The use of privately owned e-scooters on roads in the UK remains illegal, although local authority-run scooter rental schemes have been permitted in England since summer 2020. Five years on, and despite a number of government pledges to act, there still appears to be no clear timetable for legislation or regulation of this increasingly popular, if often divisive, form of transport.

The previous Conservative administration introduced the trial arrangements during the Covid-interrupted summer of 2020. The local authority-run trials are subject to certain conditions which include:

• the rider must hold at least a provisional driving licence
• mandatory compulsory insurance arranged by the local authority
• and technical standards about the speed/power, weight and dimensions of the scooters  

After the trials began, it is probably fair to say that there was a degree of expectation that before too long broader action would be taken to regulate the use of privately-owned scooters as well. There was no such legislation, however, in the King's Speech of November 2023.

Following the change of government in July 2024, the new Labour Transport Secretary Louise Haigh informed a Commons Select Committee that the government planned to legislate on e-scooters, although she did not offer any commitment about timing. Ms Haigh’s successor, Heidi Alexander, has yet to address this issue, so the prospects of detailed and relevant legislation in the next King's Speech - which could take place before the end of the year - look somewhat remote.

Despite that, in late June 2025 and as part of the government’s Modern Industrial Strategy, the prospect of future legislation to regulate e-scooters, and micromobility more generally, was directly addressed in an accompanying paper entitled Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan (AMSP) in the passage quoted at the foot of this article.

At first sight this is a clear indication of a settled plan to legislate but, as in the past, what is missing is any idea of the timetable for achieving that. A further reference in the AMSP to plans for such legislation unhelpfully adds the very vague formulation “when parliamentary time allows”.

While this approach provides the government with significant flexibility on priorities, it provides absolutely no certainty for stakeholders interested in either (a) investing in developing the micromobility sector or (b) the safe use of e-scooters and other micromobility vehicles on the UK's roads and streets (with a particular emphasis on the risks for pedestrians and other vulnerable road users).

It seems that any form of legislation on e-scooters and micromobility looks very unlikely to be introduced before 2026. At the same time, the duration of local authority run e-scooter rental trials already has been extended several times and these are now set to end in May 2028. According to the Department for Transport’s (DfT) July 2025 policy paper, in which the DfT explains that this further extension “will ensure we have the best possible evidence base to inform how to legislate”.

In a different passage, the AMSP suggests an urgency about the need to act on micromobility, in talking of “Creating a clear route to market [driving] investment and usage in these new vehicles, unleashing businesses from the current regulatory burdens and kickstarting economic growth.”

That may all be very well, but aside from extending the rental trials to May 2028, the absence of any indication of when necessary regulations might be put in place tends to suggest this might not be one of the government’s very top priorities. Whether there might be any further clues, either from Ms Alexander or in the next King’s Speech, remains to be seen.