Victim and witness care in the Serious Fraud Office (319 kB)

Effective communication with victims and witnesses is essential to make them feel valued within the criminal justice system, and to build public confidence. The code of practice for victims of crime in England and Wales sets out the minimum standard that investigating and prosecuting authorities must provide to victims of crime.

The Serious Fraud Office’s casework poses unique challenges which affect its ability to comply with the code of practice. These challenges include the number of victims and witnesses involved in some cases, and the length of time complex cases can take to investigate, prosecute and conclude.

In this inspection, we focused on a number of the rights described in the code of practice to assess whether the Serious Fraud Office has policies in place to support its obligations.