Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 15
15
Acknowledged
Paragraph: 52
Introduce legislative changes to allow flexible compensation order value adjustments for victims.
Recommendation
The Government should introduce changes to compensation order legislation to allow for flexibility in altering the order value if a criminal is later found to have assets of greater value which can be used to compensate victims of their crimes. This would bring practice into line with that already in place for the amendment of confiscation orders to allow for increased asset recovery.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government did not commit to specific changes in compensation order legislation but outlined its agreement on a unified response to fraud and stated it will shortly publish a new strategy detailing efforts to stop fraud, empower victims, and prosecute fraudsters.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
52
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government · verbatim extract
Acknowledged
The Government acknowledge this important issue of whether the court should be able to increase the amount of an existing compensation order made in connection with confiscation proceedings, similar to the way it can already increase the amount payable under a confiscation order, should there be evidence of further benefit from the criminal conduct concerned. We are recovering more criminal assets than ever before: £354 million was recovered from the total proceeds of crime in 2021/22, 61% higher than the previous year. However, we recognise there is more to be done to strengthen the law. In 2018, the Government Fraud and the Justice system: Government Response 7 asked the Law Commission to review this part of the law in detail. On 8 November 2022, the Law Commission published a detailed review of Confiscation proceedings, including compensation during confiscation proceedings. We will consider this issue further to decide what legislative reforms are needed to improve confiscation. Investigating Fraud 1.1
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