The way in which fraud is handled within the UK could be criticised if you take a look at how things are actually run. There are many different organisations set up to tackle fraud, but the trouble comes when they all try to communicate with each other. A lack of communication can cause potentially serious fraud cases to collapse.
Learning from Other Countries
The UK could potentially take a few tips from West Germany who has recently set up a more successful fraud team. They have put together a team of forensic accountants, prosecutors and business administration experts. It is a specialised unit that has so far proven to be successful.
In the 1980’s, it was noted that the UK should unify fraud prosecution resources. It was thought that having a combined detection, investigation and prosecution system would be more successful. Today the Fraud Advisory Panel and the Association of Police Chief Officers are still trying to attain a unified approach.
There are currently eight different companies in charge of handling fraud cases. The Crown Prosecution Service is one of the most well known fraud bodies in the UK. It deals with prosecution of general and taxed based fraud. Before a general fraud case reaches the CPS, it first has to be dealt with by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency. Tax based fraud cases need to have been first investigated by the Revenue & Customs Division.
For mass market fraud, Trading Standards is the body that handles most cases. Offices for Trading Standards are placed throughout local councils all across the country. They also deal with consumer fraud. Similar to Trading Standards, the Office of Fair Trading deals with much larger cases of fraud such as major cartels.
Finally another common fraud agency in the UK is the Department of Works and Pensions. This deals with benefit fraud and it can include a gang of benefit fraudsters too.
As you can see, there are different agencies set up to deal with different types of fraud. Some have taken small steps to become more unified. For example, HMRC has merged with CPS. There is certainly an argument that merging together not only helps to cut costs, but it can also be more effective at tackling fraud too.
