Do not mix baseline duties with categorised service duties.
The first question is whether the service is a regulated Part 3 service. The second is whether it later enters Category 1, 2A, or 2B.
Structured answer sets in this page tree.
Cited legal and guidance references.
UK OSA work gets cleaner when you split it into layers. Layer one is basic Part 3 coverage for regulated user-to-user and search services. Layer two is whether the service is likely to be accessed by children. Layer three is whether the service becomes a categorised service with extra transparency, accountability, or user empowerment duties.
The Act imposes base duties on in-scope services before category-specific duties arrive. Many teams lose time by jumping straight to Category 1 debates instead of finishing the base illegal-content and child-safety analysis.
Keep the base duties live even if the service is not yet on an Ofcom register.
The government states that the threshold regulations for Category 1, 2A, and 2B were laid on 16 December 2024. Ofcom expected to publish the register of categorised services in summer 2025 and to consult on additional duties from early 2026.
That means teams should plan for category exposure before formal listing if the service is near threshold or strategically likely to be included.
Category 1 services carry the most visible extra user empowerment and terms of service duties. Category 2A covers major search services and Category 2B covers other categorised user-to-user services.
The right preparation is not only legal analysis. It is building reporting, metrics, user controls, and complaints data in a way that can scale into the category regime.
Research Copilot can take Service Scope and Categorization from clarifying scope and applicability with cited answers to a reusable workflow inside Sorena. Teams working on Service Scope can keep owners, evidence, and next steps aligned without copying this guide into separate documents.
Start from Service Scope and Categorization and answer scope, timing, and interpretation questions with cited outputs.
Review your current process, evidence gaps, and next steps for Service Scope and Categorization.