Economic Crime Plan 2 Outcomes

Tracking the Fight Against Economic Crime: Insights from the Economic Crime Plan 2 Outcomes

The United Kingdom’s Economic Crime Plan 2 (ECP2), launched in March 2023, set out an ambitious strategy to tackle money laundering, fraud, kleptocracy, and related financial crimes while protecting national security and strengthening economic integrity. The Outcomes Progress Report published by the Home Office in September 2025 provides an in-depth view of progress achieved so far, as well as areas where further work is needed. It reflects the effort to develop an outcomes framework capable of measuring success across a complex system that spans law enforcement, regulation, the private sector, and international partners.

Strengthening the Response to Money Laundering and Asset Recovery

A central aim of ECP2 has been to limit the abuse of UK corporate structures and recover more criminal assets. Transparency reforms have played a pivotal role. By the end of March 2025, over 32,000 entities had registered on the Register of Overseas Entities (ROE), revealing beneficial ownership behind foreign property holdings and helping to curb hidden ownership. Companies House has also removed more than 106,000 addresses that had been misused to record personal data without consent, improving the integrity of the register. Research into the value of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA) suggests that the reforms could almost double the usefulness of corporate register data for businesses subject to anti-money laundering supervision.

Regulatory supervision remains a key element of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regime. In the financial year ending 2024, seventy-three percent of firms assessed by supervisors were either compliant or generally compliant, though the proportion considered fully compliant declined to 20 percent, reflecting the tightening of oversight standards. To strengthen accountability, HM Treasury has introduced an Effectiveness Framework that collects new metrics on how supervisors categorise risk and take enforcement action, providing a more nuanced picture of the supervisory landscape.

Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) continue to be a cornerstone of intelligence gathering and asset denial. Analysis of the Joint Asset Recovery Database showed that SARs contributed to the denial of £230.4 million in assets in 2023, accounting for more than a third of all asset denials that year. Defence Against Money Laundering (DAML) reports led to the blocking of £240.1 million in 2024, maintaining substantial impact even after a higher reporting threshold was introduced. Law enforcement’s operational reach has also expanded, with 6,845 prosecutions and 3,756 convictions recorded for principal and non-principal money laundering offences in 2024, representing a 36 percent rise in prosecutions from the year before. Disruptions against illicit finance reached 2,050, including 90 targeting the highest-harm actors. Asset recovery remained broadly stable, with £243.3 million seized through confiscation, forfeiture, and civil recovery orders, though below exceptional peaks in earlier years.

Combatting Kleptocracy and Sanctions Evasion

The report highlights significant developments in tackling kleptocracy and sanctions evasion. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) recorded 396 suspected breaches of financial sanctions during 2024, a decline from the previous year, yet it closed 242 cases, more than tripling its resolution rate. The value of assets reported as frozen rose to £24.4 billion, reflecting the broadening scope of sanctions regimes and improved reporting by UK businesses. By the end of the financial year, 4,331 individuals, entities, and ships were subject to UK asset freezes, including 2,287 designations connected to sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

The UK Action Against Corruption (UK ACT) programme has also delivered steady progress. Since its inception in 2015, the initiative has confiscated £286.8 million in assets linked to corruption in developing countries, sending a clear signal that the UK remains a hostile jurisdiction for illicit wealth. Beyond enforcement, a cross-system strategy has been launched to address “professional enablers” – lawyers, accountants, and other advisers who facilitate illicit flows – bringing together law enforcement agencies, supervisory bodies, prosecutors, and private-sector stakeholders to disrupt harmful practices and strengthen oversight.

Tackling Fraud at Scale

Fraud continues to dominate the crime landscape in England and Wales, and the ECP2 framework has brought a sharper focus to understanding and reducing its prevalence. According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales, there were an estimated 4.16 million fraud offences in the year ending March 2025, representing a 31 per cent increase compared to the previous year. Fraud now accounts for around 44 percent of all recorded crime, underlining its scale and societal impact. Approximately 3.44 million adults were victims, representing about one in fourteen people, and while 2.15 million victims were fully reimbursed, the persistence of losses remains a concern.

Despite the rise in incidents, financial losses recorded by UK Finance held steady at £1.17 billion in 2024, suggesting a shift towards high-volume, low-value scams. Enforcement activity also intensified, with 3,521 convictions for fraud and a conviction rate of 83 percent. Law enforcement agencies carried out 2,862 system-wide disruptions targeting fraud networks, including 85 classified as high-harm, a 55 percent increase over the previous year. The finance sector contributed by preventing £1.45 billion in unauthorised fraud, equivalent to saving 67 pence of every pound attempted. Meanwhile, detected fraud and error within the public sector reached £823 million, emphasising the need for continued vigilance in safeguarding taxpayers’ money.

Data Development and Evidence Challenges

While the outcomes framework is beginning to illuminate trends, the report emphasises that measuring overall success remains challenging. Many of the indicators are still proxies rather than direct measures of the desired results, and time lags between interventions and data collection make it difficult to isolate the impact of ECP2 activities. Estimating the full scale and harms of money laundering is particularly difficult due to the hidden nature of illicit finance and the diversity of laundering techniques. To address these gaps, several initiatives are under way, including internal Home Office research to model the size and costs of money laundering, and the forthcoming publication of the Economic Crime Survey 2024, which will provide new insights into businesses’ exposure to money laundering, fraud, and corruption, as well as their preparedness for financial sanctions compliance.

Conclusion: Building a Resilient Framework

The Economic Crime Plan 2 has driven important advances in transparency, supervision, sanctions enforcement, and law-enforcement coordination. Progress can be seen in areas such as the registration of overseas entities, the growing role of SARs in asset recovery, the confiscation of corrupt assets, and the ability of agencies to disrupt serious financial crime. Yet the report makes clear that there is still work to do. Developing stronger data, reducing fraud prevalence, and continuing to adapt to sophisticated laundering methods are essential to achieving the plan’s objectives. As the outcomes framework evolves and further updates are released through 2027, it will remain a crucial tool for holding the system to account and ensuring that the UK remains resilient against the threats posed by economic crime.