The UK government has set out its long‑term vision for a “smart data economy” – and the energy and property sectors are now firmly in its sights.

Published in March, Smart Data 2035: The UK’s Smart Data Strategy confirms the government’s intention to accelerate secure, consent‑based data sharing across the economy, building on the legal powers granted under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA).

The strategy signals a material shift: political will is creating smart data schemes through legislation to accelerate industry's confidence and ability to share data to provide better, more personalised and more innovative services which generate GDP, with energy and property identified as early priorities.

What is “smart data” – and why now?

Smart data refers to the secure, standardised sharing of customer or business data with authorised third parties, with the individual or organisation in control. The most familiar UK example is open banking, which allows customers to share banking data securely with regulated providers to access better products and services.

Open banking is the government’s proof point. According to the strategy, it has helped stimulate innovation, support competition and improve consumer outcomes at scale – demonstrating that well‑designed, legally underpinned data‑sharing frameworks can succeed.

The Smart Data Strategy explicitly builds on this model but looks far beyond financial services. The government’s ambition is to see five or more smart data schemes live by 2030 and over 20 by 2035, with energy, property and financial services among the first sectors to progress.

Legislation as the real catalyst

One of the clearest signals in the strategy is the importance of legislative permission and obligation.

Historically, large‑scale sector‑wide data sharing in the UK has only gained real momentum where:

  • legislation clearly permits and structures data sharing; or
  • participation is mandated or strongly incentivised by regulation.

Open banking is the obvious example, alongside initiatives such as the pensions dashboards programme. In both cases, progress accelerated only when legal uncertainty about data sharing was removed and governance frameworks were put in place.

The Smart Data Strategy leans into this lesson. The DUAA now gives government the powers to:

  • require businesses to participate in smart data schemes;
  • designate sector‑specific regimes; and
  • put in place supporting governance and technical standards.

For in‑house legal teams, this marks an important shift from “could we share this data?” to “how do we comply with an emerging smart data regime?”

Why energy and property matter

Energy and property are two of the four priority sectors identified for early smart data development.

Energy: transparency, switching and vulnerability

In the energy market, smart data schemes are expected to support:

  • easier comparison and switching between suppliers;
  • improved payment and affordability options;
  • better identification and protection of vulnerable customers; and
  • more efficient management of usage and billing data.

The government has indicated it will consult on detailed smart energy proposals in 2026, with regulation expected to follow later in the decade. From a data protection perspective, this raises immediate questions around lawful disclosure, consent mechanisms, security controls and accountability across complex supply chains.

Property: unlocking a fragmented data landscape

Property remains one of the most data‑fragmented sectors in the UK. Information about buildings, ownership, energy performance, planning, transactions and occupancy is often siloed across organisations and formats.

Smart data schemes in property aim to address this by enabling:

  • trusted sharing of standardised datasets across the home‑buying lifecycle;
  • improved access to information for buyers, lenders and professionals; and
  • greater efficiency and certainty in transactions.

The strategy confirms that a property smart data roadmap is expected in 2026, with government‑commissioned research already under way.

The European context: data spaces and data markets

The UK’s direction of travel also needs to be understood in its international context.

Somewhat out of the spotlight, the EU has been developing sector‑specific 'data spaces' for several years, including in energy, mobility, health and finance. These initiatives aim to enable trusted data sharing across borders and industries, on a voluntary basis but facilitated through fair, transparent, proportionate and non-discriminatory access rules, alongside data governance mechanisms.

The EU has paired these technical initiatives with recent legal frameworks such as:

  • the Data Act, focused on fair access to and use of data and clarifying who can generate value from it; and
  • the Data Governance Act, designed to create a single European data market through mechanisms including trusted data intermediaries and data‑sharing pools.

The UK no longer has access to these data spaces, but the Smart Data Strategy suggests a clear intent to develop UK specific equivalents, aligned with domestic legal and regulatory priorities.

Ambition versus reality: the implementation challenge

The government’s ambition is clear, but smart data schemes are not simple to establish.

Legislation is only the starting point. Effective schemes require:

  • common data and interoperability standards;
  • robust technical controls and security architecture;
  • clearly defined roles and responsibilities across participants;
  • detailed API specifications and documentation; and
  • governance models that balance innovation with accountability.

For energy and property businesses, this will mean sustained collaboration between legal, data, IT and compliance teams over a number of years. For GCs and DPOs, early engagement will be critical to managing risk while enabling participation.

What should GCs and data protection teams do now?

Even though many schemes are still at roadmap stage, organisations in the energy and property sectors should be:

  • tracking regulatory and policy developments closely;
  • auditing and indexing current datasets to prepare them for sharing;
  • ensuring existing data sharing and data processing is compliant with current laws; and
  • identifying business opportunities presented by inclusion in an future smart data schemes.

Those that engage early will be better placed to shape schemes as they develop – rather than simply react once frameworks and standards have been set.

How we can help

Our Data Protection team advises clients across energy, property and financial services on designing, implementing and governing lawful data‑sharing frameworks, including emerging smart data schemes.

If you would like to discuss how the UK’s Smart Data Strategy could affect your organisation – or how to prepare for upcoming energy or property initiatives – please get in touch with Jocelyn Paulley.