Here’s one you may have missed!
The Government has confirmed the new corporate criminal offence of failure to prevent fraud, set out in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA), will come into force on 1 September 2025. The Government published detailed guidance at the end of last year, clarifying the expectations on business.
The offence is intended to hold organisations to account if they profit from fraud committed by their employees. Employees of companies and other organisations can commit fraud in a wide variety of ways including by dishonest sales practices, hiding important information from consumers or investors, or dishonest practices in financial markets.
Under the new offence, an organisation will be liable where a specified fraud offence is committed by an employee or agent, for the organisation’s benefit, and the organisation did not have reasonable fraud prevention procedures in place.
Which organisations will be in scope?
The offence applies to large, incorporated bodies and partnerships across all sectors of the economy.
Contact us for further information about penalties, steps to take, risk assessments, due diligence, communication and training to prevent problems occurring.