Failure to prevent fraud: UK government today publishes important guidance on the new offence

The UK government has today published its long-awaited guidance to organisations on the new offence of failure to prevent fraud (here) and confirmed the offence will be in force from 1 September 2025.

Under the new offence an organisation (whether or not it is a UK organisation) may be criminally liable where an employee, agent, subsidiary, or other “associated person”, commits a fraud intending to benefit the organisation, where that fraud has a UK nexus, and the organisation did not have reasonable fraud prevention procedures in place.

This new offence is a hugely significant development and is intended to have a similar impact to the UK Bribery Act 2010, both in terms of driving changes in compliance and culture and in leading to deferred prosecution agreements and prosecutions.

The guidance covers both the elements of the offence itself and importantly advice on what constitutes reasonable fraud prevention procedures.

We have previously considered the new offence and how best to prepare (see articles below).

We are arranging roundtable discussions in the coming weeks to discuss how to prepare for the new offence. Please contact debbie.pinner@nortonrosefulbright.com if you would like to attend.

Failure to prevent fraud: What's the current status and what should organisations be doing now?

Failure to prevent fraud: what do I do now? Part 1: Risk assessments

Failure to prevent fraud: what to do now? Part 2: Policies and procedures

Failure to prevent fraud: what to do now? Part 3: Tone from the top and training