The new UK failure to prevent fraud offence is a game-changing offence. It makes it much easier to prosecute UK and non-UK companies for fraud, and will have a similar impact to the UK Bribery Act (which has resulted in multiple large deferred prosecution agreements under the ”failure to prevent bribery” offence). The UK government has said that it expects the “offence will encourage more companies to implement or improve prevention procedures, driving a major shift in corporate culture to help reduce fraud”.

Many organisations have already started their preparation for the new offence, recognising that the reasonable procedures guidance will be high level, and that the procedures need to be tailored to the risks faced by each organisation.

Let us know if you would like help with understanding the new offence, how it might apply to your organisation or how to approach risk assessments, programme enhancement and training.