By Richard Johnstone | 4 October 2014
The government has been urged to allow local areas to retain all of the value of assets seized from criminals to boost crime prevention initiatives and help tackle anti-social behaviour.
The Local Government Association said that, currently, councils are usually given back less than half of the estimated £40m in cash and assets they recover from benefit fraudsters and rogue traders under the Proceeds of Crime Act every year.
Ministers are planning revisions to the legislation as part of the Serious Crime Bill, which will return to the House of Lords on October 14. Ann Lucas, the chair of the LGA’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said this presented an opportunity to allow all proceeds recovered by councils to be locally retained.
‘Councils are successfully using Proceeds of Crime Act powers to recover every penny possible from benefit fraudsters, rogue traders and con-artists trying to thrive off their ill-gotten gains by living in large homes, driving expensive cars or living luxurious lifestyles,’ she said.
‘It is local communities who suffer at the hands of these criminals and they are the only ones who rightly deserve to benefit from the illegal profits being clawed back from criminals targeting their areas. That is why it is wrong for the government to be keeping any of this money and preventing councils from spending it on improving the lives of local people.’
The money could be used to boost trading standards budgets that have been reduced by 40% since 2010, Lucas added, which would lead to further local criminal investigations and prosecutions.
It could also go towards local area improvement initiatives, with funding in the past being used to pay for park regeneration schemes, anti-graffiti projects and youth clubs.
