Crime and Policing Act 2026: Criminal Lifestyle Reforms
How the Crime and Policing Act 2026 changes the criminal lifestyle provisions under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
The Crime and Policing Act 2026 introduces significant reforms to the criminal lifestyle provisions contained in Part 2 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA).
For more than twenty years, a finding that a defendant has a criminal lifestyle has fundamentally shaped confiscation proceedings. It enables the court to apply a series of statutory assumptions when calculating criminal benefit, often resulting in more extensive and complex financial investigations.
Schedule 21 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 makes important changes to when the criminal lifestyle regime applies and how it operates. The reforms introduce prosecutorial discretion over whether the court should determine criminal lifestyle, strengthen the statutory safeguard against serious injustice, reduce one of the qualifying thresholds for criminal lifestyle, and expand the list of offences that can trigger the regime.
Taken together, these changes are intended to make confiscation proceedings more proportionate while ensuring that the criminal lifestyle provisions remain available where genuinely justified.
What Is a Criminal Lifestyle Under POCA?
Under Part 2 of POCA, defendants can be treated in one of two ways during confiscation proceedings.
Where the defendant does not have a criminal lifestyle, the court assesses benefit arising from the particular criminal conduct for which they have been convicted.
Where the defendant does have a criminal lifestyle, the court applies a series of statutory assumptions about assets acquired, expenditure incurred and property transferred over a specified period. Those assumptions can dramatically increase the calculated criminal benefit unless successfully challenged.
Because the financial consequences are so significant, whether the criminal lifestyle provisions apply is often one of the most important issues in confiscation proceedings.
The Four Key Reforms
1. Prosecutors Now Decide Whether to Pursue Criminal Lifestyle
Perhaps the biggest procedural change is the introduction of prosecutorial discretion.
Previously, where the statutory conditions were met, the criminal lifestyle provisions were generally engaged.
The Crime and Policing Act 2026 now allows prosecutors to decide whether the court should determine that a defendant has a criminal lifestyle for the purposes of section 6(4) POCA.
If the prosecution chooses not to pursue criminal lifestyle, the confiscation exercise instead focuses solely on the defendant's particular criminal conduct.
Why does this matter?
This gives prosecutors greater flexibility.
In straightforward cases, pursuing particular criminal conduct may produce a fair and proportionate confiscation order without requiring lengthy litigation over statutory assumptions.
Conversely, prosecutors may still rely upon the criminal lifestyle provisions where they consider those assumptions necessary to identify the full extent of criminal benefit.
2. Stronger Protection Against Serious Injustice
The Act also strengthens the existing safeguard against unfairness.
A new subsection 6A clarifies that, before applying the criminal lifestyle assumptions, the court must consider all the circumstances of the case and give appropriate weight to the evidence presented when deciding whether applying those assumptions would create a serious risk of injustice.
Although the "serious risk of injustice" safeguard already existed in practice, Parliament has now made it clear that courts must undertake a broader, more evidence-based assessment before applying the assumptions.
For defence teams, this amendment is likely to increase the importance of presenting detailed financial evidence capable of demonstrating why the statutory assumptions would produce an unjust result.
3. Criminal Lifestyle Can Now Be Triggered More Easily
The Act also expands the circumstances in which defendants may be treated as having a criminal lifestyle.
Previously, one route required conviction for three qualifying offences.
That threshold has now been reduced to two offences.
In addition, the legislation extends the definition to include offences where the defendant intended to obtain a benefit, even if no financial benefit was ultimately realised.
These changes are likely to increase the number of confiscation cases in which prosecutors can argue that the criminal lifestyle provisions should apply.
4. New Criminal Lifestyle Offences Added
Schedule 2 POCA has also been expanded.
Three additional offences have now been designated as criminal lifestyle offences:
a further brothel-related offence under section 33A of the Sexual Offences Act 1956
unlawful deposit of waste
operating regulated waste facilities without the necessary environmental permit.
Although these offences may represent a relatively small proportion of confiscation work overall, they demonstrate Parliament's intention to widen the reach of the criminal lifestyle regime beyond more traditional acquisitive crime.
How These Reforms Fit Within the Wider POCA Changes
These amendments should not be viewed in isolation.
Across Schedule 21, the Crime and Policing Act 2026 introduces a consistent theme of making confiscation proceedings both more proportionate and more focused on recovering genuine criminal benefit.
Other reforms include:
introducing a new principal objective requiring confiscation powers to deprive defendants of the benefit of criminal conduct, so far as within their means
new judicial discretion to reduce benefit figures where applying the full amount would be unjust
statutory rules governing hidden assets, tainted gifts and property valuation
mandatory timetabling of confiscation proceedings
early resolution confiscation meetings designed to narrow disputes before hearings.
Taken together, these reforms represent the most substantial overhaul of POCA confiscation procedure in over two decades.
Practical Implications
The criminal lifestyle reforms are likely to change how confiscation proceedings are prepared and argued.
Prosecutors will now have a strategic decision to make. Rather than automatically pursuing the criminal lifestyle provisions whenever the statutory criteria are met, they must consider whether invoking the regime is necessary and proportionate in the particular case.
For defence teams, the reforms create new opportunities to scrutinise those decisions. Where criminal lifestyle is alleged, careful consideration should be given to whether the statutory assumptions are appropriate and whether their application would create a serious risk of injustice in light of all the circumstances of the case.
For forensic accountants, these reforms are particularly significant.
Where criminal lifestyle is alleged, expert evidence will often focus on testing the prosecution's assumptions, analysing financial records and demonstrating why the statutory assumptions should not apply, or why they would produce an unjust confiscation figure.
Where the prosecution elects not to pursue a criminal lifestyle, the confiscation exercise focuses on the defendant's particular criminal conduct. In those cases, detailed forensic analysis of bank accounts, financial transactions and asset movements is likely to become even more important in determining the true extent of any criminal benefit.
As a result, expert financial evidence is likely to play an increasingly important role in:
determining the true benefit obtained from particular criminal conduct;
testing whether the criminal lifestyle assumptions should apply;
advancing or responding to serious risk of injustice arguments; and
ensuring confiscation calculations accurately reflect the evidence rather than assumptions alone.
Conclusion
The criminal lifestyle reforms introduced by the Crime and Policing Act 2026 represent a significant shift in confiscation practice.
Rather than relying automatically upon the traditional lifestyle assumptions, prosecutors now have greater discretion, courts are given clearer guidance on avoiding injustice, and the statutory gateway has been expanded to capture a broader range of offending.
For practitioners involved in POCA proceedings, understanding when the criminal lifestyle regime applies will become even more important as these reforms begin to shape confiscation litigation.
