer.

In practice

Recommended annual-report structure

Section	Purpose	Core content
1. Basis of Preparation	Define how to read the disclosure.	Entity, period, standards, route, materiality, sources, reliefs, judgements, uncertainty, location, cross-references and claim.
2. Executive overview	Give the primary-user answer first.	Material risks and opportunities, major changes, strategy response and key financial connections.
3. Governance	Explain oversight and management controls.	Mandates, skills, information flow, strategic decisions, targets, remuneration links and management roles.
4. Strategy	Explain how material matters affect prospects.	Risk/opportunity descriptions, time horizons, business model, value chain, responses, trade-offs, financial effects and resilience.
5. Risk management	Explain the process and integration.	Identification, assessment, prioritisation, monitoring, changes and relationship with enterprise risk management.
6. Metrics and targets	Show performance and progress.	Required metrics, management-used metrics, industry information, methods, targets, baselines, progress and revisions.
7. Judgements and uncertainty	Make significant preparation decisions transparent.	Materiality, source selection, estimates, ranges, data limitations, sensitivity and changes.
8. Cross-reference and approval index	Make the complete report traceable.	Precise locations, source documents, approval bodies, assurance scope, version and final claim.

Section 1 - Basis of Preparation prompts

Illustrative Basis of Preparation wording - full compliance candidate

Use the final sentence only after a complete paragraph 72 technical review. Remove or revise it where any requirement, reporting entity, timing, cross-reference or relief condition prevents the statement.

Illustrative climate-only wording under paragraph E3

Illustrative partial-alignment wording

In practice

Prompt	What a useful answer should contain	Evidence / review test
Reporting entity	The same reporting entity as the related financial statements; explain relevant perimeter changes and metric-specific differences.	Consolidation schedule and perimeter reconciliation.
Reporting period and timing	The period covered and confirmation that the disclosures are published at the same time as the related financial statements.	Annual-report timetable and publication record.
Reporting route	Voluntary use or the exact law or regulatory rule that requires reporting.	Legal applicability memo and dated regulatory source.
Standards applied	UK SRS S1 and, where relevant, UK SRS S2; identify any other sources without presenting them as UK requirements.	Source register and standard editions.
Materiality basis	Primary users, prospects, material information test, aggregation, obscuring and the process for reassessment.	Materiality methodology and decision records.
Industry sources	Industries selected and specific standards, pronouncements, practices or sources actually applied.	Industry selection and metric-source log.
Reliefs and exemptions	Paragraph used, reason, affected information, compensating disclosure and claim consequence.	Relief register and approval.
Significant judgements	Judgements with the most significant effect, such as risk identification, source selection and material information.	Judgement register and reviewer challenge.
Measurement uncertainty	Amounts with high uncertainty, sources, assumptions, approximations, sensitivity and possible outcomes.	Model documentation and uncertainty analysis.
Location and cross-references	Where the disclosure sits and the exact controlled locations incorporated by reference.	Cross-reference schedule, access and version test.
Compliance or alignment statement	Wording that matches the verified reporting basis and relief use.	Technical compliance checklist, claim matrix and legal review.

Hypothetical scenario

Illustrative wording - adapt and technically verify

“These sustainability-related financial disclosures have been prepared for [Group name] for the year ended [date], the same reporting entity and period as the related consolidated financial statements. The disclosures apply UK SRS S1 and UK SRS S2. Material information was identified by assessing sustainability-related risks and opportunities that could reasonably be expected to affect the Group's prospects and whether omission, misstatement or obscuring could reasonably be expected to influence primary-user decisions. The specific industry sources applied are listed in [section]. Subject to the matters described in [judgements and uncertainty section], the disclosures comply with all requirements of UK Sustainability Reporting Standards.”

Illustrative only. It shows how the decision is made, not wording that can be copied or relied on.

Hypothetical scenario

Illustrative wording - no UK SRS S1 compliance claim

“For the year ended [date], the Group has used the provision in paragraph E3 of UK SRS S1 to disclose exclusively climate-related risks and opportunities. The relevant requirements of UK SRS S1 have been applied insofar as they relate to climate-related information, together with UK SRS S2. The Group does not assert compliance with UK SRS S1. [If an S2 compliance statement is made, state and disclose any relevant S2 reliefs alongside that statement.]”

Illustrative only. It shows how the decision is made, not wording that can be copied or relied on.

Hypothetical scenario

Illustrative wording - scope and departures required

“This report has been informed by selected concepts and disclosure requirements in UK SRS S1 and UK SRS S2. It is not presented as complying with UK Sustainability Reporting Standards. The scope covers [topics/entities/period], and the principal departures or limitations are [describe].”

Illustrative only. It shows how the decision is made, not wording that can be copied or relied on.

Section 2 - executive overview prompts

What are the material sustainability-related risks and opportunities that could reasonably be expected to affect prospects?

What changed during the reporting period: exposure, materiality, strategy, metrics, targets, methods or data?

Where are risks and opportunities concentrated in the business model and value chain?

What are the most important current financial effects and anticipated financial transmission channels?

What major plans, trade-offs, dependencies and uncertainties should primary users understand?

What reporting basis, reliefs and assurance scope qualify the overview?

In practice

Section 3 - governance disclosure prompts

Prompt	Drafting questions
Oversight responsibility	Which board, committee or individual has oversight? How is responsibility reflected in terms of reference, mandates and role descriptions?
Skills and competencies	How does the body determine whether appropriate skills are available or will be developed? What changed during the year?
Information flow	How and how often is the body informed? What dashboards, thresholds and escalation routes are used?
Strategy and transactions	How does oversight affect strategy, major transactions, risk management and related trade-offs?
Targets and remuneration	How are targets set and monitored? Are related metrics reflected in remuneration, and if not, what is the actual model?
Management role	Which executives or committees manage the matters? How is oversight exercised and how are controls integrated with finance, risk and operations?
Evidence and balance	Which papers, decisions and outcomes demonstrate the described process? Where are limitations or recent changes disclosed?

Section 4 - strategy disclosure prompts

Material risks and opportunities

Describe each material risk or opportunity in entity-specific terms, not only by ESG topic label.

Specify the short-, medium- or long-term horizon and explain how the definitions link to strategic planning.

Explain cause, exposure, dependencies, impacts as risk drivers, geography, assets, operations and value-chain concentration.

Distinguish physical, transition, operational, market, legal, workforce, nature, social and other transmission channels where useful.

Explain significant changes in materiality, exposure or evidence since the prior period.

Business model, value chain and decision-making

How do current and anticipated effects influence products, markets, operations, suppliers, customers, resources and relationships?

Where are risks and opportunities concentrated?

How has the entity responded, and what does it plan to do?

What progress has been made against previously disclosed plans?

What trade-offs were considered in location, investment, sourcing, workforce, product or financing decisions?

Which plans are approved, planned but uncommitted, conditional or aspirational?

Current and anticipated financial-effects prompts

Resilience prompts

What analysis supports the resilience conclusion?

Which material risks are included, over what time horizons and under what assumptions?

What capacity does the entity have to adjust strategy and business model?

What thresholds, constraints, funding needs or dependencies could change the conclusion?

Where is the analysis qualitative, quantitative or scenario-based, and what are its limitations?

In practice

Prompt area	Questions
Current financial effects	How did the risk or opportunity affect financial position, performance and cash flows during the reporting period? Which amounts or line items are affected?
Next-period adjustment risk	Is there a significant risk of a material adjustment to asset or liability carrying amounts within the next annual reporting period?
Anticipated financial position	How could assets, liabilities and funding change over short, medium and long term, given investment, disposal and transformation plans?
Anticipated performance and cash flows	How could revenue, costs, margins, working capital, tax, financing and cash flows change?
Financial planning	How are the matters incorporated into budgets, forecasts, scenarios, capital allocation and funding plans?
Quantitative approach	Is information a single amount, range or combined effect? What reasonable and supportable information and capability-appropriate approach were used?
Relief from quantification	Are effects not separately identifiable, too uncertain to be useful, or beyond current capabilities for anticipated effects? Why, which line items are affected, and what qualitative information is provided?
Assumptions and uncertainty	What methods, assumptions, approximations, sensitivities, dependencies and possible outcomes should users understand?

In practice

Section 5 - risk-management disclosure prompts

Process element	Prompt
Identification	How are sustainability-related risks and opportunities identified across the business model and value chain? Which data, sources and triggers are used?
Assessment	How are nature, likelihood and magnitude assessed? How is uncertainty handled?
Prioritisation	How are matters compared and prioritised, and how does materiality relate to enterprise-risk thresholds?
Monitoring	Which metrics, limits, incidents and changes trigger escalation or reassessment?
Integration	How do these processes connect to enterprise risk management, strategy, budgeting, transactions and internal controls?
Change from prior period	What changed in methods, thresholds, systems, ownership or scope, and why?
Opportunity process	How are opportunities identified and evaluated without using a less rigorous evidence standard than risks?

Section 6 - metrics and targets prompts

Metrics

Targets and progress

What metric is used to set the target and monitor progress?

What is the quantitative or qualitative target?

What period and base period apply?

What milestones and interim targets exist?

What was performance in the reporting period and what trend is visible?

Was the target revised, missed or replaced, and why?

Is the target required by law or regulation, approved internally, externally validated or only aspirational?

What dependencies, offsets, financing, technology or value-chain actions affect achievement?

In practice

Prompt	Required or useful content
Applicable standard metrics	Metrics required by UK SRS S2 or another applicable UK Sustainability Reporting Standard.
Management-used metrics	Metrics the entity uses to monitor each material risk or opportunity and performance against targets.
Industry information	Metrics associated with the entity's business models and industry participation; explain the industries and sources applied.
Source metric	Identify the source and metric taken where it comes from outside UK SRS.
Entity-developed metric	Definition, adjustments from source metrics, absolute/relative/qualitative type, third-party validation, method, inputs, limitations and assumptions.
Boundary and period	Entities, facilities, value-chain coverage, unit, reporting period and any difference from the financial reporting entity.
Comparability and change	Consistent definition over time, method changes, replacements, restatements and reason for change.
Data quality	Primary/secondary data, estimates, missing data, controls, reviewer and assurance status.

In practice

Section 7 - significant judgements and measurement uncertainty

Disclosure category	Prompts
Risk and opportunity identification	Which judgements most affected the universe, scope, time horizon or value-chain coverage?
Material information	Which aggregation, threshold, obscuring or omission judgements had the most significant effect?
Sources of guidance	Why were particular industry or other sources applied, and why were alternatives not applied?
Financial effects	Which estimates, ranges, scenarios and capability judgements are most significant?
Metrics	Which factors, extrapolations, allocation methods and data-quality limitations affect reported amounts?
High measurement uncertainty	Which amounts are highly uncertain, why, how sensitive are they, what outcomes are reasonably possible, and when may uncertainty resolve?
Changes and errors	What methods or assumptions changed, were comparatives restated, and were material prior-period errors corrected?

In practice

Section 8 - cross-reference, assurance and approval index

Index field	Prompt
Requirement / topic	Which UK SRS requirement or material topic is addressed?
Location	Exact page, section, stable URL or report reference.
Document status	Annual report, controlled separate report, financial statements or other approved source.
Same time / same terms	Was the referenced content available at publication on the same access conditions?
Owner and approver	Who prepared, reviewed and approved the information?
Assurance status	Subject matter, criteria, level, provider, period, boundary and exclusions.
Version	Approved file name, date, checksum or controlled CMS version.
Claim relevance	Does this item support full compliance, S2 compliance with reliefs, climate-only reporting or partial alignment?

A practical drafting sequence

1. Approve the Basis of Preparation and claim matrix.

2. Create a disclosure requirement and material-information matrix.

3. Draft the executive overview from approved material conclusions.

4. Draft governance from mandates, papers and minutes.

5. Draft strategy from the risk/opportunity register, plans and finance bridge.

6. Draft risk management from documented processes and changes.

7. Draft metrics and targets from the controlled data dictionary.

8. Add judgements, uncertainty and relief disclosures near the affected information.

9. Reconcile the complete draft to the Strategic Report, financial statements and related claims.

10. Run technical, finance, legal, control and board review; then lock the approved version.

In practice

Weak versus stronger Basis of Preparation

Weak wording	Stronger illustrative wording	Why it is stronger
“This report is aligned with UK SRS.”	“This report applies selected UK SRS S1 concepts to the climate and workforce information described in sections X-Y. It is not presented as complying with UK Sustainability Reporting Standards. The principal departures are…”	Defines scope, avoids an implied full claim and identifies departures.
“We used SASB guidance where relevant.”	“The Group applied the following industry sources in selecting metrics: [industries and sources]. The metrics taken or adapted from those sources are identified in the metric table.”	Identifies industries, sources and actual use instead of a generic reference.
“Some information is estimated.”	“The supplier-water metric includes estimates for locations representing X% of the boundary. The estimate uses [method]. The principal uncertainty is [source], and the sensitivity is [description].”	Locates the estimate, method, coverage and uncertainty.
“See our website for further information.”	“The information required by [topic] is incorporated by reference to [controlled report, section/page, stable URL], published on [date] at the same time and on the same terms as this annual report.”	Provides a precise, controlled and testable reference.

Hypothetical scenario

Illustrative scenario - diversified group with mixed reporting maturity

A diversified group has mature climate reporting for its manufacturing businesses, limited workforce data in a recent acquisition and no group-wide nature metrics. The annual-report team wants one “UK SRS compliant” section.

Illustrative only. It shows how the decision is made, not wording that can be copied or relied on.

In practice

Hypothetical template application

Element	Illustrative analysis
Evidence available	Group perimeter schedule, materiality assessment, climate controls, acquisition data-gap register, industry-source review, finance workpapers and board timetable.
Decision	The group uses the template to state a climate-only E3 basis for the current cycle, removes the S1 compliance statement, discloses the reporting perimeter and acquisition limitations, identifies the industry sources applied to climate metrics, and includes a controlled expansion roadmap for workforce and nature risks without presenting future plans as current compliance.
Rationale	The Basis of Preparation prevents the mature climate section from being read as a complete S1 report and makes the limitations visible throughout the four pillars.
Limitation	A future mandatory route may impose a different scope or limit the relief, so the basis and claim require annual reassessment.
Next action	Use the editable template and implementation toolkit to assign each prompt, evidence source, owner and review status.

In practice

Common template mistakes

Mistake	Why it happens	Correction
Copying the four IFRS-style pillars without a Basis of Preparation.	The structure looks familiar and the basis is treated as boilerplate.	Lead with entity, materiality, sources, reliefs, judgement and claim.
Answering every prompt with generic policy language.	The team mistakes completeness for length.	Prioritise material, entity-specific information and evidence of actual decisions and performance.
Separating financial effects into a remote appendix.	Sustainability and finance teams draft independently.	Place finance connections beside the relevant strategy discussion and reconcile to financial statements.
Using the template as a compliance checklist only.	Form completion replaces materiality judgement.	Use the template after materiality and maintain a claim ledger and evidence map.
Leaving reliefs and limitations until legal review.	Teams fear that early disclosure of gaps weakens the report.	Maintain the relief and judgement register from project start and draft compensating information.
Treating illustrative wording as approved legal language.	Examples are convenient under time pressure.	Adapt every clause to facts, applicable requirements and technical review.

Rule

Myth / reality

Myth: “A comprehensive UK SRS S1 template guarantees a compliant report.” Reality: a template improves structure and completeness, but compliance depends on the entity's materiality assessment, facts, data, judgements, controls, reliefs, timing, cross-references and final claim.

Readiness

Report-template readiness checklist

[ ] The Basis of Preparation is approved before substantive drafting.
[ ] The reporting entity and period match the related financial statements.
[ ] The voluntary or mandatory reporting route is stated accurately and dated.
[ ] Materiality uses the primary-user and prospects test and does not obscure material information.
[ ] Industries and sources actually applied are identified.
[ ] Reliefs, exemptions, significant judgements and uncertainty are visible and linked to claim consequences.
[ ] Governance wording matches mandates, information flow and reporting-period practice.
[ ] Strategy connects material risks and opportunities to the business model, decisions and finance.
[ ] Risk-management processes explain identification, assessment, prioritisation, monitoring and integration.
[ ] Metrics and targets have definitions, methods, boundaries, progress and revisions.
[ ] Cross-references are precise, controlled, accessible and published at the same time.
[ ] Assurance wording describes the actual engagement scope.
[ ] The final compliance or alignment statement matches the verified basis.
[ ] The board approves the exact version and any conditions.

Next steps and related learning

Download and populate the editable UK SRS S1 report template included in this package.

Use the implementation toolkit to assign owners, status, evidence and review controls to each prompt.

Use the CFO guide to complete the financial-effects sections.

Use the company secretary and legal guide to finalise placement, cross-references and claim wording.

Use the board briefing to prepare the approval paper and sign-off checklist.

Rule

Use limitation

This educational material is not legal advice, an assurance opinion or a substitute for reading the current official standards, applicable legislation and regulator rules. Illustrative wording and scenarios must be adapted to the entity's facts.

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UK SRS S1 Report Template: Structure, Basis of Preparation and Disclosure Prompts

Published passport

The answer, before the reasoning

Quick orientation

Why the Basis of Preparation should come first

Recommended annual-report structure

Section 1 - Basis of Preparation prompts

Illustrative Basis of Preparation wording - full compliance candidate