Update September 2023:

The Home Office is continuing their work on this update to the 2019 Act, with the intention to add a new category of knife to the prohibited list. The crux of the matter rests on the descriptive wording of the knife in question (to try and limit access to certain types of 'zombie' style knives currently fashionable among gangs in certain cities).

To this end the Home Office officials have met with various experts in the field, including myself. We continue to try our best to steer them on this matter, and hope that our concerns and advice are taken fully on board when drafting the text, and ultimately by the MPs who will oversee the Act as it passes through the Parliamentary process.

As per the advice below, you can still have a say and help influence this process by 1) emailing the Home Office at the address given below, and 2) speaking or writing to your local MP, or indeed any other MP or member of the Lords.

The key advice to convey here is that the wording of the description must be good enough to avoid capturing other non-intended objects, and also that we MUST have the same exemptions and defences (and indeed more) as for curved swords, for legal activities.

Proposed updates to the Offensive Weapons Act 2019

The UK Government announced in April 2023 that it was looking at new legislation to specifically cover (and ban) certain types of large knife and machete.

This affects all sorts of bladed article, including many widely used in DIY, crafts, gardening, bushcraft, cooking, fishing and construction. While this also affects martial arts, sports and historical re-enactment, this potentially affects a much larger group of activities and jobs. This could affect objects from fillet knives to kebab knives, pruning saws to billhooks, re-enactment swords to scissors.

The Government opened a consultation (open until 6 June 2023) which you can read and respond to here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/machetes-and-other-bladed-articles-proposed-legislation/consultation-on-new-knife-legislation-proposals-to-tackle-the-use-of-machetes-and-other-bladed-articles-in-crime-accessible

Email letters to: machetes-knives-consultation@homeoffice.gov.uk

Additional survey:

https://www.homeofficesurveys.homeoffice.gov.uk/s/knife-legislation/

Related:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/machetes-and-other-bladed-articles-proposed-legislation/consultation-on-new-knife-legislation-proposals-to-tackle-the-use-of-machetes-and-other-bladed-articles-in-crime-accessible