Drone Laws UK 2025
Current Drone regulations in the UK in 2025 are based on the guiding principle that “UAS operating in the UK must meet at least the same safety and operational standards as manned aircraft when conducting the same type of operation in the same airspace (CAP 722 – Unmanned Aircraft System Operations in UK Airspace – Guidance)
While this seems a simple principle, most drones do not have the inbuilt safety factors of manned aircraft, and are generally not operated by highly trained pilots so, as drone use becomes increasingly popular, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) have the unenviable task of creating a system of regulation which maintains the safety and security of the public while allowing the growth of an industry which requires the ability to scale operations at volume.
UAS operations in the UK are regulated under 2 separate frameworks –
- The Air Navigation Order 2016 (as amended, within the framework of the Civil Aviation Act 1982)
- The Basic Regulation – UK Regulation (EU) 2018/1139
These regulations come with guidance from the CAA in the form of CAP722 (Unmanned Aircraft System Operations in UK Airspace – Guidance). This guidance, however, can be a bit of read so we will use this page to explain as clearly as possible the requirements of operating your drone safely and legally in the UK in 2025.
We will be focussing on the regulations for drones between 250g and 25kg. If your drone weighs less than 250g (eg, the very impressive DJI Mini 5 Pro), then please read our post about the rules for these sub-250g drones

