Crime and Policing Act 2026: key considerations for charities on corporate criminal liability

The Crime and Policing Act 2026, which introduces a material expansion in the scope of corporate criminal liability, has come into force, now applying to offences committed on or after 29 June 2026. The Act applies to all bodies corporate, regardless of size and turnover, and so covers, for example, charitable companies and CIOs.

Most notably, the Act widens the range of offences for which a corporate body can be held liable by reference to the conduct of senior managers.

This follows the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 ('ECCTA'), which introduced a statutory 'senior manager attribution test', whereby a company will be criminally liable where a senior manager commits a criminal offence and does so within the actual or apparent scope of their authority.

A 'senior manager' is defined by reference to actual function rather than title, capturing individuals who play a significant role in decision-making about how the whole or substantial part of the organisation's activities are managed or organised, or who have actual management or control over such activities.

The Crime and Policing Act does not further expand the senior manager test, but it introduces three key changes:

• It extends the senior managers attribution model to all criminal offences, rather than limiting it to economic crime;
• It lowers the evidential barrier for prosecutors seeking to establish corporate liability; and
• It applies irrespective of formal title, focusing instead on the substance of an individual's role and authority.

In effect, therefore, organisations may now be held criminally liable for a much wider range of conduct carried out by senior personnel across the business.

Consequently, affected charities should consider whether their existing governance and delegation frameworks adequately reflect where real decision-making authority sits and charities may need to update their compliance programmes to ensure these are aligned with the broader risks. In particular, the Act emphasises the importance of getting the scope and limits of delegation to senior employees correct, especially in high-risk areas with potential criminal penalties.