Under section 250(1) of the Crime and Policing Act 2026, where a senior manager of an 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 may also be deemed to have committed the offence. This applies to almost all criminal offences, whereas previously similar provisions only applied to more limited economic offences. 

For these purposes, 'senior managers' are those who play a significant role in:

• making decisions about how the whole/substantial part of the organisation’s activities are managed or organised; or
• in the management or organisation of the whole/substantial part of the organisation’s activities.

'Senior managers' can therefore include more than just the board, and also potentially encompasses other senior leaders, regional managers etc. 

For this section to be triggered, the senior manager must have committed the offence when acting within the actual or apparent scope of their authority – i.e., fulfilling their designated role. The Explanatory Notes to the Crime and Policing Bill stated “This does not mean that the senior manager must have been authorised to carry out a criminal offence. It would be 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”. It gives the example of a chief financial officer who commits fraud by deliberately making false statements about a company’s financial position, but it may also apply where the head of health and safety commits gross negligence manslaughter arising from systemic non-compliance. 

The organisation need not have benefited from the actions of the senior manager for this provision to apply and there is no specific defence provided even if an organisation has reasonable or adequate procedures, as with other similar offences.  

Whilst the changes under the Crime and Policing Act 2026 do represent a widening of the scope of potential corporate criminal liability, this must be grounded in the wider context. 

We anticipate that very few of our clients have seen their ‘senior managers’, or ‘senior managers’ from other organisations within their sector, prosecuted for offences relating to or arising from the conduct of their duties. Therefore, the risk of this new liability now being triggered appears low. It still needs to be proven that the individual committed the offence. 

Even if a senior manager does commit such an offence, before bringing a prosecution, prosecutors will need to consider whether this is in the public interest. Clearly, factors such as the knowledge of the wider organisation, any gain of the organisation and any measures the organisation took to prevent senior managers committing offences may be relevant to this judgment – even if a specific defence does not exist. 

In response to the changes, organisations should:

• ensure they understand who would be considered a ‘senior manager’ for their organisation and that the scope of these individuals’ authority is clearly defined. Organisations should be mindful to avoid any accepted internal practices where senior managers undertake roles/actions outside of the confines of their formal role.
• Review and update any relevant policies, procedures, codes of conduct, assessments and internal measures (including delegations of authority) to ensure that these account for the changes under the Act, clearly set out the expectations on senior managers and provide suitable and sufficient methods of oversight, scrutiny, challenge and assurance. Risk registers should also be reviewed and updated as necessary.
• Ensure senior managers receive appropriate training and guidance regarding the expectations upon them, their responsibilities, any relevant controls and measures in place and the scope and extent of the new provision under the Crime and Policing Act 2026. 

If you have any questions about what the changes mean for you, please do contact us.