Equity release schemes hit their peak in 2007 but the market is currently going through another burst of increased activity. The amount taken out in equity release reached £230m in the first three months of 2013 and consumers are taking larger amounts...
After being made available to claimants in the north of England earlier this year, Personal Independence Payment (PIP), a replacement for Disability Living Allowance (DLA), is now being rolled out across the UK. Although existing DLA claimants will have to...
The government is planning to slash some £220 million from the criminal legal aid budget under proposals that would see organisations competing for legal aid contracts by offering the lowest price. Sir Anthony Hooper, a retired Court of Appeal judge,...
Whilst the basic principles of the Bribery Act 2010 were welcomed by most, from the very start there were concerns about the affect its provisions would have on the way that business works on a practical level in the UK (and all over the world). Now, two...
The financial collapse and fall in property prices unmasked the scale of mortgage fraud that been hiding in the shadows of rising property prices. Despite tighter lending practices however, mortgage fraud continues to grown in the UK. In line with...
Carousel or missing trader intra-community fraud ( MTIC ) exploits the fact that the movement of goods between EU states is VAT free. Criminal profits are made by fraudulently claiming VAT from HMRC for bogus transactions. Those...
During the course of an individual healthcare practitioner’s professional life, a concern may be raised to the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) about their fitness to practise. The purpose of the HCPC fitness to practise procedure...
Dishonesty is a vital ingredient when a prosecution seeks to establish fraud. The same basic principles apply to any type of financial fraud and it is possible to analyse how it might relate to specific circumstances such as investment fraud . ...
This article, by Stephensons’ fraud and regulatory partner, Rachel Adamson, was first published in Practical Audit and Accounting in April 2013. It is getting towards a year on from the appointment of David Green CB QC as the new Director of the...
The Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) is a mandatory carbon trading scheme designed to decrease the total amount of CO2 emissions within the UK. It is a central part of the UK Government’s strategy to deliver ambitious carbon reduction targets and...
