Crime and Policing Act 2026

250 Criminal liability of bodies corporate and partnerships where senior manager commits offence

(1) Where a senior manager of a body corporate or partnership (“the organisation”) acting within the actual or apparent scope of their authority commits an offence under the law of England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, the organisation also commits the offence (subject to subsection (2)).

(2) An organisation does not commit an offence by virtue of subsection (1) if—

(a) all of the conduct constituting the offence occurs outside the United Kingdom, and

(b) the organisation would not commit the offence if that conduct were the organisation’s (rather than the senior manager’s).

(3) In this section—

• “body corporate” includes a body incorporated outside the United Kingdom but does not include—

  (a)

  a corporation sole, or

  (b)

  a partnership that (whether or not a legal person) is not regarded as a body corporate under the law by which it is governed;

• “partnership” means—

  (a)

  a partnership within the meaning of the Partnership Act 1890,

  (b)

  a limited partnership registered under the Limited Partnerships Act 1907, or

  (c)

  a firm or other entity of a similar character to one within paragraph (a) or (b) formed under the law of a country or territory outside the United Kingdom;

• “senior manager”, in relation to a body corporate or partnership, means an individual who plays a significant role in—

  (a)

  the making of decisions about how the whole or a substantial part of the activities of the body corporate or partnership are to be managed or organised, or

  (b)

  the managing or organising of the whole or a substantial part of those activities.

(4) Proceedings for an offence alleged to have been committed by a partnership by virtue of this section must be brought in the name of the partnership (and not in that of any of the partners).

(5) For the purposes of such proceedings—

(a) rules of court relating to the service of documents have effect as if the partnership were a body corporate, and

(b) the following provisions apply as they apply in relation to a body corporate—

(i) section 33 of the Criminal Justice Act 1925 and Schedule 3 to the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980;

(ii) sections 34(2), 66(6AA) and 72D(2) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995;

(iii) section 18 of the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1945 (c. 15 (N.I.)) and Schedule 4 to the Magistrates’ Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (S.I. 1981/1675 (N.I. 26)).

(6) A fine imposed on a partnership on its conviction for an offence committed by virtue of this section is to be paid out of the partnership assets.

(7) In consequence of the provision made by this section, omit the following provisions of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023—

(a) sections 196 to 198 (including the italic heading before those sections);

(b) in section 217, subsection (5)(f) and the words “197(1) or” in subsections (8) and (9);

(c) Schedule 12.