Failure To Prevent Fraud: Reasonable Procedures Guidance Published

The UK Government has published long-awaited guidance on reasonable procedures to prevent fraud, starting the clock on the enforcement of the new corporate failure to prevent fraud offence introduced in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.

The new offence came into force on 1 September 2025, with the nine-month implementation period designed to ensure organisations have time to comply before enforcement begins.

The guidance is critical as it will be a defence to an allegation of failure to prevent fraud where an organisation can show that it has reasonable procedures in place, or that it was unreasonable to expect it to have such procedures. The guidance informs what may amount to reasonable procedures and therefore has a crucial part to play in ensuring compliance and organisations having a defence should one ever be required.