A review that will inform how the Home Office and criminal justice system tackle fraud has moved into its second phase.
Jonathan Fisher KC has begun work on part two of his Independent Review of Disclosure and Fraud Offences – the first independent review of fraud legislation in the UK in nearly 40 years – the department said yesterday.
Fisher, a barrister specialising in financial crime and corporate crime cases, was commissioned to carry out the review in 2023, following the publication of the Home Office's fraud strategy in May that year.
The strategy committed the government to launch an independent review into how the disclosure regime is working in a digital age and if fraud offences – including those specified in the Fraud Act 2006 – meet the challenges of investigating and prosecuting modern fraud.
The Home Office is set to publish an updated fraud strategy later this year, which will be informed in part by this review.
The first phase of the review concluded last month with the publication of a report entitled Disclosure in the Digital Age. It made 45 recommendations for improving disclosure within the UK criminal justice system, particularly in serious and complex cases involving extensive digital material.
His recommendations included a call to modernise existing legislation and reduce administrative burdens by using advanced technology; to consider a new Intensive Disclosure Regime court pathway designed for the most complex criminal cases; and to enhance disclosure quality by designing a new national learning standard across all law enforcement agencies.
The second phase of the review will examine the largest challenges faced by law enforcement in bringing fraudsters to justice in England and Wales. It will consider issues in several stages of the fraud “life cycle”: detection and reporting; disruption; investigation; prosecution and offences; courts; penalties; and rehabilitation.
Since the last independent review of fraud in 1986, the nature and scale of fraud “has evolved considerably”, and now accounts for over 40% of all offences in England and Wales, according to the Home Office. Fraud against individuals in England and Wales alone is now estimated to cost more than £6.8bn every year, it said.
And the Home Office said fraud has been “transformed” by technology including artificial intelligence used to create scambots, deepfakes, and websites impersonating established businesses and public authorities; as well as social media, email and telephone scams.
“The Home Office will place these emerging threats at the heart of its new, expanded fraud strategy to be published later this year, but it will also be vital to have the independent analysis provided by Jonathan Fisher KC to inform the response required from government, law enforcement and industry,” the department said.
Fisher said his review “aims to scrutinise the main challenges in detecting, investigating, and prosecuting fraud offences, and what can be done to better equip law enforcement to deliver swifter justice for victims”.
“I am greatly appreciative of the criminal justice system-wide engagement since the launch of this independent review and for the continued encouragement as I turn my focus to examine fraud offences,” he said.
Fraud minister James Hanson said the review will help government “expand our knowledge base about how to better detect, disrupt and deter fraudsters and deliver a swifter justice for the victims, as part of our Plan for Change”.
“The government is determined to continue our fight against this appalling crime, and I look forward to the outcome of this important review,” Lord Hanson added.