Section 250 Is Now in Force: What Changed Today

The commencement is operative from today

Section 250 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 came into force at 00:00 on 29 June 2026, two months after Royal Assent on 29 April 2026, by virtue of s.255(3). There was no commencement statutory instrument to wait for, no regulatory discretion over the date, and no grace period. The provision is now live.

What this means: where a senior manager of a body corporate or partnership commits a criminal offence under UK law while acting within the actual or apparent scope of their authority, the organisation is also treated as having committed that offence. The offence does not have to be one created by the 2026 Act. It can be any criminal offence under the law of England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

What firms that completed their gap analysis now hold

A firm that ran a gap analysis, obtained declarations from every individual meeting the s.250(3) functional test, and assembled a board evidence pack has a contemporaneous record of its pre-commencement state. That record matters for several reasons.

First, it documents the analysis methodology — which individuals were assessed, how the s.250(3) test was applied, and what the result was. If a matter is ever investigated, the firm can show that it identified its population and acted systematically.

Second, it captures the declarations themselves: timestamped, individually issued, tracked to delivery and completion. Those declarations are the acknowledgement from each individual that they understood their role and the legal context.

Third, the board evidence pack provides a documented basis for any mitigation arguments. There is no statutory defence to s.250, but documented diligence is material to prosecutorial discretion under Joint SFO-CPS guidance and may be relevant at sentencing once guidelines develop.

The evidential weight of this record is not guaranteed by any document format, but a PDF/A-3B pack with a recorded SHA-256 hash and embedded audit trail is considerably stronger than a spreadsheet with an email thread.

What firms without a completed gap analysis face

Firms that have not identified their s.250(3) population face the full scope of the attribution mechanism from today. That means: any qualifying criminal offence committed by a senior manager (as defined by the s.250(3) functional test) within the scope of their authority can now be attributed to the organisation.

Running a gap analysis after commencement still matters. The ongoing risk is real, and a post-commencement gap analysis produces a record of current exposure even if it cannot replace the pre-commencement one. Declarations obtained now document the position as at today. Evidence packs generated now capture the current analysis and the current acknowledgements.

What cannot be done after commencement is to retroactively manufacture a pre-commencement record. A declaration dated today does not represent the firm's state on 28 June 2026. If a matter arises relating to pre-commencement conduct, the evidential gap between "we did the work before the date" and "we did the work after the date" is a real one.

The ongoing monitoring requirement

Section 250 does not create a one-off compliance task. The s.250(3) population changes as firms hire, restructure, and promote. An individual who joins in a significant role becomes exposed from their first day. A restructuring that shifts decision-making authority can bring previously uncovered individuals into scope.

The practical response is to fold the s.250(3) scope review into the firm's joiner, leaver, and role-change processes. Declarations should be renewed annually and whenever a role materially changes. The analysis methodology and results should be re-run annually and after any significant structural change.

Board evidence packs should be refreshed at each renewal cycle so the documentation reflects the current state, not the 2026 baseline.

What has not changed

The s.250(3) functional test is unchanged. "Senior manager" still means an individual who plays a significant role in (a) the making of decisions about how the whole or a substantial part of the organisation's activities are to be managed or organised, or (b) the managing or organising of the whole or a substantial part of those activities. The test is functional, not title-based. It does not require FCA approval or SM&CR status.

The attribution mechanism is unchanged. The organisation is treated as having committed the offence. The penalty is the penalty for the underlying offence — not a penalty set by s.250 itself.

The absence of a statutory defence is unchanged. Section 250 has no adequate-procedures, reasonable-procedures, or reasonable-steps defence. Documented diligence is material to prosecutorial discretion and may be relevant at sentencing, but it is not a statutory shield.

The scope is unchanged. Section 250 applies to all UK bodies corporate and partnerships, not only FCA-regulated firms. The s.250(2) carve-out for conduct wholly outside the UK where the organisation would not itself commit the offence on those facts remains in place.

Related articles

Sources

• Crime and Policing Act 2026, s.250www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/20/section/250
• Crime and Policing Act 2026, s.255 — commencementwww.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/20/section/255
• FCA — Senior Managers and Certification Regimewww.fca.org.uk/firms/senior-managers-certification-regime