The law and practice referred to in this article or webinar has been paraphrased or summarised. It might not be up-to-date with changes in the law and we do not guarantee the accuracy of any information provided at the time of reading. It should not be construed or relied upon as legal advice in relation to a specific set of circumstances.
Date updated: Friday 17th July 2026
On 29 June 2026, the scope of corporate criminal liability for the actions of senior managers widened considerably when section 250 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 came into force.
The new law means that if a senior manager of a corporate organisation commits a crime whilst acting within the actual or apparent scope of their authority, the organisation also commits the crime.
For many years, corporate criminal liability was limited to acts committed by senior decision makers who were part of the ‘controlling mind’ of an organisation, or to specific crimes such as corporate manslaughter. In 2023, this expanded to ‘senior managers’ involved in economic crimes, such as fraud and money laundering. Now, corporate responsibility can arise from any crime committed by a ‘senior manager’.
Yes, if the charity is a ‘body corporate’.
For example, it will apply if the charity is a company, CIO or has some other corporate form, such as a Royal Charter charity. It will not apply to charities in the form of a trust or unincorporated association.
Also, unlike the ‘failure to prevent fraud’ offence, which came into force in September 2025 which only applies to large organisations, this new law applies to all corporate organisations regardless of size.
A ‘senior manager’ is someone who plays a significant role in decision-making about the whole or a substantial part of the activities of an organisation, or in managing or organising those activities.
This will always be fact specific, and you do not need to be called a senior manager to be one. For charities, this will usually include both trustees and senior management.
No, only a crime committed by a senior manager acting within the actual or apparent scope of their authority can extend to the charity as a whole.
So a manager who commits a crime in their private life, or outside of their job, will be solely liable. However, if the crime is committed within the scope of their actual or apparent authority, both the individual and the charity may be prosecuted, or just one or the other.
The explanatory notes to the legislation explain that this does not mean that the senior manager must have been authorised to carry out the criminal offence. It is enough that the act was of a type that the senior manager was authorised to undertake, or which would ordinarily be undertaken by a person in that position.
Crimes committed abroad are also included – meaning that if the senior manager can be prosecuted in the UK, so can the charity.
No. Under existing ‘failure to prevent’ offences relating to bribery, tax evasion and fraud, organisations have a defence if they can show they had reasonable prevention measures in place. This is not the case for the new law. However, this does not mean the charity cannot take practical steps to mitigate its risks.
It is not expected that this change will suddenly see lots of charities being prosecuted. The vast majority of senior managers will never commit any crimes, let alone within the scope of their official capacity.
The law is new, so it is too early to know how regulatory and prosecuting agencies will apply it in practice. Their focus to date has largely been on economic crime and money laundering, but it might be that we see more prosecutions of organisations for regulatory crimes, such as environmental and health and safety offences. Importantly, prosecutors will not be artificially limited in the charges they can bring against organisations, which is intended to lead to better justice for victims of crime.
Many charities will already have frameworks in place to mitigate risks for ‘failure to prevent offences’. These apply much more widely than to just senior managers. The new law sits alongside these existing offences, and whilst, as noted, there is no defence in the new law of having reasonable prevention measures in place, charities can mitigate their risks by reviewing and strengthening their compliance frameworks.
Charities trying to cover up wrongdoing by a senior manager may expect a less sympathetic approach by prosecuting authorities and regulators. Therefore, a culture of transparency, best practice and doing the right thing has never been more important, and this should be reflected explicitly in policies:
- Review your recruitment, behaviour and disciplinary policies for anyone who might be a senior manager.
- Policies (and relevant new employment contracts) should include an explicit duty to disclose the commission of any crime that is or might be considered as having occurred within the actual or apparent scope of their authority.
- Make sure your senior leadership team have met to discuss the new law and has one of them prepare a short briefing paper for trustees.
- Add ‘offending by a senior manager’ to your risk register and assess the risk.
- A crime committed by a senior manager acting within the actual or apparent scope of their authority will almost inevitably amount to a ‘serious incident’ that must be reported to the Charity Commission. Make sure any internal documents you have reflect this.
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