The government’s PFAS Plan: “Forever chemicals” - action now?

On 3 February 2026, the Government released its PFAS Action Plan, which promises to set out a roadmap for future regulatory action and coordinated steps for manufacturers and other stakeholders to reduce the prevalence of PFAS chemicals in the supply chain and environment.

What are PFAS?

PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are coined ‘forever chemicals’ due to the thousands of years they take to break down in the environment. PFOA and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) are types of PFAS. In 2023, PFOA was classified as carcinogenic to humans by the World Health Organization.

Leigh Day’s investigations into PFAS pollution and government regulatory actions

Lawyers from Leigh Day are investigating the impacts of PFAS pollution. So far, they have represented residents in Bentham in a claim over PFAS pollution from a firefighting foam factory, and are currently investigating pollution from a chemical factory in Thornton Cleveleys which has allegedly impacted residents.

At the beginning of February, an article by ENDS Report [LINK] revealed that residents living near the chemical factory in Thornton Cleveleys had been warned by the local council not to consume eggs produced by animals reared in the area due to dangerously high PFAS levels.

Against this backdrop, the Leigh Day Team were eager to review the Government’s PFAS Action Plan published earlier this month. The Team analysed the “indicative actions” set out in the Plan and have produced a checklist for stakeholders to track the Government’s compliance with its own “to do” list of stated goals.

Promised “indicative actions” include the following: 

Within hours of publication, the plan had already been criticised for a timeline considered by some to be too slow to act on the urgent dangers of PFAS, with the government’s plans to request information being described as "redundant" and "a stalling tactic" by Chem Trust researcher Shubhi Sharma. The PFAS Action Plan has also been criticised for not addressing how many PFAS chemicals are entering the atmosphere and where they are coming from. Professor Patrick Byrne at Liverpool John Moores University, in an interview with the Guardian, said: 

“Simply measuring PFAS concentrations, or increasing monitoring as the plan suggests, won’t solve this problem. What we need instead is to measure PFAS loads – the total amount released from different industries and contaminated sites. This allows us to identify the biggest polluters and target cleanup efforts where they will have the greatest impact.” 

It remains to be seen whether the government will keep to their own timetable and deliver on their promises.  

Leigh Day partner Sarah Moore said: 

‘It is encouraging that the Government is attempting to take action by publishing the PFAS Plan. They are effectively setting out a PFAS “to-do list” which includes some important steps.  However, the timeline, as it stands, appears to lack any real urgency or enforcement actions with protracted consultation phases gathering further information regarding PFAS. This is surprising given that the Government has already spent a year consulting through the EAC PFAS Inquiry.”