The long-awaited guidance to organisations on the new failure to prevent fraud offence (FTPF offence), introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, was published on 6 November 2024. The Guidance is intended to assist organisations to develop and implement appropriate procedures and policies to combat fraud occurring in their businesses.

Its publication paves the way for the FTPF offence to come into effect in just over nine months’ time; by 1 September 2025, all in-scope organisations will need to have in place reasonable procedures to prevent fraud being committed by their associated persons (such as employees, agents, subsidiaries and other persons that perform services for or on their behalf) so that they have the best chance of raising a defence if prosecuted for the new offence.

We have written a briefing summarising the key aspects of the guidance and setting out actions organisations can take now to start preparing.

Read more here: Nine months and counting. | Linklaters 

The Home Office landing page which contains links to all ECCTA-related documents is here: Offence of 'failure to prevent fraud' introduced by ECCTA - GOV.UK

For more details on the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, including the changes to corporate criminal liability, Companies House and corporate reform, changes to the real estate registration regime, crypto assets, limited partnerships and more, see our UK Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Hub.