Member

If Clause 12 results in cost caps that prevent charities recovering reasonable expenses, many of those prosecutions will simply not be brought. The House of Lords Library briefing shares those concerns. It notes that Clause 12 would allow the Lord Chancellor to replace the long-standing test of “reasonably sufficient” costs with capped rates by means of regulation. That highlights that private prosecutions have historically been supported precisely because they enable cases to be brought where public authorities lack capacity, particularly in fraud and economic crime, which of course today are such a real issue and concern to all of us.