Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Accepted
The Department and the City of London Police are currently in the process of procuring...
Recommendation
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 the procurement of the new system and had been getting input from victims to help test the design. They also told us they were creating a user dashboard so victims can track where their case is in the system. City of London Police told us that whilst not all cases are investigated, they often lead to other actions such as taking down a website. It hoped to be able to attribute outcomes to cases as part of the new dashboard to reassure victims that some action had been taken as a result of their report.20 However, the procurement process was ongoing at the time of our evidence session, and the new Action Fraud system was not expected to be in place until 2024.21 16 C&AG’s Report, Figure 10 17 Qq 32, 112 18 Q 46 19 Q 101 20 Qq 32–33, 103 21 Qq 49 12 Progress combatting fraud The capacity of police forces to tackle fraud
Government Response Summary
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 more updates.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
3. PAC conclusion: Victims of fraud are being failed by Action Fraud, which risks undermining public trust in the police. 3. PAC recommendation: The Department should set out, as part of its Treasury Minute response, how Action Fraud’s replacement in 2024 will improve the way it engages with victims of fraud and updates them about their case and any plans it has to make improvements in the interim. 3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2024 3.2 The government is providing £30 million to City of London Police to support the upgrade in the Action Fraud service by 2024. Victims, however, will not have to wait until then before they begin to see improvements in the reporting service and the information and support provided to them. Several improvements to the existing system have already been put in place including: • increasing the number of staff in the call centre and introducing a new chat bot for the website to handle greater volumes of reports. • sending cases to forces faster so they can consider whether an investigation should take place. • web reports are now analysed to identify vulnerable victims so their cases can be prioritised for immediate assessment and one-to-one support. • roll out of the National Economic Crime Victim Care Unit (NECVCU) service that vulnerable victims are referred to by Action Fraud to help them avoid revictimisation. 3.3 The full replacement service will launch in 2024. This will include a new reporting website that will make it easier for people to report fraud and to access advice on how to protect themselves. Anyone reporting to the new service will also be able to track the progress of their report and receive better updates.