Fraudsters and scammers who profit should fund trading standards investigations says Hertfordshire county councillor

Offenders profiting from scams or fraudulent sales should pay towards the investigations that catch them, Hertfordshire County Councillor Morris Bright, has said.

Trading standards officers at the county council investigate a wide range of scams and fraud.

And the more complex investigations – which can involve undercover or surveillance work – can take years of painstaking and costly work by council officers.

In some cases, trading standards can already make a financial claim against an offender under the ‘Proceeds of Crime Act’ (POCA).

But Cllr Morris Bright – the county council’s executive responsible for community protection – is plannning to call for changes that would make culprits liable for the costs of a trading standards’ investigation – even if it did not fall within the scope of POCA.

“The challenge for us is that we can only make use of the POCA regime in certain circumstances,” Cllr Bright told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

“For example, it cannot be used for our cases heard in the magistrates’ court, and many of the offences fall outside unless we can show they are part of a criminal lifestyle or that offending continues over a period of time.

“I would like to see a model used more widely where offenders pay for the time taken for trading standards to put things right – not just where legal proceedings have been initiated,” he added.

A similar model – he says – is already used by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), where those who have broken Health and Safety legislation can be asked to pay for the time HSE staff have spent on the case.

Trading standards at the county council does already make some use of the Proceeds of Crime Act.

But Cllr Bright says that there is often very little money left to pay towards trading standards costs.

And where assets do remain, he says, trading standards can access only a third.

“We often find however that offenders prosecuted have either already spent the proceeds of their crimes or wherever assets are available these are ordered to be paid to victims first and there is no money left to be confiscated or to pay towards trading standards costs for bringing the prosecution,” Cllr Bright told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

“Where assets are remaining, trading standards can retain just over a third with the rest going to the Home Office and Courts.”

These monies, says Cllr Bright, have previously been used by the county council to fund a financial investigator and other crime prevention initiatives.

The issue was highlighted in a meeting on Wednesday (January 24), when councillors met to scrutinise the public health and community protection budget proposals for the coming financial year 2024/25.

At that meeting, Cllr Bright highlighted the investigations of trading standards officers.

And he agreed with recommendations that he should lobby the government for changes relating to funding from the proceeds of crime.