Economic Crime Survey 2024

Product Description

Economic crime has garnered significant attention in both the media and political arenas over the last few years. This Home Office study sheds new light on relatively under-examined areas within the broad spectrum of economic crime – UK businesses’ experiences of fraud, corruption, and money laundering, as well as covering breaches of financial sanctions. The Economic Crime Survey 2024 explores the scale, response, impact and costs of these experiences, and businesses’ risk perceptions and preparedness in relation to these crime types.

Numerous studies have partially explored these issues within both UK and international contexts. However, this survey represents the first comprehensive effort to examine fraud, corruption, and money laundering across the entire population of businesses with employees in the UK. Utilising rigorous quantitative survey techniques, supplemented by qualitative interviews, this study provides a robust and unique perspective on the experiences of UK businesses with employees with these forms of economic crime.

The data was collected through a quantitative telephone and online survey of 3,477 businesses with employees in the UK between February and August 2024, weighted to be representative of this population, alongside 38 qualitative interviews undertaken from July to September 2024.

The survey covered all economic crime types, whereas the qualitative interviews focused on corruption, money laundering and financial sanctions (excluding fraud). This reflected the bigger evidence gaps in the existing literature for these areas, and the complex and nuanced nature of these crime types – which is more easily captured qualitatively.

This study focuses on the direct experiences and perceptions of UK businesses, rather than examining the UK’s broader role in the global financial sector. Given that the survey can only measure incidents that businesses are able to detect, and that businesses may be hesitant to discuss incidents which may implicate themselves, the prevalence and incidence figures included in this report are likely to be underestimations.