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Apr 17, 2024 · Crime destroys lives and devastates communities. Serious and organised crime brings harm on a scale that can threaten national security. It also creates and fosters a self-reinforcing...
Apr 9, 2014 · We define serious and organised crime as individuals planning, co-ordinating and committing serious offences, whether individually, in groups and/or as part of transnational networks.
- Foreword by the Home Secretary
- Executive Summary
- Introduction
- Part One: The Impact of Serious and Organised Crime on the UK
- Part Two: Strategic Approach
- Objective 1: Relentless disruption and targeted action against the highest harm serious and organised criminals and networks
- Objective 2: Building the highest levels of defence and resilience in vulnerable people, communities, businesses and systems
- Objective 3: Stopping the problem at source, identifying and supporting those at risk of engaging in criminality
Serious and organised crime is the most deadly national security threat faced by the UK, and persistently erodes our economy and our communities. Serious and organised criminals operating in the UK sexually exploit children and ruthlessly target the most vulnerable, ruining lives and blighting communities. Their activities cost us at least £37 billion each year. They are able to reap the benefits of their crimes and to fund lavish lifestyles while all of us, and particularly their direct victims, suffer the consequences.
Protecting the public is my highest priority as Home Secretary. This strategy sets out the government’s approach to prevent and defend against serious and organised crime in all its forms, and our unyielding endeavour to track down perpetrators, from child sex offenders to corrupt elites, to bring them to justice. We will allow no safe space for these people, their networks or their illicit money in our society.
Following the publication of the previous Serious and Organised Crime Strategy in 2013, we have made significant progress in creating the powers, partnerships and law enforcement structures we need to respond to the threat. The law enforcement community, and the National Crime Agency in particular, has been instrumental to this progress with an impressive, and sustained, track record of disruptions across the full range of serious and organised crime threats.
Despite all of our success, we must continue to adapt to the scale and complexity of current and future threats. The individuals and networks involved in serious and organised crime are amongst the most capable and resilient adversaries that the UK faces. They are quick to exploit the rate of technological change and the globalisation of our society, whether it is live streaming of abuse or grooming children online, using malware to steal personal data, or exploiting free and open global trade to move illegal goods, people and money across our borders.
The threat transcends borders, and serious and organised crime in the UK is one part of a global web of criminality. Child sex offenders share images of abuse on a global basis. There is a direct link between the drugs being sold on our streets, including the violence linked to that trade, the networks trafficking vulnerable children and adults into the UK, the corrupt accountant laundering criminal funds through shell companies overseas, and corrupt politicians and state officials overseas who provide services and safe haven for international criminal networks.
Our revised approach puts greater focus on the most dangerous offenders and the highest harm networks. Denying perpetrators the opportunity to do harm and going after criminal finances and assets will be key to this. We will work with the public, businesses and communities to help stop them from being targeted by criminals and support those who are. We will intervene early with those who are at risk of being drawn into a life of crime. And, for the first time, this strategy sets out how we will align our efforts to tackle serious and organised crime as one cohesive system. This includes working closely with international partners as well as those in the private and voluntary sectors.
1. Serious and organised crime affects more UK citizens, more often, than any other national security threat and leads to more deaths in the UK each year than all other national security threats combined.[footnote 1] It costs the UK at least £37 billion annually.[footnote 2] It has a corrosive impact on our public services, communities, reputation and way of life. Crime is now lower than it was in 2010,[footnote 3] although we are also aware that since 2014 there have been genuine increases in some low volume, high harm offences. The National Crime Agency (NCA) assesses that the threat from serious and organised crime is increasing and serious and organised criminals are continually looking for ways to sexually or otherwise exploit new victims and novel methods to make money, particularly online.
2. A large amount of serious and organised crime remains hidden or underreported, meaning the true scale is likely to be greater than we currently know. Although the impact may often be difficult to see, the threat is real and occurs every day all around us. Serious and organised criminals prey on the most vulnerable in society, including young children, and their abuse can have a devastating, life-long effect on their victims. They target members of the public to defraud, manipulate and exploit them, sell them deadly substances and steal their personal data in ruthless pursuit of profit. They use intimidation to create fear within our communities and to undermine the legitimacy of the state. Enabled by their lawyers and accountants, corrupt elites and criminals set up fake companies to help them to hide their profits, fund lavish lifestyles and invest in further criminality.
3. Serious and organised crime knows no borders, and many offenders operate as part of large networks spanning multiple countries. Technological change allows criminals to share indecent images of children, sell drugs and hack into national infrastructure more easily from all around the world, while communicating more quickly and securely through encrypted phones. Continuously evolving technology has meant that exploitation of children online is becoming easier and more extreme, from live-streaming of abuse to grooming through social media and other sites. Serious and organised criminals also exploit vulnerabilities in the increasing number of global trade and transport routes to smuggle drugs, firearms and people. They have learnt to become more adaptable, resilient and networked. Some think of themselves as untouchable.
4. In some countries overseas, criminals have created safe havens where serious and organised crime, corruption and the state are interlinked and self-serving. This creates instability and undermines the reach of the law, hindering our ability to protect ourselves from other national security threats such as terrorism and hostile state activity. Corruption, in particular, hinders the UK’s ability to help the world’s poorest people, reduce poverty and promote global prosperity.
8. The strategy builds on the 2015 National Security Strategy (NSS) and Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR),[footnote 4] which identified serious and organised crime as a national security threat. It also reflects the findings and recommendations of the 2018 National Security Capability Review (NSCR).
9. This strategy has links to other government strategies, including the UK’s Strategy for Countering Terrorism (CONTEST),[footnote 5] the UK Anti-Corruption strategy 2017-2022,[footnote 6] the National Cyber Security Strategy (NCSS) 2016-2021[footnote 7] and the Modern Slavery Strategy 2014.[footnote 8] It also links to the government’s work on serious violence, particularly for threats such as county lines and firearms offences. We set out the links between this strategy and the 2018 Serious Violence Strategy[footnote 9] throughout both documents.
10. The Home Secretary has responsibility for the Serious and Organised Crime (SOC) Strategy, but this is a cross-government strategy. The Home Office has led work to produce the strategy, with major contributions from other government departments and agencies, and in close partnership with the devolved administrations, local police forces and the private sector. A new Director General within the Home Office was appointed in 2018 to oversee the response to serious and organised crime.
11. The devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are responsible for the functions which have been devolved to them. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, crime and policing matters are the responsibility of the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. These devolved administrations have published their own respective strategies (Scotland’s Serious Organised Crime Strategy 2015[footnote 10] and Northern Ireland’s Organised Crime Strategy 2016).[footnote 11], [footnote 12] In Wales, we will continue to work very closely with the Welsh Government and the four Welsh Police and Crime Commissioners to implement the ambition of this strategy.
12. Part One of this document sets out the current threat. This includes defining what we mean by serious and organised crime, summarising its impact and setting out how it is likely to evolve.
13. Part Two covers our new strategic approach and sets out our overall ambition in responding to serious and organised crime.
16. We define serious and organised crime as individuals planning, coordinating and committing serious offences, whether individually, in groups and/or as part of transnational networks. The main categories of serious offences covered by the term are: child sexual exploitation and abuse; illegal drugs; illegal firearms; fraud; money laundering and other economic crime; bribery and corruption; organised immigration crime; modern slavery and human trafficking; and cyber crime.
17. Crime is now lower than it was in 2010. Our best measure of long-term crime trends on a consistent basis, the Crime Survey of England and Wales,[footnote 13] shows a 34% fall in comparable crime over this period. But we are also aware that since 2014 there have been genuine increases in low-volume, high harm offences like knife crime, gun crime and homicide.
18. The National Strategic Assessment of Serious and Organised Crime, published annually by the NCA sets out the threat in detail.[footnote 14] In 2018, the NCA is aware of over 4,600 organised crime groups operating in the UK.[footnote 15] Yet, much serious and organised crime remains hidden (child sexual exploitation and abuse, modern slavery), or underreported (fraud, cyber crime), meaning the true scale is difficult to measure and likely to be much greater. Figure 1 outlines some of the indicators of the scale and scope of serious and organised crime threats.
Figure 1 – NCA assessment of serious and organised crime threats to the UK
Vulnerabilities:
•35% increase in potential modern slavery & human trafficking victims referred to National Referral Mechanism in 2017
Aim and objectives
33. Despite significant progress in delivering the 2013 Serious and Organised Crime Strategy, the scale of the challenge we face is stark and, for this reason, we have revised our approach. Our aim is to protect our citizens and our prosperity by leaving no safe space for serious and organised criminals to operate against us within the UK and overseas, online and offline. 34. This strategy sets out how we will mobilise the full force of the state, from the capabilities of our security and intelligence agencies and law enforcement, including police forces, to the powers of local authorities to target and disrupt serious and organised criminals. We will equip the whole of government, the private sector, communities and individual citizens to align their efforts in a single collective endeavour to rid our society of the harms of serious and organised crime. We will pursue offenders through prosecution and disruption, bringing all of our collective powers and tools to bear. We will: prevent people from engaging in serious and organised crime; protect victims, organisations and systems from it; and prepare for when it occurs, mitigating the impact. We will strengthen our global reach to confront the threat before it comes to our shores. 35. This strategy provides a framework and outlines a set of capabilities which are designed to respond to the full range of serious and organised crime threats. We have four overarching objectives to achieve our aim: 1. Relentless disruption and targeted action against the highest harm serious and organised criminals and networks We will target our capabilities on criminals exploiting vulnerable people, including the most determined and prolific child sex offenders and we will proactively target, pursue and dismantle the highest harm networks affecting the UK. We will use new and improved powers and capabilities to identify, freeze, seize or otherwise deny criminals access to their finances, assets and infrastructure, at home and overseas including Unexplained Wealth Orders and Serious Crime Prevention Orders. At the heart of this approach will be new data, intelligence and assessment capabilities which will allow the government, in particular the NCA, to penetrate and better understand serious and organised criminals and their vulnerabilities more effectively and target our disruptions to greater effect. 2. Building the highest levels of defence and resilience in vulnerable people, communities, businesses and systems We will remove vulnerabilities in our systems and organisations, giving criminals fewer opportunities to target and exploit. We will ensure our citizens better recognise the techniques of criminals and take steps to protect themselves. This includes working to build strong communities that are better prepared for and more resilient to the threat, and less tolerant of illegal activity. We will also identify those who are harmed faster and support them to a consistently high standard. 3. Stopping the problem at source, identifying and supporting those at risk of engaging in criminality We will develop and use preventative methods and education to divert more young people from a life of serious and organised crime and reduce reoffending. We will use the government’s full reach overseas to tackle the drivers of serious and organised crime. 4. Establishing a single, whole-system approach At the local, regional, national and international levels, we will align our collective efforts to respond as a single system. We will improve governance, tasking and coordination to ensure our response brings all our levers and tools to bear effectively against the highest harm criminals and networks. We will expand our global reach and influence, increasing our overseas network of experts to ensure the UK’s political, security, law enforcement, diplomatic, development, defence relationships and financial levers are used in a more coordinated and intensive manner. And we will work to integrate with the private sector, pooling our skills, expertise and collective resources, co-designing new joint capabilities, and designing out vulnerabilities together. 36. As a result, we will be able to measure and demonstrate that: a) We have significantly raised the risk of operating for the highest harm criminals and networks within the UK and overseas, online and offline, by ensuring: new data and intelligence capabilities have targeted and disrupted serious and organised criminals and networks in new ways; a range of partnerships and working practices are embedded in the UK that enable us to sharpen and accelerate our response; overseas partners are working with us more often, more collaboratively and more effectively to target serious and organised crime affecting the UK; and we are arresting and prosecuting the key serious and organised criminals, stopping their abuse, denying and recovering from them their money and assets, dismantling their networks and breaking their business model. b) Communities, individuals and organisations are reporting they are better protected and better able to protect themselves; and victims are better supported to recover from their abuse or exploitation. c) Fewer young people are engaging in criminal activity or reoffending. 37. We will maintain the Pursue, Prepare, Protect and Prevent delivery framework, sometimes known as ‘4Ps’, as it provides a coherent approach for all partners involved in countering serious and organised crime, from preventing crime in the first place to convicting perpetrators and helping victims. The four strands, shown alongside our aim and objectives in Figure 2, are: to Pursue offenders through prosecution and disruption to Prepare for when serious and organised crime occurs and mitigate impact to Protect individuals, organisations and systems from the effects of serious and organised crime to Prevent people from engaging in serious and organised crime Figure 2 – Serious and Organised Crime (SOC) Strategy framework Protect our citizens and our prosperity by leaving no safe space for serious and organised criminals to operate against us within the UK and overseas, online and offline
38. The priority of the 2013 Serious and Organised Crime Strategy was to prosecute and relentlessly disrupt serious and organised criminals. We have made significant progress in establishing the powers, partnerships and law enforcement structures to achieve this, including the creation of the NCA. The government will continue to prioritise ensuring...
97. Our citizens, businesses and public sector organisations should build the highest levels of defence against organised criminals. Vulnerable people and communities who are most impacted or who are at risk of being exploited or intimidated by serious and organised criminals need protection and support. Some of the most prominent harms to our citi...
136. The 2013 Serious and Organised Crime Strategy set out the importance of increasing preventative action to help reduce the threat. Since then we have funded Prevent initiatives in England and in Wales which have focused on diverting young people into education, training and legitimate employment. This work forms one part of the wider government focus on early intervention to prevent crime and improve prospects for young people, including the work outlined in the Serious Violence Strategy, the Trusted Relationships Fund and the government’s wider youth justice work.
137. We now intend to reach a significantly larger number of young people to help prevent their recruitment into serious and organised crime. We will prioritise four areas of offending: drug trafficking and distribution; cyber crime; child sexual exploitation and abuse; and professional enablers. Offenders in each of these four areas are drawn into their criminal behaviour for different reasons, so our approach in each case will be different. In developing these approaches we will work with partners in DfE, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), DCMS, Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the devolved administrations, as well as law enforcement (in line with the Policing Vision 2025[footnote 70]). We will bring together academic research and knowledge from the ‘what works’ centres (particularly the College of Policing, the Early Intervention Foundation and the Youth Justice Board) to develop a clearer picture of which interventions work best across the range of crime types.
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