Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 4
4
Accepted
The Department has failed to support police forces to build the capacity or skills they...
Recommendation
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 Department’s Police Uplift Programme which aimed to recruit 20,000 new police officers. However, only 380 of these 20,000 officers (around 2%) will specialise in fraud. Although fraud is now mentioned in all Police and Crime Plans, police forces are still not prioritising fraud. Many front-line police officers do not know enough about fraud and have not been given the training they need. Forces find it difficult to recruit and retain civilians with the specialist skills needed to tackle fraud as they are also highly desirable to the private sector. Of around 27,000 cases per year sent to local police forces for investigation, less than 5% result in an offender being charged or prosecuted for the crime. Recommendation 4: The Department should outline, as part of its Treasury Minute response, how it will increase both the priority of tackling fraud within territorial police forces and the capacity of police forces to investigate cases. The Department also needs to step up its support to police forces to ensure they can tackle fraud more effectively.
Government Response Summary
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 2025.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. We announced the launch of the National Fraud Squad (NFS) in the Fraud Strategy. This will include over 400 new posts across policing and the NCA by 2025. The NFS will investigate and disrupt more fraudsters through strategic coordination at a regional and national level. The NFS will be jointly led by City of London Police (CoLP) and National Crime Agency (NCA). CoLP, as the national lead police force for fraud, will increase its view across wider policing’s activity on fraud, disseminating intelligence, promoting best practice and holding forces to account for delivery. NCA, as the operational system lead, will lead operational work across law enforcement, the intelligence community and industry focusing on a more proactive response to tackling fraud. The NFS will share intelligence in real-time to understand the threat and take proactive enforcement action across government and the private sector against the most harmful fraudsters targeting the UK public. The revised Strategic Policing Requirement gives greater prominence to fraud. This will focus police efforts to tackle fraud and maximise the output of existing police resourcing, by helping local forces better exploit NCA and CoLP’s national capabilities.