SFO Criminal Case Costs
Cost information for cases closed for at least six months.
We recognise the interest in our case costs. To ensure information is made available in a way that would not jeopardise our operational work, we have created a publication policy which balances transparency with security for our operational work. We will be publishing costs every January for the previous 12-month period (1 June to 31 May). For 2026, this publication was in May.
The Serious Fraud Office publishes total costs in relation to cases which we have formally announced, have been opened by the Director of the SFO under s.1(3) Criminal Justice Act 1987, and subsequently closed. A case is closed if:
- The Director of the Serious Fraud Office has made the decision to end an investigation without bringing charges; or
- Charges have been brought and there are no extant legal proceedings.
We include costs for staff (permanent and non-permanent), counsel, experts, plus any other external fees within our case costs. These costs are calculated using available system data. Negative numbers relate to refunds, reallocations, or overestimated liabilities.
Publications
Updates to this page
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Some further information about the 2026 publication added, including a link.
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First published.