The UK Space Agency will become a unit within the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, the government has announced.
DSIT said the move will “bring together the people who shape space policy and those who deliver it” which “will cut any duplication that exists and ensure decisions are made with clear ministerial oversight”.
Space minister Sir Chris Bryant said: “Bringing things in house means we can bring much greater integration and focus to everything we are doing while maintaining the scientific expertise and the immense ambition of the sector.”
The UK Space Agency was founded in 2010 and currently operates as an executive agency of DSIT. It will cease to be independent by April 2026 but the new unit will keep the UK Space Agency name and brand and will be staffed by experts from both organisations, DSIT said.
DSIT said this will “drive up efficiency in line with the government’s Plan for Change, cutting red tape and making Whitehall more agile”.
UK Space Agency chief executive Dr Paul Bate welcomed the move, calling it an “improved approach to achieving the government’s space ambitions”.
“Having a single unit with a golden thread through strategy, policy and delivery will make it faster and easier to translate the nation’s space goals into reality,” he said.
“In coming together, the UK Space Agency and space policy colleagues are building on the firm foundations of economic growth and capability development laid in recent years, including cutting-edge missions, major national programmes, and the regulations that enable UK launch and leadership in space sustainability.
“We will continue to deliver, while reducing duplication and ensuring we work even more closely with ministers to support the UK space sector, and the country.”
The move comes as the government considers the future of every arm’s-length body across government “with a view to rooting out unnecessary bureaucracy and duplication, and to put public accountability first”.
In the biggest decision so far, ministers announced earlier this year that NHS England, which it claims is “the largest quango in the world”, will be abolished as part of this process.
Responding to the announcement that the UK Space Agency will be scrapped, Prospect general secretary Mike Clancy warned that the move might lead to a loss of specialist skills.
"The government rightly recognises in its industrial strategy that space is a frontier sector critical to future growth," he said.
"The UK space sector is an economic success story and the UK Space Agency has played a key role in that.
“There is a real risk that abolishing the agency sends the wrong signals about the government's ambition for the sector, and leads to a loss of specialist knowledge and skills.
“It is important that the government is clear about the rationale for this move, and how they plan to ensure that the space sector does not lose out as a result. We must not be left in a situation where Britain's most productive sectors are being hamstrung in order to save tiny amounts of money."