Recommendations & Conclusions
22 items
2
Recommendation
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
Despite fraud being the most common crime in England and Wales, government’s communications with the public are still not effective. Fraud accounts for 41% of all crimes committed in England and Wales. Yet public recognition of the government’s fraud awareness campaigns is worryingly low. NCA identified 13 campaigns running at …
Government response. The government will use research from the NECC in the NCA to improve the coherence and impact of public awareness campaigns on fraud, launch and evaluate a new cross-government campaign with clear metrics, produce a toolkit for consistent messaging, and …
HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
Victims of fraud are being failed by Action Fraud, which risks undermining public trust in the police. We are seriously concerned that the failures of Action Fraud in supporting victims of fraud has earned it the nickname “Inaction Fraud”. Many victims feel lost in the system as there is often …
Government response. The government will upgrade the Action Fraud service by 2024, but will put in place several improvements to the existing system including: increasing staff in call centre, sending cases to forces faster, prioritising vulnerable victims and rolling out the NECVCU …
HM Treasury
4
Recommendation
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
The Department has failed to support police forces to build the capacity or skills they need to tackle fraud effectively. Despite making up 41% of all crime in the year to June 2022, only around 1% of police personnel are dedicated to fraud. In April 2022, we reported on the …
Government response. The government will increase the priority of tackling fraud within territorial police forces and the capacity of police forces to investigate cases by launching the National Fraud Squad (NFS) with over 400 new posts across policing and the NCA by …
HM Treasury
5
Conclusion
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
The criminal justice system’s current approach to penalising and sentencing fraudsters is insufficient to prevent the UK being seen as a haven for fraudsters. Under the current system, law enforcement organisations can often spend longer investigating frauds than criminals receive as a sentence for their crime. This can have a …
Government response. The government will address the Justice Committee's report through a new independent review, tabling a new Failure to Prevent Fraud offence under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, and publishing guidance on reasonable fraud prevention measures.
HM Treasury
6
Recommendation
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
The Department’s reliance on voluntary charters does not produce a strong enough incentive for industry to rapidly improve its response to fraud. Industry sectors, such as banking, technology and telecoms, have a vital role to play in designing out opportunities for committing fraud. However, not enough has changed since we …
Government response. The government will continue to use voluntary charters to drive improvements in the industry's response to fraud, mandating reimbursement to fraud victims via the Payment System Regulator (PSR), legislating to give banks the power to delay suspicious payments, and publishing …
HM Treasury
7
Recommendation
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
The Department has not prioritised developing relationships with international criminal justice agencies. Government estimates that around 70% of fraud cases have an international element, meaning that strong relationships with foreign and multinational criminal justice agencies are crucial to tackling fraud. The international dimension of fraud cases often causes long delays …
Government response. The government will develop stronger partnerships with international partners to share best practice and work together to reduce fraud globally, including a Home Secretary chaired Global Fraud Summit in 2024 to agree on an international coordinated action plan.
HM Treasury
1
Conclusion
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Home Office (the Department), The National Crime Agency (NCA) and City of London Police about progress combatting fraud against businesses and individuals.2
Government response. The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and implemented the Fraud Strategy, publishing it on 3 May 2023 on GOV.UK.
HM Treasury
8
Conclusion
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
We also raised concerns in 2017 about the effectiveness of the flagship “Take Five” awareness campaign. Take Five was introduced by Financial Fraud Action UK (now part of UK Finance) in September 2016 and was backed by funding from the Department between September 2017 and March 2020.14 It was intended …
Government response. The government has established a fraud focused strategic communications team to improve consistency in messaging and establish what communication interventions are most effective. It will also launch and evaluate a new cross government campaign.
HM Treasury
9
Conclusion
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
Action Fraud was launched in 2009 as the national reporting centre for fraud. Victims can report to Action Fraud if they have been scammed, defrauded or experienced cyber crime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In 2019, the media reported that victims were being misled and mocked by Action Fraud …
Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation and is providing £30 million to City of London Police to support the upgrade in the Action Fraud service by 2024, with improvements being implemented prior to then, including an increase in staff, faster …
HM Treasury
10
Recommendation
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
More than 300,000 victims report their case directly to Action Fraud each year, and a further 600,000 reports come to Action Fraud from businesses and industry. But less than 1% of cases received by Action Fraud result in an offender being charged or prosecuted for the crime, .18 City of …
Government response. The government agrees and is providing £30 million to City of London Police to support the upgrade in the Action Fraud service by 2024. Interim improvements include increased call center staff, faster case referral, prioritisation of vulnerable victims, and roll …
HM Treasury
11
Recommendation
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
The Department and the City of London Police are currently in the process of procuring a new Action Fraud system. We questioned them about their plans for the new system and how it will address the current issues. They told us that they were putting victims at the centre of …
Government response. The government agrees with the Committee's recommendation and is providing £30 million to the City of London Police to support the upgrade of the Action Fraud service by 2024, and they will improve victim engagement in the interim and provide …
HM Treasury
12
Recommendation
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
Despite making up 41% of all crime in the year to June 2022, only around 1% of police personnel are dedicated to fraud. In 2017, we raised concerns that fraud was not mentioned in all Police & Crime Commissioners’ police and crime plans.22 The NCA told us that fraud is …
Government response. The government is increasing law enforcement investigative capacity to tackle fraud by launching the National Fraud Squad (NFS), which will include over 400 new posts across policing and the NCA by 2025. The revised Strategic Policing Requirement gives greater prominence …
HM Treasury
13
Recommendation
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
The Department acknowledged that the current police resourcing levels for fraud needed to increase. In April 2022, we reported on the Department’s Police Uplift Programme which aimed to recruit 20,000 new police officers.27 However, as set out in our sister Committee’s report, only 380 of these 20,000 officers (around 2%) …
Government response. The government agrees and will increase law enforcement investigative capacity by launching the National Fraud Squad (NFS) with over 400 new posts across policing and the NCA by 2025, and the revised Strategic Policing Requirement gives greater prominence to fraud.
HM Treasury
14
Conclusion
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
City of London Police admitted that front-line officers do not have the training they need to tackle fraud. It told us that “The constable on the ground will know very little 22 Public Accounts Committee, Sixth Report of Session 2017–19, The growing threat from online fraud, HC 399 23 Q …
Government response. The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and is increasing law enforcement investigative capacity to tackle fraud through the National Fraud Squad (NFS), jointly led by City of London Police (CoLP) and National Crime Agency (NCA) by 2025. The revised …
HM Treasury
15
Recommendation
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
We asked the Home Office whether police forces needed to consider fraud as a strategic objective, and be given the resources needed, so that the issues relating to fraud can start to be addressed. The Home Office told us that it had “heard that message loud and clear” and that …
Government response. The government is increasing law enforcement investigative capacity to tackle fraud by launching the National Fraud Squad (NFS), which will include over 400 new posts across policing and the NCA by 2025. The revised Strategic Policing Requirement gives greater prominence …
HM Treasury
16
Conclusion
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
Under the current sentencing guidelines, fraud carries a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment, or for crimes where the financial loss is less than £5,000, a maximum of one year. However, the majority of those found guilty of crimes with a loss under £5,000 receive a fine or community order …
Government response. The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and will publish guidance on the Failure to Prevent Fraud offense in Spring 2025. There will also be a new independent review into challenges of investigating and prosecuting fraud.
HM Treasury
17
Recommendation
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
In October 2022, our sister Committee published its report, Fraud and the Justice System. This examined in depth how the criminal justice system is set up to tackle fraud. It concluded that a wholesale change in philosophy and practice was needed which was more aggressive in investigation, prosecution and conviction, …
Government response. The government agrees and will address the Justice Committee's report Fraud and the Justice System through a new independent review into the challenges of investigating and prosecuting fraud, and by tabling a new Failure to Prevent Fraud offence under the …
HM Treasury
18
Conclusion
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
When we last examined the growing threat of fraud in 2017, we concluded that while the Department was the only body that could provide strategic national leadership, fraud had become too vast a problem for it to tackle on its own.37 Fraud has grown since then and the Department is …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's recommendation and will set out how voluntary charters will contribute to its fraud strategy, including expected changes, timelines, and actions if changes are not achieved, with ongoing implementation until Spring 2025; They have also …
HM Treasury
19
Conclusion
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
In October 2021, the Department also published its first tranche of voluntary sector charters, covering the retail banking, accountancy, and telecoms sectors. These set out commitments from the industry sectors on actions they will take to tackle fraud and are monitored by the Joint Fraud Taskforce. The Department told us …
Government response. The government will continue using voluntary charters to tackle fraud. It expects to cut fraud by 10% by end of 2024 and will publish further charters, including with the insurance sector by early 2024 and will appoint an Anti-Fraud Champion.
HM Treasury
20
Recommendation
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
The Department acknowledged that its voluntary approach to working with industry had caused inconsistencies for victims and explained that it was beginning to introduce some mandatory measures. For example, it told us that only about 50% of victims of authorised push payment fraud are reimbursed by their banks because reimbursement …
Government response. The government agrees and states that sector charters provide the necessary structure to turn goodwill into clear actions to support the overall Strategy goal to cut fraud by 10% by end of 2024, and is introducing measures in the Financial …
HM Treasury
21
Conclusion
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
Fraud is a global issue and criminals are increasingly using the internet to target victims from anywhere in the world. In the year to June 2022, 80% of frauds in England and Wales were enabled through computer technology, and the NCA estimates that around 70% of frauds have an international …
Government response. The government will develop stronger partnerships with international partners to share best practice and work together to reduce fraud globally and will work more closely with law enforcement, the private sector and the international community to further develop our evidence …
HM Treasury
22
Conclusion
Forty-Third Report - Progress combattin…
Accepted
City of London Police acknowledged that having the mechanisms to work internationally is important to allow the government to work proactively to tackle fraud. However, the NCA was admitted that government “really do have a lot more to do” when it comes to building relationships with international partners.46 Government has …
Government response. The government agrees with the Committee's recommendation to achieve a step change in the breadth and strength of its international relationships as part of its efforts to tackle fraud, with target implementation by Summer 2024, and a Home Secretary chaired …
HM Treasury