UK Law and Practice Contributed by: Neil Swift, Jasvinder Nakhwal, Charlotte Tregunna and Rachel Cook, Peters & Peters
9.2 Likely Changes to the Applicable Legislation of the Enforcement Body As stated in 1.4 Recent Key Amendments to National Legislation , the new “failure to prevent fraud” offence recently came into force. It extends corporate liability to encompass fraud in parallel with the existing “failure to prevent” offences. The ECCTA 2023 also reforms the role of Companies House, enhancing transpar - ency and accountability in company registration and operations. The Economic Crime Plan 2 (2023–2026) outlines the government’s strategy to combat economic crime, including fraud and corruption. It introduces measures such as the establishment of a National Fraud Squad and the implementation of a new sustainable funding model to support anti-money-laundering efforts. Discussions are ongoing regarding the creation of a National Counter-Terrorism Force, which could cen - tralise various crime-fighting resources, including those related to economic crime. While still in the planning stages, this initiative indicates a potential shift towards a more unified approach to tackling seri - ous and organised crime. These developments suggest a proactive stance by the UK government to enhance its anti-corruption framework, focusing on legislative updates, improved enforcement mechanisms and strategic planning to holistically address corruption.
As such, UK enforcement bodies have discretion to require a compliance monitor as part of a DPA or negotiated resolution. 9. Assessment 9.1 Assessment of the Applicable Enforced Legislation The UK’s anti-corruption legislation has been assessed by government strategies, both past and ongoing, and OECD reports. The OECD conducted a 2025 review and reported that the UK provides clear standards for corporate com - pliance and is leveraging technology in an innovative way to enhance effectiveness. It also identified weak - nesses in the UK’s capacity to conduct assessments due to strained public services and limited expert availability. The UK’s Anti-Corruption Strategy (2017–2022) sought to establish a comprehensive review of domestic and international anti-corruption efforts. It identified strengths, namely the UK being the first G20 country to establish a public register of beneficial ownership, and the country’s active participation in global anti- corruption efforts. Weaknesses included enforce - ment gaps (in contrast to strong legal frameworks), and critics noted that the strategy focused heavily on lower-level institutions like local government and bor - der forces, with less emphasis on high-level political corruption. This approach may have limited the strat - egy’s impact on addressing corruption at the highest levels of government.
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