Circular 006/2026: Amount to be paid under a confiscation order
Published 8 July 2026
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Introduction
1. This circular is issued to inform relevant public authorities of certain provisions of the Crime and Policing Act 2026, which come into force on 29 June 2026. This circular does not constitute legal advice. It is not a statement of law and is not intended to provide a comprehensive description or interpretation of the provisions. The circular should be read alongside the Act and the accompanying explanatory notes, which can be found here: Crime and Policing Act 2026.
2. Section 189(1) introduces Schedule 21 which reforms the confiscation regime in respect of England and Wales by amending the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA).
Amount to be paid
3. Part 3 of Schedule 21 sets out provisions concerning amount to be paid under the confiscation order.
4. Paragraph 7 inserts new section 9A into POCA to formalise hidden asset determinations, allowing courts to treat any unexplained difference between benefit and known assets as hidden property, while also requiring them to consider alternative explanations.
5. Paragraph 8 amends subsection 77(5) of POCA to clarify that any gift made by the defendant after the commission of the offence is tainted, and where there are multiple offences, the relevant date is the earliest offence.
6. Paragraph 9 inserts subsections 76(8) and 84(3) to grant courts discretion to reduce the benefit figure where it would be unjust. The court can now reduce the benefit amount, including down to zero, where it would be unjust to apply the full value because the person only had limited or temporary control of the property, (for example, a person coaxed into allowing their bank account to be used by a criminal gang such that they took temporary possession of funds) or is treated as having obtained it under the new rule in subsection 84(3); which applies where their conduct allowed them to keep property they already owned.
7. Paragraph 10 inserts subsection 80(5) so that where property is partly bought with criminal proceeds, only the criminal-funded share counts as benefit, and introduces new rules for purchases funded by mortgages under new subsection 80A.
8. Paragraph 11 introduces subsections 3A-3C into section 80, which set rules for valuing property used in benefit calculations, including using the higher of sale proceeds or the value immediately before sale, using market value for destroyed cryptoassets, and applying the exchange rate on the day of sale for foreign currency proceeds.