UK Sanctions Checks: Official Search, Screening and SAMLA 2018

For a UK sanctions check, start with the official UK Sanctions List search. Review possible matches using the available identifiers, then consider ownership or control and the applicable restrictions. For repeat checks, define the parties, sources, review process and evidence your screening control needs. This guide explains those steps and where SAMLA 2018 fits in UK sanctions law.¹³⁴

Where the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 fits in UK sanctions law

The Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (SAMLA) provides the framework under which many UK sanctions regulations are made. It is not the complete body of UK sanctions law, and the UK Sanctions List is designation data rather than the operative prohibition. SAMLA does not itself create a universal rule requiring every business to screen every customer or payment. For a live case, identify the applicable regulation and current authority guidance first; use screening to generate and investigate candidates, not to make the legal decision.⁴⁶³⁵

SAMLA is primary framework legislation. The current revised Act gives ministers powers to make sanctions regulations and requires guidance for regulations made under section 1. It also contains powers concerning anti-money-laundering regulations. Because the Act has been amended since 2018, use the current revised text and its change record on legislation.gov.uk rather than relying on a copy of the original enactment.⁴

The next legal source depends on the question:

• Regime-specific regulations contain the operative restrictions and requirements for the relevant sanctions regime, including scope, exceptions, licensing grounds, reporting duties and offences.
• Statutory and authority guidance explains how government interprets and administers parts of the framework. It is not interchangeable with the legislation, and OFSI states that its general guidance is not legal advice.³
• The UK Sanctions List is the current official source for UK designations. It helps identify a listed record; it does not by itself establish identity, ownership or control, the applicable prohibition or the required response.²⁷
• Screening operationalises a control once an organisation has identified the relevant legal perimeter, populations, sources and escalation route. It generates candidates for review rather than interpreting SAMLA or deciding legal action.

For firms within its scope, the FCA makes an important distinction: screening is not itself the underlying legal requirement, but effective and up-to-date screening appropriate to the nature, size and risk of the business can help a firm avoid breaching sanctions. That does not make screening optional in any practical sense where a firm needs adequate systems and controls, and it does not create a universal instruction to screen every party or payment in the same way.⁵⁸

Which UK legal or official source answers this question?

Official-source review: 12 September 2026.

UK sanctions law is broader than SAMLA alone. Other primary legislation can also be relevant, and implementation is divided across financial, trade, transport, immigration and other authorities.³⁹ The durable method is to start with the current official route for the question, then preserve the applicable source and date in the review record.

The FCDO UK Sanctions List is the only current UK government source for UK sanctions designations. Since 28 January 2026, the former OFSI Consolidated List and its search service are no longer updated. For a one-off person, entity or ship lookup, use the official UK Sanctions List search; FCDO also provides official downloads. A result is a candidate for review, not proof of identity, and a clean direct-name search does not resolve ownership/control or determine whether an activity is permitted. The applicable sanctions regulation determines the restriction, exceptions and licensing position. Checklynx supports repeat screening of supplied parties through configured portal, CSV, API and monitoring workflows; it does not replace the official source or make the legal decision.²¹

UK sanctions screening is therefore not simply a search of a government list. A regulated or UK-exposed business needs to connect its legal perimeter, the relevant sanctions regime, the parties and events in its products, reliable identifying data, ownership and control, escalation, reporting and evidence.

This guide provides that UK operating layer for MLROs, sanctions and compliance teams, operations leaders and product owners. For the broader one-off-versus-repeat source-selection question, see how to run a financial sanctions check. It assumes the reader already understands the general sanctions-screening process. For an upstream UN designation, first preserve the UN Security Council list, regime and committee context. For US exposure affecting a UK business, see the distinction between primary and secondary OFAC sanctions. It is not legal advice. The correct action in a live case depends on the applicable regulations, the firm's UK nexus, the facts, and any relevant exception or licence.

UK nexus and regime → population and trigger → current UK source → identity and ownership review → legal escalation → reporting or licensing boundary → evidence → re-screening

UK Sanctions List: official search and downloads

1. Open the official FCDO UK Sanctions List search.¹
2. Search the full list for the person, entity or specified ship using the strongest information available. The official tool supports exact, partial and fuzzy matching; apply filters only after the initial broad search so a thematic-regime result is not hidden.⁷
3. Review the official entry and compare identifiers such as aliases, birth or registration details, nationality, address and reference numbers where published.
4. Treat a similar name as a potential match until the identity is resolved through the organisation's review process.
5. For an entity, assess UK ownership and control separately; absence from the list is not a clearance decision.
6. Preserve the input, source, time, identifiers reviewed, result and reviewer rationale, then route any freezing, reporting, licensing or relationship decision to the authorised owner.

Official lookup and commercial screening serve different needs

UK sanctions regimes, regulations and “sanctioned countries”

There is no sufficiently precise universal list of “UK-sanctioned countries”. UK sanctions regimes can be country-specific or thematic, and can impose different financial, trade, transport or immigration restrictions. A country's connection to a regime does not mean every person, company or transaction associated with it is prohibited. Start with the current UK sanctions regimes, then read the applicable regulation and guidance.⁶

Start with the UK nexus, not the screening tool

UK financial sanctions apply within UK territory and to UK persons wherever they are. UK persons include British nationals and legal entities established under UK law, including their branches.³ That is the starting point, not a complete answer for every cross-border relationship.

Before configuring a list or matching threshold, record:

• which group entity, branch, employee or agent is involved;
• where the activity, customer, counterparty, funds, goods or services are located;
• which UK sanctions regime and restriction may apply;
• whether the issue concerns financial sanctions, trade sanctions or another measure; and
• who owns the legal interpretation, operational containment and final decision.

OFSI is responsible for financial-sanctions implementation and enforcement. Trade-sanctions questions can engage OTSI, HMRC or another authority depending on the measure. A firm's routing procedure should therefore identify the relevant restriction rather than treating every alert as an OFSI case.⁶

Define who enters the UK screening control

The screening population should follow the firm's products, exposure and approved policy. Depending on the activity, it may include:

This is a population-design exercise, not a claim that every firm must screen every category at every event. FCA guidance for firms in its scope discusses customers, counterparties and payments and expects systems appropriate to the nature, size and risk of the business.⁵ SRA guidance applies a different sector lens to SRA-regulated firms.¹⁰

For detailed supplier-policy design, use the third-party sanctions-screening policy guide. Payment institutions can use the separate event-based payment screening workflow.

What the UK Sanctions List contains — and what it does not

The UK Sanctions List, published by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, is the only source for UK sanctions designations. The OFSI Consolidated List closed on 28 January 2026.² A process, vendor configuration or policy that still relies on the old list name should be checked and corrected.

That change does not mean the UK Sanctions List answers every sanctions question. Teams still need to consult the applicable regime regulations and guidance to understand the restriction. The UK government also maintains separate material for some restrictions, including certain entities subject to financial and investment restrictions under the Russia regime.²

Assign an owner to monitor official changes and connect them to affected records. Useful triggers can include:

• onboarding or approval of a new relationship;
• a new owner, controller, payee, beneficiary or counterparty;
• a material change to reliable identifying data;
• an official designation, variation or revocation;
• a relevant payment, transaction, service or delivery event; and
• a scheduled reassessment required by the firm's policy.

Those are control-design options. The correct combination and timing depend on the firm's legal perimeter, activity and supervisory context.

Is the OFSI or HM Treasury sanctions list still current?

No. The former OFSI Consolidated List closed on 28 January 2026, and its old search service is frozen at that date. “OFSI sanctions list”, “HMT sanctions list” and “HM Treasury sanctions list” are legacy or colloquial terms when the user means current UK designation data. The current source is the FCDO UK Sanctions List.²¹¹

OFSI still has a central role: it is part of HM Treasury and implements UK financial sanctions through guidance, licensing, reporting and civil enforcement. FCDO owns sanctions policy, regimes and designations. The migration changed the designation-data publisher; it did not remove OFSI's financial-sanctions functions.⁶

How to investigate a possible UK sanctions match

A screening alert is not proof that the person or entity being screened is a designated person. OFSI guidance tells users to compare the available information, which can include aliases, dates of birth, nationalities, passport or national-identification details and addresses.³

Use a controlled review sequence:

1. Preserve the exact input, source result and time of the check.
2. Confirm the party's role in the customer relationship or activity.
3. Compare reliable identifiers, not only the name.
4. Record discrepancies and missing data.
5. Escalate a likely or unresolved target match to the authorised compliance or legal owner.

The detailed evidence model belongs in the sanctions alert-investigation guide. Matching calibration and repeat false positives belong in the false-positive reduction guide.

A clean search does not resolve ownership and control

An entity can be subject to financial sanctions even when its name does not appear on the UK Sanctions List. OFSI guidance explains that this can occur when a designated person owns or controls the entity directly or indirectly.³

The UK analysis includes more than a name or ordinary AML beneficial-ownership check. It can involve:

• more than 50% of shares or voting rights;
• the right to appoint or remove a majority of the board; or
• circumstances in which it is reasonable to expect that a person can ensure the entity's affairs are conducted in accordance with their wishes.

These questions are fact-sensitive. Do not automatically apply an AML beneficial-ownership threshold, import a test from another jurisdiction or infer control from a relationship alone. Use the sanctions ownership-and-control guide for the deeper comparison and obtain legal advice where the facts are uncertain.

What happens after a confirmed concern?

For FCA-supervised firms, FCA guidance makes a useful distinction: screening is not itself the underlying legal requirement, but an effective and current screening control can help a firm avoid breaching UK sanctions.⁵ Do not extend that supervisory statement beyond its scope without analysis.

An internal workflow should keep these decisions separate:

1. Screening result: is this a weak candidate, likely target match or resolved identity?
2. Operational response: should the affected workflow be paused or escalated under policy while the facts are reviewed?
3. Legal analysis: which prohibition, exception, licence or other rule applies to the party, property or activity?
4. Sanctions reporting: does a duty arise, for whom, and to which authority?
5. AML or regulatory reporting: is a separate SAR or regulator notification relevant?

OFSI guidance states that reporting a matter to a regulator or submitting a suspicious activity report does not satisfy a separate financial-sanctions reporting obligation.³ It also explains that reporting duties apply to defined relevant firms in specified circumstances—not to every alert received by every business.

A licence permits activity only within its legal ground and stated terms. It should not be described as a general approval of the relationship or transaction. Complex questions about prohibitions, freezing, services, exceptions, licensing and reporting require the applicable regulations and, where appropriate, legal advice.

Preserve evidence and make re-screening reproducible

A defensible UK screening record should allow another reviewer to reconstruct:

• the party and role screened;
• the exact data supplied;
• the official or commercial source and relevant result;
• the identifiers compared and information still missing;
• any ownership or control evidence;
• the analyst's rationale and classification;
• the escalation, decision and approval;
• the operational outcome; and
• the date, time and later re-screening history.

FCA material for supervised firms identifies weak calibration, backlogs, poor customer or ownership information, and inadequate oversight of third-party tools as control problems.⁸ A firm using a vendor should therefore understand source updates, configuration, data mapping, alert handling, queue ownership, testing and failure recovery. Outsourcing a technical step does not outsource the firm's legal responsibility.

One-off official search versus repeat screening

Once the legal perimeter, populations, triggers and escalation rules are defined, technology can execute the approved control through different routes. A portal may support individual reviews, a CSV batch may cover a defined population, an API may connect screening to an onboarding or payment event, and configured monitoring may return approved records for review after relevant supported changes.

Those routes do not decide who must be screened or what legal action is required. They should feed a consistent case and evidence process.

Checklynx supports sanctions-screening workflows through the screening portal, CSV batch, API, case review, audit evidence and configured ongoing monitoring. Explore Checklynx sanctions screening once your UK population and control requirements are clear.

UK sanctions-screening checklist

Frequently asked questions

What is the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018?

SAMLA is framework legislation that provides powers for UK sanctions regulations and related statutory architecture. It is not the complete body of UK sanctions law. Use the current revised legislation.gov.uk text when the legal wording or amendment status matters.⁴

Does SAMLA itself tell me whether a transaction is prohibited?

Not usually by itself. Identify the applicable sanctions regime and regulation, then review the current statutory or authority guidance and the facts. The regulation supplies the operative prohibition, scope, exceptions, licensing grounds and any relevant reporting requirements.⁶³

Is the UK Sanctions List the law?

No. It is the current official source for UK designations. The applicable legal framework determines what is prohibited, required, excepted or licensable, while a list result still requires identity and, where relevant, ownership-and-control analysis.²⁷

Is OFSI responsible for all UK sanctions?

No. OFSI implements and civilly enforces UK financial sanctions within its remit. FCDO, DBT, OTSI, ECJU, HMRC, the Department for Transport, the Home Office and other bodies have distinct policy, designation, implementation or enforcement roles.³⁹

How do I check whether SAMLA has been amended?

Use the current revised Act and its change/status information on legislation.gov.uk rather than relying on an original 2018 copy or an undated commercial summary.⁴

Where can I search the current UK Sanctions List?

Use the official FCDO UK Sanctions List search. Review the returned record and available identifiers rather than deciding from name similarity alone. The former OFSI Consolidated List closed on 28 January 2026 and is no longer updated.²

Is the OFSI sanctions list still current?

No. The OFSI Consolidated List closed on 28 January 2026, and its old search is frozen at that date. OFSI remains responsible for UK financial-sanctions implementation, but FCDO's UK Sanctions List is the current designation source.²¹¹

Is the HM Treasury sanctions list the same as the UK Sanctions List?

“HM Treasury sanctions list” or “HMT sanctions list” is now legacy or colloquial wording for designation data. Use the FCDO UK Sanctions List for current designations; HM Treasury's OFSI retains its financial-sanctions guidance, licensing, reporting and enforcement role.

Does a UK Sanctions List match mean the person is definitely sanctioned?

No. Compare the result with reliable identifiers such as aliases, date of birth, nationality, address and document details. A similar name is a candidate, not proof that the searched party is the designated person.³

Does no UK Sanctions List result mean the party is clear?

No. Non-list restrictions, other relevant parties and ownership or control can still matter. FCDO also states that use of the search tool does not reduce due-diligence obligations.⁷

Is there an official free UK sanctions check?

Yes. The FCDO search service provides the official lookup without charge. It finds UK Sanctions List records; it does not confirm identity, resolve ownership or control, or determine the required legal response.¹

When should I use screening software instead of the official search?

The official service is the direct route for a manual UK designation lookup. Screening software can help an organisation run its approved control repeatedly through portal, batch, API or monitoring workflows and retain review evidence. Neither replaces the applicable law or the organisation's final decision.

Can an unlisted company still be subject to UK financial sanctions?

Yes. OFSI guidance explains that financial sanctions can apply to an unlisted entity owned or controlled directly or indirectly by a designated person.³

Which countries are sanctioned by the UK?

There is no reliable universal Yes/No answer. UK regimes include country-specific and thematic programmes, and their financial, trade, transport and immigration restrictions differ. Use the current FCDO regimes collection and the applicable regulation rather than a static country table.⁶