National Crime Agency annual report and accounts: 2023 to 2024 (accessible)

Question 1

Statement by the Director General

Accepted Answer

I am proud to introduce the National Crime Agency (NCA) Annual Report and Accounts for 2023-2024. In October, the Agency celebrated its tenth anniversary, marking a very successful first decade in which we delivered over 23,000 disruptions of serious and organised crime, including securing more than 4,900 convictions, and seizing over 2,000 tonnes of drugs and 3,100 firearms. This year has been our most successful ever, with over 4,700 disruptions and over 1,000 arrests.

Despite our efforts and those of policing and our other partners, serious and organised crime continues to cause more harm, to more people, more often than any other national security threat. As we set out in the 2024 National Strategic Assessment, the threat is increasing, and the combination of our increasingly online lives and the introduction of new technology has created greater scope for SOC groups to operate. This has led to the NCA exposing ever more sophisticated ways that criminal groups have organised themselves and targeted victims; just this year, the NCA seized control of the dark web environment operated by Lockbit, the world’s most harmful cyber-crime group.

Successes like this serve as a reminder that the NCA’s technological capabilities are the price of entry, not a luxury, when dealing with the current SOC threat. To make better use of these capabilities and to increase our effect on SOC groups, the Agency has shifted towards fewer, higher impact disruptions that are firmly outcome focused. These have included:

The quick NCA response to the nitazene threat in the UK, leading the UK multi-agency operational response, to ensure all lines of enquiry are prioritised and vigorously pursued to stem any supply of nitazenes to and within the UK. By the end of the financial year 2023-2024 the rate of fatalities had reduced.
The cumulative impact of the NCA led operational response, which is suppressing the criminal access to firearms in the UK. Firearm discharges, homicides and serious injuries have decreased, continuing a trend reported since 2020.

In order to deliver on our operational goals, we have continued to drive the development of the Agency’s capabilities. Work has continued on moving the NCA HQ from Spring Gardens to our new Stratford location, as well as on the Agency’s digital transformation. We also negotiated an increased pay award for our officers following extensive discussions with the Home Office and HMT. These areas of development will remain priorities for the year ahead, with the work we have done serving as the foundation for our delivery on the new Government’s priorities throughout this year and the next decade of the Agency’s lifetime.

Graeme Biggar CBE

Director General NCA

19 July 2024

Question 2

Part 1 – Performance report

Accepted Answer

Performance overview

Who we are and what we do

The NCA’s mission is to protect the public from serious and organised crime. The Agency achieves this by degrading the most harmful organised crime groups (OCGs) and leading the wider law enforcement system to reduce the threat.

This is done in accordance with the Crime and Courts Act 2013. The Agency has officers based in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as a network of liaison officers in strategic locations around the world. The Agency works closely with partners in government, law enforcement and the national security community to lead and coordinate a comprehensive response to serious and organised crime in the UK and overseas.

The NCA is a non-ministerial government department. The Director General is the head of the Agency and the Agency’s Accounting Officer. The Director General is accountable to the Home Secretary for the Agency’s performance, and through the Home Secretary to Parliament. While the Director General’s principal accountability is to the Home Secretary, the Agency is also subject to inspection, review and scrutiny by parliamentary and independent bodies, including representatives from devolved administrations.

The serious and organised crime threat

Serious and organised crime has a pervasive and corrosive impact on the UK and our global interests. It is a major threat to the UK’s national security, its economic prosperity and the safety of its people.

The effects of serious and organised crime are felt across the whole population, either directly in the form of violence, fear and other harms (including financial loss and psychological harm), or indirectly in the form of associated criminality, increased living costs, increased strain on public services, and the undermining of legitimate businesses. It includes drugs and firearms criminality, organised immigration crime, modern slavery and human trafficking, child sexual abuse, cyber crime, money laundering and fraud.

While overall crime has reduced over the last decade, the scale and threat from serious and organised crime, and the associated level of harm, has almost certainly increased. This means that serious and organised crime now makes up a higher proportion of crime overall.

This follows a long-term global trend in serious and organised crime, and is a result of:

more people spending more time online and increasing dependence on online services;
global instabilities as the world becomes more contested and volatile; and,
increasing levels of interconnectivity within serious and organised crime.

These three factors reinforce each other, making the response to serious and organised crime complex and challenging.

A primary driver of the growth in serious and organised crime is offending enabled or inspired by online connectivity, in the form of cybercrime, fraud, and online child sexual abuse. Another key driver is the growth of the drugs threat: drugs have become both cheaper and more potent and therefore more dangerous.

Main Themes

Technology and online spaces

The majority of crime now occurs either online or is enabled by online resources. Technology makes offending significantly easier for OCGs, allowing them to quickly diversify, collaborate and reach a global pool of victims, while providing anonymity and security.

The proliferation and increasing accessibility of artificial intelligence technologies is almost certainly lowering barriers to entry and enabling some criminals to commit crimes at a scale and sophistication previously beyond their capabilities; however, at present artificial intelligence is more likely amplifying existing risks rather than creating new ones.

The deployment of end-to-end encryption across popular social media platforms, including messaging apps, without sufficient consideration for public safety, is putting users in danger. Companies cannot protect their customers as they are no longer able to see illegal behaviour on their systems, making it harder for law enforcement to investigate serious crime and protect the public.

Global insecurities

As serious and organised crime becomes more international in focus, OCGs are more able to exploit the vulnerabilities created by global instability in an increasingly contested and volatile world. They take advantage of more permissive, failing, and corrupt regimes to organise and carry out their criminal activities, produce and distribute illicit commodities, and launder funds. Displacement of families and children caused by global instabilities makes people vulnerable to becoming victims of child sexual abuse or modern slavery and human trafficking.

The interconnectivity of serious and organised crime

Serious and organised crime is characterised by increasing levels of interconnectivity, which is enabled by readily-available technology. Transnational OCGs and UK-based groups use these global connections to extend their reach, making them more harmful and allowing them to spread their offending across the globe, or to connect with other criminals. These groups use professional enablers and other criminally-minded individuals to expand operations, or are supported by organised crime groups that only exist to offer a service to other criminals.

NCA priorities in 2023-2024

In order to tackle the threat, the Home Secretary set the Agency six strategic priorities for the 2023-24 financial year:

-	Home Secretary’s strategic priorities
1	Reduce serious and organised crime in our communities by leading the law enforcement system and improving coordination with policing and other partners to tackle OCGs in the UK.
2	Reduce serious and organised crime in the UK by dismantling the highest harm^{[footnote 1]} OCGs, networks and individuals.
3	Reduce organised immigration crime with a particular focus on the OCGs facilitating small boat crossings as part of the wider Government strategy to stop small boats under the Prime Minister’s 10 point plan on illegal migration.
4	Reduce fraud and combat corrupt elites, state threats, cyber crime, money laundering and other economic crime.
5	Enhance the security of our borders and ports by working with operational partners to dismantle the OCGs and networks that seek to undermine their integrity.
6	Play a full role in delivering the Government’s objectives to reduce and prevent crime and respond to national security threats.

To achieve these, the Director General set four operational priorities for the year:

Director General’s operational priorities


1	Degrading the most harmful crime groups
2	Leading the UK’s operational response to serious and organised crime
3	Transforming the Agency’s capabilities
4	Growing a highly- skilled workforce

2023-2024 Summary

This report details the Agency’s performance over the past financial year and relates to operational activity the Agency has undertaken or where agency activity led to interventions overseas.

The Agency’s strategy has been to focus our efforts on the highest impact disruptions^{[footnote 2]} rather than the total number, on the basis that is where we can add the most unique value and where we can make the biggest difference in protecting the public from serious and organised crime.

In 2023-24 the Agency delivered 376 high-impact pursue disruptions. This is a 44% increase on the baseline set two years ago.

The types of cases we are now adopting are more complex requiring expensive and niche capabilities to identify and disrupt highly sophisticated criminal targets; they can also take longer. In addition, some areas of demand on the Agency have grown, for example through increased border seizures and referrals of online child sexual abuse. In spite of all of these pressures our performance in delivering disruptions has remained strong.

NCA is responsible for securing an efficient and effective response to serious and organised crime by leading the operational system response. This includes working with policing, industry, regulators and charities, not only to ‘pursue’ criminals through disrupting SOC and Organised Crime Groups and Networks, but also to prevent crime and prepare and protect potential victims to reduce harms. Highlights in terms of overall system performance, and how we are improving how we lead it, include:

NCA oversees a performance regime for the SOC system which is agreed with system partners. This year, the vast majority of performance targets across the system were met. This process was managed through our national tasking infrastructure and included detailed assessment of performance risks and opportunities.
The combined SOC system achieved the highest number of disruptions ever recorded this year with over 38,000 in total (38,372), a 25% increase compared to the previous year (albeit this partly reflects improving record-keeping). This included greater numbers of high impact disruptions in the cyber, drugs, MSHT, fraud and money laundering threats, showing increases in impact as well as volume.
Contributing to this, specific coordination activities led by NCA this year led to operational outcomes across the UK. These included projects covering modern slavery and human trafficking (AIDANT); drugs (HOUSEBUILDER); and fraud (HENHOUSE). These are set out in more detail later in the report. Other coordination efforts, such as Op MILLE to build understanding of, and disrupt, criminality associated with the western Balkans, were led by NPCC colleagues.

Our ability to coordinate national performance has been significantly improved this year with a common performance management system now adopted across the entire police service, ROCU networks, NCA, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force.

Key highlights from this year’s performance:

Highest ever total disruptions of 4,740

376 disruptions were high impact pursue disruptions against the most harmful organised crime groups

Infiltrated and disrupted Lockbit, the world’s most harmful ransomware strain

Seized or restrained £230m of criminal assets

Arrested more than 1,000 suspected serious and organised criminals, a 16% increase

Helped seize over 200 tonnes of class A drugs globally

Seized more than 350 boats and engines, with partners, that would have been used to cross the Channel

NCA intelligence has helped UK policing make 800 child sexual abuse-related arrests per month, and in the last year, safeguard around 11,000 children

Prevented 260,000 frauds through NCA disruptions

Helped reduce offences involving discharge of a firearm by over 30% since 2019

NCA Strategy 2023-2028

In 2023, the Agency set a five-year Strategy to protect the public from serious and organised crime with four priorities.

1. Degrading the most harmful OCGs by:

Going upstream to disrupt those at the top of the criminal chain, those who enable their activities, and those who launder the money they make;
Taking action overseas, tackling the threat at source and en route to the UK;
Increasingly focusing on online crime to combat a critical enabler of the organised crime business model, reflecting the fact that more crime takes place online or is enabled by technology.

2. Leading the UK’s operational response by:

Improving how the threat is understood and used to prioritise across the system;
Strengthening system planning through improved use of evidence;
Improving performance measurement across the system;
Bolstering the national services and capabilities provided by the Agency to system partners;
Strengthening the system response to new and emerging threats.

3. Transforming the Agency’s capabilities by:

Unlocking the value of data to drive direct operational effect;
Delivering a new approach to capability development;
Improving the Agency’s situational awareness;
Strengthening foundational capabilities as they relate to data technology and estates.

4. Growing a highly skilled workforce by:

Better understanding the skills the Agency needs to transform workforce planning;
Creating career pathways that improve officer experience;
Becoming a more attractive employer through reformed pay and benefits;
Improving the Agency’s learning offer to meet future challenges;
Establishing a more diverse workforce and inclusive culture;
Embedding smarter working into the Agency’s ethos.

Financial summary

Financial outturn

The NCA is funded by Parliamentary Supply and is accountable to the Home Secretary for its performance. In 2023-24, the NCA Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit (RDEL) was £674.91 million, the Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (CDEL) was £140.07 million, and the Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) estimate was £51.58 million. Within the budget delegation received from HM Treasury (HMT), the NCA receives funding for specific operational deliverables. This ‘ring-fenced’ funding cannot be used for other purposes and any underspend cannot be transferred to core operations.

In addition to Parliamentary Supply, the NCA was allocated £194.36 million from external funding streams to deliver specific projects and capabilities. Many of the NCA’s external funding streams were brought into the NCA’s core delegation as part of the 2022-2025 Spending Review plans. The NCA continues to receive funding from 27 other RDEL and CDEL funding streams for specific project funding. This is in addition to the delegation from Parliamentary Supply.

External funding streams received in 2023-24 were for:

Specific projects;
Enhancing the Agency’s response to specific crime types, such as the fight against drugs and organised immigration crime (OIC); and
National programmes, such as the National Cyber Security Programme.

Like delegated ‘ring-fenced’ funding, income received from other external funding providers cannot be used for any purposes other than those agreed between the NCA and the external funding provider within the relevant memorandum of understanding (MOU). Details of additional funding are in Part 3 of this report.

The Director General is fully accountable for the NCA’s vote and externally funded budget. The Agency performed within its financial limits for each budget element in 2023-24, as shown in the table below. This table reflects the unqualified opinion the Agency received from the Comptroller and Auditor General as a result of the 2023-24 audit.

Financial outturn against estimate

Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL)	Estimate (£ million)	Outturn (£ million)	Underspend (£ million)	Underspend (%)
Resource	674.91	667.82	7.09*	1.05%
Capital	140.07	136.98	3.09	2.21%
Total DEL	814.98	804.80	10.18	1.25%

Annually Managed Expenditure (AME)	Estimate (£ million)	Outturn (£ million)	Underspend (£ million)	Underspend(%)
Resource	50.00	29.13	20.87	41.74%
Capital	1.58	1.54	0.04	2.53%
Total AME	51.58	30.67	20.91	40.54%

*RDEL underspend (excluding non-cash for depreciation) was £2.41 million (0.43% of the NCA budget). The 0.43% cash underspend reflects accurate forecasting and planning to deliver the NCA’s operational objectives during the year, as noted throughout the Performance Report. The non-cash depreciation budget was underspent by £4.68 million.

AME relates primarily to changes in provisions as a result of changes in discount rates, over which the NCA has no control. The Agency takes a prudent approach to estimates in AME and the underspend relates to a lower than expected impact in estimation of provisions – police pension liability, property revaluation and general provisions.

Externally funded expenditure in both resource and capital increased in 2023-24 compared to 2022-23. This was mainly as a result of £70.95 million funding received in relation to the Economic Crime (Anti-Money Laundering) Levy. Resource expenditure during 2023-24 was £131.31 million (an increase of £39.41 million from 2022-23) and capital expenditure was £63.05 million (an increase of £26.60 million from 2022-23). Initial budgets are set when agreeing the MOU with the funding provider at the start of the project, and are subject to movement throughout the year in line with emerging priorities. Expenditure on this externally-funded activity is fully offset by income received from the funding provider.

The NCA does not benefit from any underspend in either the delegated budget or externally-funded non-core budgets. The NCA is required to spend its delegated budget in the year it is received and therefore returns any underspend to HMT annually.

In line with Better Regulations, the NCA has continued to promote effective policy making through robust assessment of evidence based reviews, monitoring, forecasting and Accounting Officer assessments.

A further breakdown of the Agency’s financial performance is provided in the Statement of Parliamentary Supply in Part 2 of this report.

Going concern statement

Under the going concern assumption, an entity is viewed as continuing in business for the foreseeable future. The Statement of Financial Position as at 31 March 2024 shows a net liability of £283.91 million (2022-23: net liability £361.91 million). This is largely due to a pensions liability of £664.02 million which has reduced from 2022-23 (£713.98 million).

This does not adversely impact the going concern status, as the liability is fully funded by Parliamentary Supply.

In common with other Government departments, the future financing of the Agency’s liability is to be met by future grants of Parliamentary Supply and the application of future income, both to be approved by parliament. Additionally, funding has been agreed by HMT for the next spending review period which covers the period up to March 2025.

Therefore, it is appropriate to adopt a going concern basis for the preparation of these financial statements.

Performance analysis

The performance analysis section provides a detailed description of the context and headline performance of the Agency against the serious and organised crime threat areas it responds to.

The context uses figures from the calendar year because it is drawn from analysis in the National Strategic Assessment which is produced by the National Assessments Centre on a calendar year basis. The headlines are from the serious and organised crime system’s reported activity for the financial year. These come from a number of sources but are collected, analysed and quality assured by the Agency’s performance team.

Modern slavery and human trafficking

Context (1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023)

It is highly likely that the overall scale of the MSHT threat remained broadly consistent between 2022 and 2023. The reporting of exploitation in the UK continues to increase; however, this reflects ongoing improvements in knowledge and reporting around the MSHT threat and changes in illegal migration trends, rather than an increase in the threat.

Headlines (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

AIDANT is an NCA coordinated national project involving a wide range of Law Enforcment partners. Whole system AIDANT Activity in 2023 has resulted in 50 arrests and the identification of 98 potential victims. A total of 277 disruptions were submitted capturing a wide range of activity across Pursue, Prevent, Prepare and Protect, including progressing existing investigations, carrying out safeguarding visits and increasing the awareness of MSHT through public engagement and training within high-risk sectors.

Case Study: In relation to organ harvesting, through policing the NCA became aware of individual cases of concern around organ donor activity.

As a result, the NCA initiated a multiagency working group with a range of partners who took forward improvements to inter-agency communication, training, policies and procedures in order to design a system wide process, to help address the potential problem.

Organised immigration crime

Context (1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023)

In 2023 there were 29,437 migrant arrivals to the UK by small boat. While this was a 36% reduction compared to 2022, the numbers and threat remained significant. Attempts to reach the UK by this method continued to be incredibly dangerous. There was an increase in the number of people per vessel, with OCGs using larger boats and frequently overloading them. In 2023, migrant arrivals to the UK by air facilitation saw a 16% decrease between January and October. Tackling OIC is an international problem and the Agency continued to collaborate with international partners on the threat. This collaboration was directly responsible for preventing crossings and arresting facilitators in the UK and overseas.

Headlines (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

The Agency and Home Office partners commenced a system-wide pivot to disrupt the business model and methodology of OCGs facilitating small boats entry. The campaign plan was supported by enhanced intelligence, new and innovative capabilities and international engagement plans. The Agency continued collaboration with social media companies (SMCs) against crime groups facilitating OIC through social media. Since the social media action plan launched in December 2021, the Agency worked with SMCs to have more than 9,000 posts, pages or accounts advertising OIC crime services removed from platforms, at financial year end. At the end of the financial year, the Agency was leading more than 70 investigations into the highest harm OIC groups. Through working with international partners, more than 350 boats and engines were seized, detaining them before they could reach the French coast.

Case Study: The NCA targeted members of a major criminal network suspected of involvement in the smuggling of up to 10,000 people into the UK. From the principals’ UK home, they directed their network, sourcing boats in Turkey, arranging delivery to Germany and Belgium, and transporting migrants.

Around 40 people have been arrested in a series of raids across Europe, as the NCA joined the biggest ever international operation targeting small boat people smugglers. The investigation took two years coordinated by the NCA in the UK and by Europol and Eurojust across Europe. Following arrests in the UK, Germany, Netherland and France the UK-based principal subject was sentenced to 11 years in a Belgian court following extradition in October 2023. Another 19 associates were sentenced to between 30 months and 8 years.

Borders

Context (1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023)

OCGs are increasingly using sophisticated concealments to transport goods, including drugs, firearms, cash and people across borders and within the UK. To combat this threat, a specific project was initiated to improve effectiveness in identifying concealments, trends, commonalities and best practice.

Headlines (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

The NCA has led a priority project to improve UK’s law enforcement awareness and understanding of the criminal use of professional concealments; this has resulted in over 100 concealment notices being disseminated to partners across the UK, highlighting the work of the project, and over 400 frontline (Policing and Border Force) have attended training events across the UK. This has increased information sharing opportunities between law enforcement agencies and supported coordinated multi-agency operational activity, resulting in the identification and disruption of further suspicious vehicles and individuals moving illicit commodities, criminally obtained finances and people across the UK Border and inland.

Case Study: Bluetooth enabled trackers are being found within illicit commodities seized at the UK Border and are being utilised by OCGs to track movements of illegal commodities into the UK.

These have been found across a number of travel modes – air passenger; containers; fast parcel and post and Ro Ro, as well as in small boats. In particular, over the past reporting period, a number of cocaine seizures have been found with Apple AirTags contained within them. Guidance has been provided to front line officers to respond to this threat.

Child sexual abuse (CSA)

Context (1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023)

The scale, complexity, and severity of the child sexual abuse threat is likely increasing. Both online and offline child sexual abuse continues to be under-reported and under-detected. Technology continues to develop at pace, driving and enabling more complex child sexual abuse offending and increasing the overall volume of child sexual abuse material.

It is estimated there are 710,000 to 840,000 UK based adults (1.3% to 1.6% of the UK adult population) who pose varying degrees of sexual risk to children, across a broad spectrum from downloading and sharing indecent images of children to direct contact abuse.)

Headlines (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

Development of comprehensive national guidance on the end to end investigation of online CSA;

Rollout of a new national tiered case prioritisation system; Development of two-way tasking processes to ensure the most harmful offenders are targeted across the whole of law enforcement;

Disseminated 12,501 actionable intelligence packages to policing emanating from industry referrals, to drive the national response;

Continued high impact levels of arrests and safeguards, as well as continued work to manage offenders through SHPOs, SROs;

Arresting 60 offenders and achieving 93 convictions with an average sentence length of 4.4yrs;

Through High Harm Disruption funding, built capacity and capability through the development of niche capabilities, particular in the Cyber and Digital Forensics ecosystems, to target the highest harm offenders and deliver multinational covert operations;

The Agency’s chair ship of the Virtual Global Taskforce has increased global insights into the threat through products such as the VGT Model Response to Transnational Child Sex Offenders, joint statements on End-to-End Encryption and Generative AI, and has driven its co-ordination of the response to “sextortion” in the UK;

Continued development of education products for children, parents, carers and professionals, reaching 1.4 million children in the UK.

Case Study: In January 2024, the NCA saw the conviction of Anthony “Danny” Burns, who represents the type of high-harm offender that the NCA are committed to tackling.

Between 2018 and 2021, Burns used multiple identities trapping dozens of unsuspecting women and girls around the world into performing sexual and degrading acts under the threat of blackmail. Burns was charged with 46 offences including blackmail, attempted blackmail, causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, arranging the commission of a child sex offence, making and distributing indecent images of children (IIOC), possessing extreme pornography, malicious communications offences and failure to comply with notification requirements. Burns was sentenced to 24 years imprisonment, is subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order, and has been placed on the sex offenders register for life.

Drugs

Context (1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023)

There was an increase in the drugs threat. The consumption of cocaine increased further and UK purity at all levels of supply remained high.

The narcotics ban enforced by the Taliban likely caused an increase in price and a decrease in purity of heroin. There was no identified reduction in the supply of heroin in the UK.

Increased prevalence of high strength synthetic opioids (known as nitazenes) caused an increased risk to a wide range of drug users. UK OCGs were likely responsible for the fortification of some of the heroin supply with nitazenes, while most users had little or no awareness of the component parts of the heroin consumed.

Headlines (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

In response to the increased threat posed by nitazenes, the NCA commenced Project HOUSEBUILDER in July 2023 to lead and coordinate the law enforcement and public health response. Work under the project has included the implementation of a national reporting mechanism for UK policing, ongoing development of an early warning system to identify high-harm trends, analysis to provide operational opportunities, and a bespoke forensic strategy to tackle the challenge of a new drug group.

A fortnightly SIOs forum chaired by the NCA ensures investigations are prioritised and supported across policing and that upstream and international opportunities are identified and exploited.

In 2023-24, in the UK and internationally, NCA operational activity contributed to the seizure of:

Cocaine: 204,018kg, with an estimated street value of £16.52 billion had it reached UK streets
Heroin: 3,054kg, with an estimated street value of £0.31 billion had it reached UK streets
Cannabis: 88,134kg, with an estimated street value of £0.88 billion had it reached UK streets

Case study: In February 2024, the NCA and Border Force made what is believed to be the biggest ever seizure of class A drugs in the United Kingdom when 5.7 tonnes of cocaine were found in a container at Southampton Port, hidden within a cargo of bananas which had been transported from South America.

It is believed that the drugs were destined for the Port of Hamburg in Germany for onward distribution including back to the UK. The seizure has prevented harm to communities and deprived OCGs of significant profits: based on UK street-level prices, the cocaine would likely have a value in excess of £450 million.

Firearms

Context (1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023)

The firearms threat has reduced. There were 5,877 firearms offences recorded in England and Wales in the year ending March 2023. This was 238 more than the year ending March 2022 (a 4% increase), and was primarily driven by an increase in offences involving imitation firearms (which increased by 13% from 1,889 to 2,130).

There were 801 offences involving the discharge of a lethal-barrelled or unknown firearm, which is around 30% fewer than the year ending March 2019, when this type of offending peaked at 1,141 offences.

Criminals continued to engage in firearms-enabled crime in a variety of ways to intimidate, threaten or for protection.

Headlines (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

Agency activity or intelligence contributed to the seizure of 67 firearms. This included the seizure of 39 firearms overseas, protecting the public from significant potential harm.

The Agency continued to focus its activity on disruptions with a major or moderate impact against the firearms threat in the UK. This frustrated typical routes of supply to UK criminal market, making the availability of firearms domestically more difficult.

Case study: More than 700 firearms have been recovered in the UK during a five-year long project the NCA led with the Guardia Civil in Spain, UK policing, Border Force, international law enforcement and international gun retailers to prevent easily convertible guns entering the country. Though traded lawfully in some parts of mainland Europe, forward-venting blank firers are illegal to possess or import to the UK. Such converted handguns have been used in a sizeable proportion of shootings over recent years. They have been recovered by UK police forces, Border Force and the NCA in both their converted and unconverted state. Ensuring that firearms were removed from criminal circulation at the earliest opportunity was a key priority. The NCA and European partners exchanged fast-time intelligence which meant the majority of weapons were detected at the UK border and stopped from reaching UK streets.

The parallel Guardia Civil investigation, run in collaboration with Europol, led to police action in nine different countries, with the largest proportion of these relating to sales to UK citizens. International cooperation between the NCA and other agencies across Europe was crucial. The Agency also worked with other Spanish partners in 2018, and authorities in the Czech Republic and France leading to UK customers being unable to purchase the same types of weapons from suppliers in those countries, thereby reducing the firearms threat to the UK.

Cybercrime

Context (1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023)

The overall threat from cyber crime has increased; ransomware poses the greatest cyber threat to the UK, and is dominated by overseas, Russian- speaking OCGs mostly now operating as ‘Ransomware-as-a-Service’ (RaaS) groups.

Ransomware incidents impacting both the UK and countries globally increased in 2023. The under-reporting of cybercrime incidents, including ransomware, continues to be an issue.

Most of the cyber threat to the UK comes from abroad, with a small number of offenders having a disproportionately high impact on the threat.

The online cybercriminal ecosystem enables and supports cybercrime, and other serious and organised crime threats; including, money laundering, drug and firearms supply, child sexual exploitation and online fraud. The cybercrime ecosystem is comprised of a collection of products, goods and services available on the open and dark web; which has lowered the barrier to entry and proliferated high-end cyber capabilities.

The Agency has developed its approach, with Team Cyber UK and international partners to focus on the disruption and degradation of the cybercrime ecosystem, balancing the requirement to provide an improved response for victims, with an ambition to deliver even more strategic impact.

Headlines (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

The Agency delivered successful investigations and disruptions against the most harmful cybercrime threats. This work included the novel use of alternative disruptions, including sanctions.

In partnership with the NPCC Cybercrime Programme a new national operating model was trialled across the UK policing network.

There was a sustained effort to improve cyber security behaviours and reduce victims, and to broaden the utility of the cyber choices campaign by sharing the branding and learning with international partners, thereby magnifying its impact.

The Agency collaborated with international partners to develop intelligence and deliver investigations against the highest-harm cyber criminals. Through the International Cyber Crime Operational Group (ICCOG) and Five Eyes Law Enforcement Group (FELEG) and key European partners, the Agency provided a coordinated, strategic Law Enforcement response to priority cybercrime threats across member nations.

Case study: The Agency delivered an international disruption campaign targeting LockBit, the world’s most harmful cybercrime group. The Agency infiltrated the group’s network, and took control of LockBit’s services, compromising their entire criminal enterprise. LockBit ransomware attacks targeted thousands of victims around the world and caused losses of billion of pounds in ransom payments and in the cost of recovery. The group provided ransomware-as-a-service to a global network of hackers or ‘affiliates’, supplying them with the tools and infrastructure required to carry out attacks.

The NCA took control of LockBit’s primary administration environment, which enabled affiliates to build and carry out attacks, and the group’s public-facing leak site on the dark web. The content on this site was replaced with information designed to discredit the group and damage trust in its services. The Agency also obtained LockBit platform’s source code and a vast amount of intelligence from their systems about their activities and those who had worked with them and used their services.

The Agency worked closely with domestic partners, the South-West Regional Organised Crime Unit and Met Police, and internationally the FBI, and a number of international law enforcement partners to covertly investigate LockBit as part of a dedicated taskforce called Operation Cronos. LockBit’s supporting infrastructure, based in a number of countries, was seized by members of the Op Cronos taskforce, and 28 servers belonging to LockBit affiliates were also taken down.

In wider action, coordinated by Europol, two LockBit actors were arrested in Poland and Ukraine, thousands of criminal online accounts closed and over 200 cryptocurrency accounts linked to the group were frozen. The US also unsealed indictments against two Russian nationals for conspiring to commit LockBit attacks. The Agency obtained over 2,500 decryption keys and proactively contacted all UK-based victims to offer support and help them recover encrypted data. It also assited Europol and the US to support thousands of victims internationally. The primary actor behind the group has now been indicted by the US and sanctioned by UK, US and Australia, showing that law enforcement will be relentless in targeting major cybercrime groups.

The Agency degraded the threat from Lockbit by destroying the credibility of the brand, creating distrust within the criminal community, with a reduction in global LockBit hackers by around 65%. Our domestic focus also enabled us to reduce UK Lockbit victims by 69%, reducing further harms and protecting the UK.

Fraud

Context (1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023)

Fraud remains the most common crime in the UK. According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales, an estimated 37% of all crimes experienced by the public are fraud - a total of 3.08 m offences in the year ending December 2023.This represents a 16% reduction on the previous year (December 2022).

The true picture of UK fraud is complex; overall volumes of fraud appear to be dropping while reports of some high harm fraud types including romance and investment fraud are rising.

Over 70% of all fraud offences in the UK have ties to overseas criminals, and over 89% are cyber-enabled. Recognising this evolving landscape of fraud, the NECC has driven three shifts in the law enforcement response:

a more proactive intelligence-led response to identify and disrupt criminal networks, with the establishment of the Fraud Targeting Cell (FTC) to triage and develop all source intelligence leads;
a focus on the overseas nature of the threat, and the development of operational partnerships in the US, Europe and West Africa;
more coordinated operational efforts to target the intersection between fraud and cyber crime. This includes working with partners to direct operational efforts against the criminals using technology to deliver fraud on an industrial scale, developing a strategy to target both the criminals themselves and the trust they have in the online crime services they are using.

Headlines (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

The Agency pivoted significantly towards higher impact disruptions, including targeting the pillars of the online criminal ecosystem that lower the barrier to entry for fraudsters. In 2023-24, the NCA delivered 24 disruptions against high-harm fraud threats (2022-23: 10). As a result, the number of major and moderate disruptions against high harm fraud threat types increased by 140% . The NECC also coordinated and drove a comprehensive system response, including intensifications such as HENHOUSE III. To ensure continued momentum and focus, the newly established multi-agency Fraud Targeting Cell (FTC) aims to provide and enrich intelligence from a variety of sources, doing so through enhanced data analysis and insights provided by a range of stakeholders.

Case study: Operation Henhouse is a multi-agency effort led by the NCA’s National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) and the City of London Police to crack down on fraud in the UK.

For the first time, the action involved collaboration between all UK police forces and regional organised crime units, as well as regulators and other agencies. Approximately £600k of funding was made available to support the operation which ran across February and March 2024. The operation resulted in 438 arrests, 211 voluntary interviews, 283 cease and desist notices, account freezing orders of £5.1m and seizures of cash and assets worth £13.9m.

Illicit finance and money laundering

Context (1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023)

The UK’s relatively vibrant and open economy continues to be attractive to those wanting to launder the proceeds of crime.

The threat continues to evolve; in addition to ongoing exploitation of cash, UK corporate structures and the UK banking sector, we see rises in the misuse of crypto assets and non-banking payment services such as E-money institutions to move illicit finance.

The NECC continues to work with public and private sector partners to better understand the threat, direct the operational response, and identify changes to legislation and other potential enhancements to the UK’s response.

Headlines (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

A particular focus has been support for, and initial implementation of, associated actions under HMG’s Economic Crime Plan 2 and the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA). This includes integration of Companies House (CH) into law enforcement governance and upskilling of CH staff on illicit finance risks and intelligence best practice.

These actions included:

shaping proposals for enhanced data sharing with banks, and system prioritisation to focus collective efforts where they will have greatest impact on the threat;
the development of a professional enabler strategy, which sets a framework for the law enforcement, regulatory supervisor, and private sector response to the threat from the professional enablers who facilitate money laundering;
creation of an NCA crypto strategy - a system-wide theory of change with the FCA to drive the system response to laundering via crypto, and the establishment of a new public private crypto forum to facilitate data sharing and co-operation.
agency asset-denial operations led to a greater value of criminal assets being seized, frozen and restrained (totalling over £230m this financial year – an increase of 27% against the three-year baseline).
the NCA delivered an increase in its highest value disruptions against the illicit finance threat, achieving 68 in 2023-24 - a 6% increase from the previous year. This included greater focus on disrupting those that provide money laundering as a service to high harm criminal networks and corrupt elites.

Case study: Two men who were members of an OCG which laundered over £12 million of UK criminal cash were sentenced in February 2024 following an NCA investigation.

Following their arrest in September 2023, mobile devices were recovered from their properties which showed the lead role they played in coordinating the movement of illicit funds. The men directed cash couriers to collect cash in the UK and Ireland derived from a range of serious and organised crime activities. Some of this cash was domestically redistributed, exchanged for cryptocurrency or made available to other OCGs by smuggling it across UK borders.

Both men pleaded guilty to two counts of money laundering, receiving sentences of five years, and five years and seven months respectively. Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) proceedings to recover their criminal proceeds are ongoing.

National capabilities

The Agency continued to deliver against the Home Secretary’s strategic priority 1, to lead the UK serious and organised crime system. This included the delivery of specialist capabilities and services where best done nationally for the benefit of all UK law enforcement.

Major Crime Investigative Support (MCIS)

The Agency’s MCIS Unit provides front line policing with information, advice and support in relation to major crime investigations and supports vulnerable victims and witnesses. MCIS provides a single point of contact for police forces and law enforcement agencies, and a number of critical operational services including the Witness Intermediary Team (WIT on behalf of the MOJ); the Forensic Medical Advice Team (FMAT) for medical areas/ experts; the Crime Team, which also includes the Expert Advisers Database (EAD) for a range of forensic specialists and experts; Specialist Witness Team (SWT) experienced in interviewing vulnerable victims, witnesses and suspects; the Research Team for shared learning and operational good practice; the Expert Evidence Team (EET) for firearm and drug trafficking cases; and the deployable assets of the regional teams including national advisers for suspect behaviour; clinical psychology; geography; search; suspect, victim and witness interview; missing people; forensics; and digital media as well as strategic and tactical investigative support. These functions are specialist and unique within the NCA for major crime investigations.

MCIS, EET and SWT supported approx. 12,636 cases between 1 April 1 2023 and 31 March 2024. It has been the busiest year for EET, with a total of 378 cases and evidenced criminal benefit of £431 Million.

Serious Crime Analysis Section (SCAS)

SCAS received 4,865 notifications of SCAS criteria cases (mainly stranger rape, attempted rape, or sexually motivated murder) from UK police forces. Direct analytical support has been provided to 241 cases across the UK, 76% of which included the provision of potential lines of enquiry (potentially linked cases, nominals of interest).

UK Missing Persons Unit (UKMPU)

The UK Missing Persons Unit is the National and International point of contact for all missing person and unidentified remains cases. The unit has national over-sight of missing person cases and is able to provide cross matching services for police forces, providing case resolution and expert advice. Processing over 12,000 cases this year, the team have located/identified 64 individuals who would have remained unaccounted for without the input of the unit. The UKMPU also investigates cases referred in from the International Child Abduction Unit (ICACU) and is responsible for locating 74 children, reported missing in another Hague Convention country, this reporting year alone. The unit manages the database of unidentified remains and provides specialist advice and support to law enforcement.

An example of the work of the UKMPU is when an unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Child (UASC) had been reported missing from their accommodation from the South East. All efforts by the local police force to trace the male had been negative. UKMPU completed extensive open source, identifying videos on social media in which vehicle registration details were visible. Enquiries then located the car wash, in another force area, where the vehicle was registered. Subsequent enquiries located the male at the address identified.

Joint International Crime Centre (JICC)

April 2024 presents the first anniversary of the Joint International Crime Centre (JICC), a 24/7 service that was set up through the merger of NCA and NPCC teams. The JICC leads and coordinates law enforcement cooperation that prioritises and responds to operational requirements of domestic and international partners. It delivers improvements in policing and the broader criminal justice system by equipping its officers, policing and wider law enforcement, with the tools, skills and insights to tackle crime with an international dimension. In its first year, the JICC met its commitment to maintain services to policing during the transition, making improvements to structures and processes, wherever possible.

Through the Prüm Treaty, the UK is able to compare DNA and fingerprint information with European Partners on a daily basis. The JICC Prüm Team have worked extensively across policing to increase the awareness of this capability, which now provides access to 95% of European criminal DNA holdings.

In November 2023, the JICC Prüm Team was able to identify and link an individual to 23 burglaries in the UK, through DNA samples taken when they were arrested in Europe. Without this work, UK police would not have been able to identify this individual.

This year the JICC will play an important role in supporting the UK’s hosting of the INTERPOL General Assembly. At this event, 196 member countries will come together for one common goal – to tackle criminal threats and risks worldwide.

The JICC will also continue to implement an improved operating model which will shorten the distance between frontline law enforcement and the NCA’s international capabilities. This will be underpinned by a new case management system, which will automate manual administrative processes, and, as a result, our officers will be able deliver an enhanced service to policing and the public.

Child Sexual Exploitation Referral Bureau (CSERB)

CSERB are a critical national intelligence function supporting the Agency’s fight against online Child Sexual Abuse (CSA). Acting as the gateway for online CSA reporting, referrals are received from well-known electronic service providers (ESPs) such as TikTok, Meta and X (formerly Twitter) via the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

CSERB Officers assess these referrals, some of which contain Indecent Images of Children (IIOC) prior to dissemination to partners. This work is absolutely vital to our mission to safeguard victims of CSA and identify offenders. We assess that viewing IIOC online increases the risk of offenders going on to commit contact abuse of children. Many of law enforcement’s most successful CSA operations against the highest harm offenders originate from a single NCMEC referral.

United Kingdom Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU)

The UKFIU has national responsibility for receiving, analysing, and disseminating intelligence submitted through the Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) regime to share with law enforcement agencies domestically and internationally. It sits at the heart of the regime, providing the gateway to reporters and a repository of data to inform law enforcement. The UKFIU make this data directly available to most of UK Law Enforcement through our SARs IT platforms.

The UKFIU has both statutory (Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, Terrorism Act 2000, Money Laundering Regulations 2017) and international (Egmont and Financial Action Task Force (FATF)) obligations to fulfil; Egmont is a global body of 177 FIUs, of which the UKFIU is a founding member, and FATF is an intergovernmental organisation that sets global standards for national Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing regimes.

Illicit finance and money laundering underpin and enable most forms of organised crime. This activity allows criminals and terrorists to further their operations and conceal their assets, which impacts the national security of the United Kingdom. SARs are reports from financial institutions and other professionals which alert law enforcement to potential instances of money laundering or terrorist financing. For the 2021-22 financial year, the UKFIU received over 900,000 SARs from over 5,000 organisations, providing law enforcement with millions of pieces of intelligence.

The Proceeds of Crime Centre (PoCC)

The Proceeds of Crime Centre (PoCC) discharges DG NCA’s statutory obligation to provide a system of training, accreditation, and monitoring of Financial Investigators. This is set out in Section 3 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The Financial Investigation Support System (FISS) enables the PoCC to deliver this function, and gives registered users access to a Case Law database, official court templates, discussion forums, regularly updated news items, and a resource library of information and guidance around all aspects of financial investigation. PoCC designs, develops, delivers, and maintains a broad range of training products and continuing professional development activities for the national law enforcement community to ensure the highest possible standards in financial investigation and asset recovery.

Devolved administrations

The Agency maintained its successful collaboration with law enforcement partners in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In 2023-2024, it targeted organised crime with the greatest impact on local communities. This resulted in significant disruptions in Scotland and Northern Ireland. There are many more disruptions undertaken by the Agency which benefit the whole of the UK, including Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Scotland

Agency activity has led to 276 disruptions that have had an impact in Scotland. This included 39 disruptions against high impact organised criminal groups or their enablers, in line with the Agency’s overall ambition to increase its performance against the highest harm crime. This included:

Officers from the Organised Crime Partnership (OCP) Scotland arrested a male in relation to his use of hardened secure communications and activity related to SOC. The OCP Scotland is an operational collaboration between the National

Crime Agency and Police Scotland targeting those causing the greatest harm and impact to Scottish communities. The arrest was supported by evidence provided through Operation Venetic; the NCA led response to the international takedown of the Encrochat encrypted communications platform. Utilising this evidence OCP Scotland investigators were able to establish the man had used an Encrochat enabled device to communicate with others, later targeting commercial and domestic properties and setting them on fire. Once arrested, the male was later charged with two offences of wilfully setting fire to a residential and commercial property and one charge of conspiring to set fire to various properties and motor vehicles. In May 2024 at Hamilton Sheriff Court, he was found guilty and subsequently sentenced to 3 years imprisonment.

Following a trial at Stirling High Court on Monday 19 February 2024, a 52-year-old Albanian national was found guilty of producing and supplying drugs and jailed for eight years. The investigation by the NCA and Police Scotland, identified him as a senior figure in an OCG responsible for running cannabis farms across Scotland.

Officers from the joint OCP (Scotland) evidenced him attending two properties in Glasgow and Harthill before moving in to raid the first site in Glasgow that contained more than 350 cannabis plants and sophisticated systems for planting, growing and irrigation. A similar set up was found at the second location in Harthill, containing a further 150 plants. NCA experts valued the combined haul of cannabis at more than £300,000. Following the raids he fled the UK but returned to Scotland a few months later and was identified living at an address in Stepps, at the time of his arrest.

Northern Ireland

Agency activity achieved 162 disruptions with an impact in Northern Ireland, with 17 categorised as high impact. The Agency led in 120 of these disruptions. We work closely with PSNI in areas including criminal investigations into paramilitary related serious and organised crime, the use of civil recovery powers against such criminals, abuse of the Common Travel Area (CTA), the pursuit of Northern Irish fugitives overseas and the provision of a range of major crime investigative support and specialist capabilities.

Examples of these disruptions include:

Following convictions of all suspects in an investigation into the importation of Class C steroids into the UK the NCA ACE Team have worked closely with partners to realise substantial assets held by the defendant in a variety of crypto-currencies. This resulted in the payments made towards the Confiscation Order valuing over six million pounds. Enforcement activity continues with further crypto currency and asset realisation.
In November 2023, a Paramilitary Crime Task Force investigation into the alleged criminal activities by members of South East Antrim UDA, led to the arrest of five persons. A further suspect was later arrested and all six persons have now been charged with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and possession with intent to supply Class A and B drugs.

Enabling and operational capabilities

Operational capabilities

Integrated Communications Intelligence (ICI)

Over the last year Integrated Communication Intelligence (ICI) has implemented new collection capabilities which have significantly enhanced the Agency’s ability to target those operating upstream, overseas, and online. These new capabilities, complementing existing collection, have enabled ICI to achieve significant operational results and have been used to successfully target the full range of NCA serious and organised crime threats including insider corruption at the UK Border, firearms supply, fraud, drug importation and money laundering and has supported NPCC activity against serious and organised crime and Major Crime.

ICI has dynamically targeted high-risk CSA offenders. The ability to target such offenders at increased volume and pace has led to frequent and substantial arrests, the unique insight provided by ICI has also improved identification of evidential opportunities from digital devices used by these individuals to moderate, share and create CSA.

ICI’s ability to target High Value Targets involved in the Small Boat equipment supply chains across Europe has been significant in enabling the Agency to tackle those involved in the provision of unseaworthy boats and engines to trafficking OCGs. Intelligence relating to this supply chain has directly contributed to partnership international working to identify and arrest those responsible.

Significant intelligence has also been provided by ICI to target criminals operating upstream whose activity causes direct harm to the UK. Across a number of operations multiple tonnes of Class A and Class B have been seized and the seizure of millions of GBP cash across numerous operations, directed by ICI, have also critically inhibited the supply chains established by these OCGs.

ICI’s capability and development team (IDU) successfully built and deployed the Communications Capabilities Model Office (CCMO), a collaborative working environment that provides NCA and National Policing with unique access to new sensitive capabilities, tooling and skillsets with a view to scaling this approach against all NCA and NPCC High Priority Threat areas and Projects. The environment has already supported sensitive operations as well as offering enhanced tactical and strategic benefit to combatting the OIC Threat

ICI are developing new capabilities making use of machine learning opportunities and is supporting a multitude of future capability initiatives as well as providing significant uplift to day-to-day operational insight and support.

Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)

The Agency continues to strengthen the SARs regime to better prevent and disrupt serious and organised crime.

The SARs Reform Programme has completed its enablement phase and has progressed to the build and delivery stage for the new SARs Digital Service (SDS). This follows on from the successful launch of the two new reporting channels – one Bulk API for large volume submitters and an online portal for all other reporters. Every submission made via these channels improves the structure of our data, allowing for enhanced analysis activities and better exploitation of SARs to help the UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU) and partners keep the public safe.

Over the coming months, the programme team will be developing a service that brings all the legacy tools used by the UKFIU, NCA and law enforcement colleagues into one new cloud application. The SDS will improve efficiency, data security and result in a service that can continue to grow and utilise new technologies, such as machine learning, as they are developed.

Security

Integrated Protective Security has continued to grow as a command and formally launched their Security Improvement Programme to remediate immediate security risks, and improve upon existing capabilities.

In the last financial year, the Agency has transitioned to an Agency-managed Security Operations Centre, following the withdrawal of professional services from the protective monitoring market. As a result this is helping to mitigate the Agency’s highest risk.

In this reporting period the NCA have conducted internal and external corruption investigations across the public and private sector resulting in the convictions of 7 people with a total prison sentence of 59 years 7 months.

Professional standards

In 2023-2024 the Agency’s Professional Standards Unit recorded 22 public complaints and 57 conduct matters.

The number of formally recorded public complaints decreased by 16 (42%) compared to 2022-2023. Of the complaints recorded, 45% were determined as suitable for local resolution.
The number of conduct matters decreased by 9 (14%) compared to 2022-2023. However, following the launch of a Confidential Reporting App as a route for Whistleblowing reporting during Q4, the Professional Standards Unit saw a significant increase in referrals requiring further assessment (101% increase on this time last year), many of which are still ongoing.

Digital, data and technology

The Agency has continued to prioritise its technology transformation activities, reducing technical debt and rolling out more modern tools for our officers. Our officers have been equipped with more up-to-date technology which is allowing us to collaborate, share work more safely and perform many tasks more efficiently. Over £6m of efficiencies have been achieved through commercial savings from our IT suppliers. The Agency continues to improve its management of data, through enhanced assurance activities and upskilling officers, using the Civil Service One Big Thing data learning initiative to further reduce corporate risk. The Agency supported the AI Summit in understanding the impact of artificial intelligence on serious and organised crime threats and the opportunities to exploit AI as part of our mission activities.

Estates (Concordis)

Concordis, the Agency’s Estate’s programme, aims to deliver hubs which contain the full range of Agency capabilities and services across the UK. The hubs will maximise, wherever possible partnerships across law enforcement, regulators and the UK intelligence community. In this Spending Review period we are funded to exit our UK headquarters (Spring Gardens) to move to our future headquarters in Stratford and expand our North West hub.

Concordis made significant progress over the 2023-2024 financial year:

Completed lease negotiations and signed the lease at our future headquarters in Stratford
Procured through an open competition and appointed our construction contractor to complete the design and start the construction fit-out
Completed design, ways of working and operational requirements for Stratford and other SE sites dependent on the exit of Spring Gardens
Started construction to fit-out the expanded North West hub

People

The Agency continues work on its Strategic Workforce Plan which provides a comprehensive view of the future size and shape of the Agency, the skills and capabilities it will need to deliver its mission and its future locations. Against continuing recruitment challenges, and recognising that reform of the end-to-end recruitment system was required to meet the Agency’s resourcing ambitions, Project Hawk-Eagle was established to improve the quality and speed of recruitment, selection and vetting processes. During 2023-24, the Agency advertised 1,758 posts, making 1,197 offers and onboarding 596 officers, resulting in a net annual increase of 168.82 FTE.

To address the challenges that the Agency faces in recruiting and retaining a highly skilled workforce, the Agency has developed a transformational pay business case, which will be submitted to HM Government.

The Agency has launched a new Culture Programme, including its ambition to be truly representative of the community it protects, with ambitions for Female representation of 50%; Ethnic Minority 19.1%; Disability 16.3% and LGB 3.2%. Current representation is Female 46.2%; Ethnic Minority 10.3%, Disability 5.3% and LGB 4%. Improving diversity continues to be a priority for the Agency, and initiatives include continuation of EMPOWER, to support officers from an ethnic minority background to develop and progress; a new Female Senior Leadership Development Programme designed to empower officer development towards Senior Civil Service roles; continued roll-out of Allyship training to equip and encourage officers to actively support and stand up for others, and the launch of the Green Dot campaign, to promote an inclusive ethos and provide practical skills to deal with inappropriate and challenging behaviour.

NCA officers took part in the Civil Service wide People Survey in 2023. The overall engagement index was 57%, a drop of 2 percentage points from the previous year.

To support the development of its management and leadership skills and capability, the Agency has completed the first year of its Management Development Programme, a 12-month programme delivered through a blended solution of digital and practical learning, anchored by in-person workshops. 116 officers completed the full programme in 2023-24, with 394 officers commencing their learning. The Agency plans to accelerate delivery in 2024-25.

This year the Agency has worked across our teams to develop refreshed values which launched on 7 May 2024. These are Agility, Excellence, Integrity, Alliance. These values represent the behaviours and qualities that the NCA needs to be successful in the future.

Sustainability Report

Introduction

The NCA’s sustainability team supports the strategic plans and operational objectives of the NCA, providing professional advice and practicing efficient, effective and compliant environmental/sustainability management.

The NCA’s strategy for sustainability is to improve its performance against the Greening Government Commitments (GGC); the current cycle, with a 2017-18 baseline, ends 31 March 2025. Working towards GGC targets supports the UN Sustainable Development (SD) Goals to eradicate extreme poverty and fight inequality and injustice.

Performance relates to sites for which the NCA has overall responsibility for utilities. Sites where staff co-locate with partners are not included in this report.

Performance is measured against the baseline year for each of the minimum reporting areas (GGC for central government).

Performance Commentary

Mitigating Climate Change: working towards Net Zero by 2050

The NCA are committed to working towards Net Zero by 2050. The Agency have already seen a 36% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions since 2017-18. A Sustainability Strategy was published internally in December 2023 which includes Agency specific targets towards Net Zero using ISO 14001 and ISO 50001 as best practice benchmarks to provide a framework for environmental and energy management. A full Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) of the Agency has been undertaken which will inform further development of the sustainability strategy and delivery plan, and has formed the basis of a climate-related risk register.

In support of the Agency’s ambition to achieve Net Zero by 2050, considerable progress has been made over the last 12 months regarding the roll-out of Electric Vehicles (EVs) and to commence installation of the required charging infrastructure. Additionally, de-carbonisation site surveys have taken place across the entire NCA Estate in efforts to retro-fit low carbon technologies. Furthermore, a Sustainability Forum has been established with officers from all commands across the organisation; the forum acts as a centre point for raising awareness of the NCA’s environmental impact, educating staff, and promoting initiatives to improve our carbon footprint.

Greenhouse gas emissions	Baseline 2017-18	2021-22 Performance	2022-23 Performance	2023-24 Performance
tonnes CO2e Scope 1 and 2	13,492	8,866	8,119	7,613
tonnes CO2e Scope 3 (indirect official business travel)	877	309	457	505
tonnes CO2e International travel	2,537	610	1,741	2,700
tonnes CO2e Total emissions	16,906	9,785	10,317	10,818
Related energy consumption (MWh) Electricity	20,082	18,005	17,835	13,341
Related energy consumption (MWh) Gas & Oil	6,158	7,678	7,332	6,780

The method used to calculate GHG emissions is a standardised government reporting tool which converts energy (kWh) and travel (km) into CO2e.

To ensure consistency, the baseline figures reported match those reported in the GGCs as per Sustainability Reporting Guidance 1.41, 1.32 and 1.35.

Utilities expenditure	2023-24
Electricity	£4,744,363
Gas & Oil	£439,201
Water	£165,890
Total cost	£5,349,454

An overview of financial data in respect of cost of utilities is described. The data is subject to end of year reconciliation by utility providers. Further financial data in respect of cost of energy, utilities and travel are included in Note 4 of the Notes to the Financial Statements contained in Part 3.

The NCA’s target under the GGCs is to reduce overall GHG emissions by at least 43%, and direct GHG emissions by 15%, compared to the 2017-18 baseline. Within the 2021-2025 GGC framework the overall GHG figures do not include international travel. To date, the NCA’s achieved a 44% reduction in total GHG emissions with respect to the GGC target, and an absolute reduction of 36% including international travel, contributing to SD Goals 7, 11, 13 and 15^{[footnote 3]}.

Although total emissions remain well below the 2017-18 baseline, there has been an increase from 2022-23. This is caused by an increase in travel (both domestic and international) which is addressed under ‘Travel’ below.

Electricity consumption continues to fall year on year and now stands at 34% below the 2017-18 baseline. Gas and oil have increased from the baseline directly reflecting the Agency’s growth between 2015-16 and 2020-21. Significant efforts have been made to reduce the Agency’s reliance on gas and oil including encouraging best practise, upgrading to energy efficient technologies, and completely removing gas appliances from one of our covert sites and installing air-source heat-pumps. In addition, expansion at our primary site in the north of England will utilise gas-free buildings. Over the past three years gas and oil usage has fallen and is now only 10% above the baseline, down from 19% last year.

Travel

The GGCs require that HMG reduce domestic flights by 30% from the 2017-18 baseline, and report on international flights. The NCA have reduced domestic flights by 37%.

Between 2020 and 2022 a considerable amount of business travel ceased due to Covid-19 related travel restrictions. Travel has increased compared to 2021-22 and 2022-23 as the Agency resumes in-person operations. International travel is driven by operational priorities, and multinational initiatives which target overseas crime. This activity has a number of external drivers depending on threat area and therefore more difficult to control. Despite acknowledging that a certain level of travel is essential for the NCA to fulfil its operational duties, efforts have been made to reduce travel emissions where possible.

Hybrid working, where roles allow, is part of NCA policy, allowing staff to work from home for a proportion of their contracted hours. We continue to encourage virtual meetings (video conferencing) and our Digital Transformation Programme includes an update to our ICT infrastructure to further enable this. In, addition, we are making changes to the NCA Estate by reducing the number of sites and moving to newer more energy efficient buildings. Consequently, we envisage this will further reduce the emissions we generate from travel and utilities consumption.

The NCA’s Estate, Fleet and Sustainability teams are working together to ensure the appropriate infrastructure is in place to support the de-carbonisation of the fleet. As of 2023-24, 13% of the total fleet, including 52% of the General-Purpose Vehicle (GPV) fleet, is fully Electric^{[footnote 4]}.We anticipate a consequential increase in electricity consumption once on-site charging facilities are fully functioning.

In addition, NCA travel policy has been updated, requiring officers to select their mode of transport with consideration of the environmental impact. In the first instance, officers must opt for an EV, then train, and then only in the absence of a viable alternative, are vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE) utilised.

Scope 3 travel	Baseline 2017-18	2021-22 Performance	2022-23 Performance	2023-24 Performance

Road vehicles (hire) km Internal Combustion Engine (ICE)	879,738	813,776	247,305	95,676
Road vehicles (hire) km electric (hybrid/battery)	-	32,680	33,444	25,103
Air* km UK domestic	1,878,396	388,237	929,931	1,037,809
Air* km Int - short haul economy	8,738,145	1,319,616	4,102,765	5,125,935
Air* km Int - short haul business	318,262	55,934	48,433	46,415
Air* km Int - long haul economy	17,518,822	4,964,859	7,585,174	8,667,928
Air* km Int - long haul premium economy	1,297,979	248,288	885,083	1,239,378
Air* km Int - long haul business	846,369	343,729	390,401	634,489
Air* km International+ economy	-	-	4,570,736	6,888,651
Air* km International+ premium economy	-	-	251,588	177,107
Air* km International+ business	-	-	213,258	404,409
Rail km UK domestic	9,659,487	3,226,559	8,147,899	8,994,804
Rail km international (Eurostar)	128,970	11,517	73,701	143,163
Total emissions	41,266,169	11,405,195	27,478,718	33,480,867

*Air travel:

UK domestic - start and end in the UK

International - short/long haul - international, start or end in the UK International - wholly international, start and end overseas

+Category not recorded prior to 2022-23

Management information (MI) for scope 3 travel is supplied by the Agency’s travel provider. It is apparent that the quality of the MI data has some level of inaccuracy within it, which we are working with the supplier to resolve.

Financial data in respect of cost of energy, utilities and travel are included in Note 4 of the Notes to the Financial Statements contained in Part 3.

Waste

Waste, tonnes	2017-18 Baseline	2021-22 Performance	2022-23 Performance	2023-24 Performance
Non-recycled (landfill)	-	-	-	5
Total reused/recycled	89	82	91	180
Incinerated w/ Energy recovery	249	150	132	106
Incinerated w/o energy recovery	-	-	-	-
Food waste*	-	-	3	3
Total ICT waste recycled, reused and recovered (externally)	11	8	12	13
Total waste	349	240	238	294

*Food waste was not reported separately until 2022. To ensure consistency, the baseline figures reported match those reported in the GGCs as per Sustainability Reporting Guidance 1.41, 1.32 and 1.35.

The GGC waste targets are to:

reduce landfill to less than 5% of overall waste;
increase the proportion of recycled waste to at least 70% of overall waste generated;
meet the consumer single use plastic (CSUP) elimination commitment of 0% CSUP on the government estate by 2020.

In 2023-24, the NCA contracted a new Facilities Management (FM) supplier; it is now evident that our previous FM supplier were not providing wholly accurate reporting around waste disposal. Under the new contract we have obtained more detailed and transparent management information which provides a complete analysis of the Agency’s waste, our waste is also diverted off-site at a mixed recycling facility. As a result, recycling increased from 41% to 62% of overall waste. In addition, un-recyclable materials are incinerated with energy recovery as standard, with a small percentage of waste being diverted to landfill, 1.6%.

CSUP have been removed from the NCA’s food services contract and are being phased out of its cleaning services as viable alternatives are identified.

It is NCA policy and practice to recycle all redundant ICT equipment using Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) approved suppliers. An internal re-use scheme is in place for otherwise redundant furniture, keeping these items from landfill.

Paper

Finite resource consumption: Paper	2017-18 Baseline	2021-22 Performance	2022-23 Performance	2023-24 Performance
A4 reams	5,404	5,454	5,057	5,883

To ensure consistency, the baseline figures reported match those reported in the GGCs as per Sustainability Reporting Guidance 1.41, 1.32 and 1.35.

The GGCs set out a target for HMG to reduce paper consumption by at least 50% by 2025 from a 2017-18 baseline. We have seen an upward trend from the baseline of 8.8%.

A significant portion of the Agency’s work results in legal cases for which there is a requirement to provide hard copy files; this has been exacerbated in recent years as the criminal justice system have changed internal processes to put the onus on prosecuting teams to provide hard copy documentation generating an increase in our paper consumption to meet this additional requirement. Despite these challenges the NCA continues to work to make reductions in other areas by encouraging paper-free working and implementing greater controls on paper usage. As well as working towards reducing paper usage, NCA policy has been updated to remove all virgin paper from the general stationery catalogue, enforcing use of recycled paper only. These measures have ensured we remain <1% of HMG’s total paper consumption.

Water

Finite resource consumption: Water	2017-18 Baseline	2021-22 Performance	2022-23 Performance	2023-24 Performance
m3	41,653	33,582	29,669	25,612

To ensure consistency, the baseline figures reported match those reported in the GGCs as per Sustainability Reporting Guidance 1.41, 1.32 and 1.35. Note: The Agency has no indirect use of water, all water is direct use.

The GGC target is to reduce water consumption by at least 8% from the 2017-18 baseline. Water consumption during 2023-24 was lower than the previous year by 14%, and has been reduced by 39% from the 2017-18 baseline.

Sustainable construction

As part of the Estate Transformation Programme, it is the NCA’s ambition to select sites with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of B or higher, and that are able to achieve net carbon zero in the next few years to meet HMG targets.

Climate Change Adaptation

As part of the Agency’s Sustainability Strategy, an assessment of climate resilience/ adaptation is being conducted to ensure planning and mitigation is incorporated at all levels of the business. Where climate risks are identified, appropriate adaptation actions will be undertaken.

The NCA continues to work towards increasing climate resilience whilst maintaining the operational capacity of the estate. The organisation will continue to assess and manage climate resilience risks to meet current and future infrastructure requirements. In addition, built environment capability requirements will be actioned, supported by the FM contract in maintaining the operational capacity of the estate.

These actions support SD Goals 13 and 15 in addition to supporting the NCA’s performance under the mandated GGC.

Nature Recovery and Biodiversity

The NCA is committed to supporting biodiversity; ensuring habitats are maintained and enhanced in order to create healthy functioning ecosystems. Bird boxes, wildlife habitats and a newt pond are monitored to ensure they are still in use which supports a healthy diverse population of species. Various other wildlife habitats are present for insects and bats so these species can continue to be encouraged and protected.

The NCA is also using the Property Government Functional Standards to track its sustainability approach to the estate it maintains and manages.

Sustainable Procurement

Our procurement strategy principally includes the use of Crown Commercial Service (CCS) framework contracts, and it is subject to the Sustainability Policy which the CCS operates, including Government Buying Standards. This includes procurement of food and catering services which are managed through our FM supplier under the CCS framework. The NCA employs the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 and Procurement Policy Notice (PPN) 06/20 to deliver additional social value benefits through its contracts.

The NCA’s Commercial and Sustainability departments are in the process of implementing a Sustainable Procurement operating procedure in line with the incoming Procurement Act 2023 legislation and ISO 20,400.

Reducing Environmental Impacts from ICT and Digital

The NCA is part way through a Digital Transformation Programme, investing heavily in new and energy efficient technology to enable a more efficient hybrid working model. It is policy and practice to recycle all redundant ICT equipment using Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) approved suppliers and are working towards greater alignment to the Greening Government ICT and Digital Services Strategy.

TCFD-Aligned Disclosure

The National Crime Agency (NCA) has reported on climate-related financial disclosures consistent with HM Treasury’s TCFD-aligned disclosure application guidance which interprets and adapts the framework for the UK public sector. The NCA has complied with the TCFD recommendations and recommendations disclosures around:

governance (all recommended disclosures);
metrics and targets (disclosures (b)) – see section ‘Performance Commentary’.

This is in line with the central government’s TCFD-aligned disclosure implementation timetable. The NCA plans to make disclosures for Strategy, Risk Management and Metrics and Targets disclosures (a) and (c) in future reporting periods in line with the central government implementation timetable.

Governance – (a) Board’s oversight

The NCA’s Sustainability Strategy was published internally in December 2023. Progress towards the Strategy’s commissioning requirements, wider Greening Government Commitment targets, and climate-related risk is governed through a tiered system of committees and boards. The first tier is the Business Services Programme Board headed by the Head of Business Services; the board meets monthly to assess climate-related issues via a submission authored by the Sustainability team, this includes review of utility and project budgets. Identified risks and issues are then escalated to the Estates Committee chaired by Director Corporate Business Services and Chief Financial Officer, who is also the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for Sustainability.

The NCA’s climate-related risk register is owned by an independently accredited risk management practitioner and an escalation process is in place up to an executive level through the Agency’s Performance Assurance and Risk (PAR) team, the Audit Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC) and Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA).

Governance – (b) Management’s role

The NCA has assigned climate-related responsibilities to management-level positions as outlined in the Sustainability Strategy and related guiding policy. Management are informed of, and manage, climate-related issues through the channels described above ((a) Board’s oversight).

Governance Structure

Director General - has a statutory duty of care for compliance with legislation, including but not limited to the GGCs and UN SDGs.

Director General Capabilities - has a strategic responsibility for the NCA infrastructure, to deliver efficiency programmes and to approve associated policies, which meet the requirements of statutory obligations and regulations.

Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) - has responsibility for meeting and delivering against GGC targets and complying with legislation. As part of this role there is a requirement to frame the challenge within a corporate strategy.

Sustainability Team - are responsible for delivering against the SRO’s objectives and the NCA Sustainability Strategy.

NCA Officers and Contractors - All officers and contractors are responsible, whilst using NCA resources, for minimising any adverse environmental impact they might have.

Graeme Biggar CBE

Director General, NCA

19 July 2024

Question 3

Part 2 - Accountability Report

Accepted Answer

Statement of Accounting Officer’s responsibilities

Under the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000, HM Treasury has directed the NCA to prepare a Statement of Accounts for each financial year in the form and on the basis set out in the Accounts Direction. The accounts are prepared on an accruals basis and must give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the NCA and of its income and expenditure, Statement of Financial Position and cash flows for the financial year.

In preparing the accounts, I, as the Accounting Officer am required to comply with the requirements of the Government Financial Reporting Manual and in particular to:

Observe the Accounts Direction issued by the Secretary of State with the approval of HMT, including the relevant accounting and disclosure requirements, and apply suitable accounting policies on a consistent basis;
Make judgements and estimates on a reasonable basis;
State whether applicable accounting standards as set out in the Government Financial Reporting Manual have been followed, and disclose and explain any material departures in the financial statements;
Prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis; and
Confirm that the Annual Report and Accounts is fair, balanced and understandable and take personal responsibility for the Annual report and Accounts and the judgements required for determining that it is fair, balanced and understandable.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department has appointed me, the Director General, as Accounting Officer of the NCA. The responsibilities of an Accounting Officer, including responsibility for the propriety and regularity of the public finances for which the Accounting Officer is answerable, for keeping proper records and for safeguarding the NCA’s assets, are set out in Managing Public Money published by the HMT.

As the Accounting Officer, I have taken all the steps that I ought to have taken to make myself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the NCA’s auditors are aware of that information. So far as I am aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the auditors are unaware.

I maintained effective governance arrangements during financial year 2023-2024 which comply with the relevant sections of Cabinet Office Guidelines.

Details of Audit

The NCA’s accounts are audited by the National Audit Office (NAO) on behalf of the Comptroller and Auditor General. The audit fee for 2023-2024 was £161,000, an increase of £2,000 from 2022-2023. No remuneration was paid to the NAO for non-audit work.

Complaints to the Parliamentary Ombudsman

The Ombudsman’s remit for the NCA is to look into complaints of the NCA not acting fairly or where the NCA has given a poor service and not put things right. There were no complaints made in 2023-2024 to the Parliamentary Ombudsman in relation to the NCA or its staff.

There were two personal data related incidents formally reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) during 2023-24.

Governance Statement

The Governance Statement details the NCA’s governance framework and risk management process, and how both have been used to manage the risks and challenges the Agency faced in 2023-24. In the preparation of the Governance Statement, I, as Accounting Officer, have been supported with:

insight into the organisation’s performance provided by the Government Internal Audit Agency;
feedback from directors with delegated responsibility for the use of the Agency’s resources, responses to risk and management of information;
the views of the Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee (ARAC).

As Accounting Officer, I maintained effective governance arrangements during the year.

I, along with other Board members, am responsible for sound financial management and ensuring that appropriate controls are in place. The NCA’s governance framework is in line with HMT and Cabinet Office best practice, as set out in Corporate Governance in Central Government Departments: Code of Good Practice (The Code) 2017.

Directors’ report

NCA Board	Date appointed	Contract end date
Director General – Graeme Biggar	5 October 2021	14 August 2027
Director General (Strategic Projects) – Steve Rodhouse	25 June 2018
Director General (Capabilities) – Claire Smith	13 June 2022	12 June 2025
Director General (Operations) – Robert Jones	1 November 2021
Director General (Threats) – James Babbage	24 June 2023	23 June 2025
Chief Financial Officer – Jacqui Smillie	1 June 2021	31 May 2024
Non-executive Director – Mary Calam	4 July 2019	27 July 2024
Non- executive Director – David Horncastle	4 July 2019	5 December 2023
Non- executive Director – Andrew Tivey	29 July 2019	27 July 2024
Non- executive Director – Sir Jonathan Stephens	21 February 2022	3 July 2025

Additional board information

Director Legal attends NCA Board meetings as Legal Advisor
Director Strategy attends the NCA Board meetings as Secretary
A Home Office representative attends NCA Board meetings as an observer
An NCA trade union representative attends the NCA Board meetings as an observer

Register of interests

The NCA Board members were given an opportunity to declare new or ongoing private interests as at April 2024; none were deemed relevant (in terms of actually conflicting, or being perceived to conflict with, their NCA duties). The register of declared interests may be subject to internal and external audit.

The Professional Standards Unit has effective controls around the application, evaluation, approval and recording of outside interests (business interests, secondary employment and political activity), which are supported through clearly documented policies and procedures. This is reinforced through prevention communications and induction training for all new officers. The assurance process is applicable to all officers, including those at Senior Civil Service (SCS) grades. SCS applications are considered by the Deputy Director of IPS to ensure that outside interests do not present conflicts of interest. The NCA are required to report all SCS secondary employment and can be found here. In line with the Civil Service Code, failure to abide by the NCA policies and procedures can lead to formal disciplinary action. This is up to and including a final written warning for misconduct cases, and up to and including summary dismissal for cases of gross misconduct.

Governance framework

In summer 2022, the Agency undertook a detailed external review of its governance arrangements, and has continued to implement and embed its recommendations throughout 2023-24. This year, significant changes have included the establishment of a Performance Committee (a sub-committee of the Executive Committee (ExCo) that supports and directs the setting of the NCA’s yearly performance ambitions and seeks to understand and mitigate issues with delivery of those); substantively revised terms of reference for the Security & Standards Committee; and detailed consideration of the role ethics plays across NCA governance.

The NCA commissioned an external review of its overall ethics approach and provision, resulting in several substantive discussions around next steps by both ExCo and the NCA Board. The Independent Advisory Group on Ethics (IAGE) was disbanded in October and at the same time ExCo agreed a number of interim measures to bolster ethics provision whilst the Agency scoped a longer-term proposal. In March 2024, ExCo agreed the scope of a new Ethics Counsellor role, and approved a two-year pilot of ethics experts’ panels (drawn from outside the Agency) and the phased implementation of a new ethics forum and champion network - recognising the cultural importance of having a space to shape the NCA’s ethical positions as well as an outlet for staff.

The Agency’s governance approach provides an auditable, managed system for executive decision-making, via a committee and sub-committee structure, and by having clear lines of responsibility via individual senior management and leadership teams. The governance of the Agency, including the Executive Committee and the NCA Board, complements the NCA Code of Ethics and the Civil Service Code. The work of sub-committees is a formal part of the Agency’s governance structure and therefore adheres to the same standards and processes; sub-committees are expected to report to their parent committee on a regular basis and to escalate matters as necessary.

All governance meetings operate with a minimum attendance quorum to ensure a diverse range of contributions are received. Information is received and considered from across the Agency, and from external sources, that is reviewed in advance to ensure decisions are made with the most accurate and relevant information.

The Agency has adopted Government Functional Standards (GFS) in accordance with guidance from the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury. GFS are implemented across the Agency according to how the standards are met in practice.

NCA Board

The NCA Board is chaired by the Director General (DG) NCA and usually holds a minimum of 6 meetings per year plus at least one away day to consider long-term strategy or complex issues and to further develop the relationship between executives and non-executives
At 31 March 2024, the Board had a gender composition of 33% women and 67% men

The Board supports DG NCA to ensure the long-term health and success of the Agency. In line with the NCA’s Framework Document, the Board has 5 main areas of focus: strategic clarity, commercial sense, talented people, results focus and management information.

The Board engaged in regular discussion of the NCA’s culture plans, including progress against actions arising from the People Survey and creation of a Strategic Workforce Plan.
The Board engaged in detailed discussion of benefit realisation and assurance, and how these were being utilised to ensure investment drives tangible operational performance.
In October 2023, the Agency determined that the next annual Board Effectiveness Review (BER) did not need to take place, having been sufficiently covered by the 2023 governance review (see below)
The Board has two sub-committees: Audit and Risk Assurance Committee and the Senior Talent and Appointments Panel

Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC)

ARAC is chaired by the Non-executive Director, Andrew Tivey and usually holds a minimum of 4 meetings per year
At 31 March 2024, ARAC had a gender composition of 33% women and 67% men
ARAC supports DG NCA (as Accounting Officer) and the NCA Board to ensure that the Agency has effective arrangements for governance, risk management and internal control
ARAC takes care to maintain its independence and objectivity, to act as the conscience of the NCA and to provide insight and strong constructive challenge to the Agency where needed
As well as regular scrutiny of the Agency’s position and arrangements for finance, assurance, audit and risk, the ARAC has engaged in deep dives of key corporate risks such as Workforce; has discussed Portfolio governance and the establishment of the Agency’s new Investment Management Office (IMO); and engaged in detailed consideration of the Agency’s risk appetite and the Annual Report and Accounts. The National Audit Office facilitated a review of NCA ARAC’s effectiveness this year. The review indicated that the committee met most standards but improvements could be made inducting new members and supporting them engaging with the business. An action was taken to implement these changes.

Senior Talent and Appointments Panel (STAP)

STAP is chaired by the DG NCA and holds a minimum of 6 meetings per year
At 31 March 2024, STAP had a gender composition of 20% women and 80% men
STAP is responsible for overseeing the management and development of the Agency’s senior leadership talent and appointments
In the 2023-2024 financial year, STAP:
- reviewed the policy on annual leave and pension abatement for incoming appointments to enhance the Agency’s ‘attractiveness’ to a broader range of potential candidates
- gave approval for temporary and permanent senior civil servant roles to deliver on crucial projects and improve the effectiveness of the Agency’s threat mitigation.

Executive Committee

The Agency’s most senior executive governance body is the ExCo, which was established in October 2022.
ExCo is chaired by the DG NCA and usually meets fortnightly
At 31 March 2024, ExCo had a gender composition of 33% women and 67% men
ExCo is the Agency’s principal decision-making body, it supports the DG NCA (as Accounting Officer) to deliver their ambitions for the Agency. It ensures public funds are safeguarded and handled appropriately, and the effective day-to-day management of the Agency
In 2023-2024, ExCo:
- made early decisions regarding the new “shape and size” of the Agency, including approving the creation of a new Strategic Centre and Investment Management Office
- contributed to crucial cultural / people initiatives including the creation of new NCA Values, a refreshed ethical framework and the case for strategic pay reform
- made cross-cutting corporate decisions on business planning in the context of an ever-changing fiscal environment, prioritising development of the Agency’s technology, addressing the Agency’s workforce planning needs and ensuring work against the most critical threats was maintained
- reviewed the Agency’s risk appetite and specific corporate risks
ExCo has 4 subcommittees:
- Finance, Investment and Change Committee
- People Committee
- Performance Committee
- Security and Standards Committee

Finance, Investment and Change Committee (FICC)

FICC is chaired by the DG Capabilities and usually meets monthly.
At 31 March 2024, FICC had a gender composition of 33% women and 67% men.
FICC ensures the Agency’s financial resources are aligned to and delivering the strategic goals of the Agency, it supports ExCo in ensuring the Agency’s safeguarding and appropriate handling of public funds, including value for money.
FICC governs and oversees the programmatic activity within the GMPP and those other that have a significant impact on the Agency. In 2024 the remit will increase to cover and oversight and governance position over all investments delivered by the Agency.
As well as engaging with regular updates on the Agency’s resources and the performance on portfolio and key transformational projects, FICC has endorsed or approved multiple commercial cases, delegated pay budgets to commands, strategies for sustainability and fleet, and revised commercial governance arrangements.

People Committee

The committee is chaired by DG Capabilities and usually meets monthly.
At 31 March 2024, the committee had a gender composition of 43% women and 57% men.
The committee supports the Agency to build and maintain an inclusive culture and a skilled and diverse workforce that is capable of meeting the future threat from serious and organised crime.
In 2023-2024, the committee engaged in detailed consideration of mental health and wellbeing; workforce age; recruitment / onboarding processes; pay and allowances; disciplinary policies; mandatory performance objectives; retention and attrition plan; Psychological Services resourcing; and a strategic workforce plan.

Performance Committee

In January 2023, the NCA disbanded its Performance Forum and created the Performance Committee, a key element of continued improvements to Agency governance – as well as minimising duplication across the committees, the intention was to bring more control, focus and efficiency to performance-related assurance and decision-making.
The committee is chaired by DG Operations and usually meets monthly; it comprises all SCS.
The committee supports the setting of ambitions (encapsulated in the annual Performance Framework) that ensure the Agency rigorously prioritises its mission to protect the public from Serious & Organised Crime. It supports the Agency to increase its prospects of delivering that mission by driving accountability and seeking to diagnose the causes of both performance successes and failures.
In 2023-2024, the committee focussed on meeting Agency ambition targets in a challenging operating environment while encouraging efficiency-saving via pilots. It examined in detail how the Agency tackles High Value Targets; how it records and communicates its performance, including how it should represent major degradations achieved; and the life cycle of an investigation. Its discussions have informed decision-making at other committees on Corporate Risks, recruitment, FTE and funding / finance.

Security and Standards Committee (SSC)

The SSC is responsible for informing ExCo strategy and decision-making on security risk, through the provision of advice on security requirements, regulation, and best practices.
The committee is chaired by DG Operations and meets at least four times a year. Its members include directors and deputy directors from each of the Agency’s operational and enabling functions.
The purpose of the SSC is to support the NCA and its officers to operate safely and securely at all times, whilst maintaining the highest standards of professional behaviour. The Committee supports the Agency to articulate, implement and maintain a clearly defined security posture that is commensurate with the threat, operating environment and the Agency’s overall risk appetite. It is also contributes to the maintenance and review of our exceptionally high ethical standards, to contribute to the culture of the NCA.

Effectiveness Reviews

The Agency utilised the first anniversary of ExCo in October 2023 as a timely opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of changes made to the NCA’s governance following the detailed governance review of summer 2022 and January 2023 BER – and to determine areas for continuous improvement, informed by new desk analysis and stakeholder questionnaires.

The October 2023 governance review determined that the NCA had made significant strides, with unanimous agreement that governance was operating more effectively; committee remits were now more coherent, explicit, and aligned; that ExCo was an overwhelmingly positive addition; that changes to the Board’s remit and the introduction of away days had strengthened relationships and set the forum on the path to being more future-focused and strategic. At the same time, the Agency had clearly retained what it did well previously, with an open and respectful environment enabling constructive challenge and ideas.

Areas identified for continued improvement were intrinsically linked; the golden thread across all was the need for governance to drive greater accountability by senior leaders (also identified by GIAA in its Annual Opinion).

Enterprise Risk Management

The Agency uses an Enterprise Risk Management Framework to ensure risks to delivery and strategy achievements are managed at a level appropriate to their significance. ExCo, as the Agency’s most senior decision-making body, maintains an enterprise view of risk to ensure consistency of approach and that commensurate management plans are in place. Other governance forums review risks relevant to their area of responsibility including the DGs for operations and enabling capabilities and more specialised committees such as Finance Investment and Change Committee (FICC). Risks are also managed across business areas, addressing specific categories of risks.

During the 2023-2024 financial year EXCO took the decision to de-escalate four risks from the corporate risk register – limited availability of psychologists, data utilisation, intelligence failure and partnerships. Limited availability of psychologists was the subject of a clear, targeted mitigation plan to address a backlog of officer assessments and the provision of additional resources. The other de-escalations followed a programme of in-depth corporate risk review workshops where a panel of senior leaders, including Chair of ARAC, CFO and Director Strategy, scrutinised and verified the corporate risk profile in advance of annual business planning. This provided sufficient assurance for a recommendation to EXCO that de-escalation was appropriate now that effective controls were in place and mitigation activity has delivered an improved position. Additionally, as a result of the workshops, the information management & data compliance risk is earmarked for de-escalation following sustained improvement from the controls and mitigations in place and a continued downward trajectory forecast.

Also, during the past financial year ExCo took the decision to adopt three new risks to the corporate risk register – benefits from investment, CSERB demand v resource and Crime & Courts Act statutory functions. The benefits from investment corporate risk highlights the risk of not fully realising the benefits from complex, long-term transformation programmes. The CSERB risk outlines the challenge the Child Sexual Exploitation Referral Bureau (CSERB) faces managing increased demand with the resources it has in place, although there is a comprehensive mitigation plan in place. The third new CR identifies a range of mandatory or good practice reporting and recording functions and activities that the Agency may not be able to sustain; has not fully and consistently complied with in the past; or has not implemented. Elements to mitigate this risk have been prioritised by ExCo during business planning.

ARAC reviews the assurance and risk process, and corporate risks at every meeting and has focussed on ensuring the corporate risks reflect the business planning decisions and the level of risk to be tolerated and that mitigation plans consider the range of options available. During the year ARAC conducted deep dive reviews of the more complex and long-standing corporate risks – penetrating criminal communications, enterprise technical debt, cyber defences and workforce.

2024-2025 NCA key risks

Cyber Defences - the risk the Agency is subject to a major cyber-attack.
Penetrating Criminal Communications - the challenges presented by the evolving communications landscape and the Agency’s ability to keep pace.
Workforce - the risk the Agency is unable to recruit sufficiently and fails to develop and retain an effective workforce.
Enterprise Technical Debt - the risk posed by aging and unsupported systems and applications.
Failure to realise the benefits and objectives of the Agency’s investments – the risk investment delivery does not achieve the required or expected impact.
CSERB (demand v resource) – the risk the Agency Child Sexual Exploitation Referrals Bureau (CSERB) cannot manage current demand.
Disclosure – the risk the Agency is unable to fulfil Disclosure obligations for all investigations.
Information Management & Data Compliance - the risk the Agency fails to adhere to statutory requirements for the management of its information.
Commercial & Assurance – the risk the Agency is unable to conduct and manage compliant commercial activity due to lack of capacity and expertise.
Crime & Courts Act Statutory Functions – the risk the Agency is unable to fully conduct its statutory functions in relation to the recording and monitoring of law enforcement activity.

Mitigation of the corporate risk profile remains dependent on the continued delivery of ongoing programmes, in particular the updating of technology (Digital Transformation Programme) and improvement of existing capabilities. Budgetary constraints mean limited investment for the mitigation of corporate risks although some initiatives will be funded such as the wider rollout of Body Worn Video and the security improvement plan. The Agency continues to face challenges in; recruitment and retention to meet future needs at the scale needed and the delivery of expected benefits from its investment. The management of corporate risks will also require more affordable mitigations such as reallocation of existing resources and the continued improvement of policies and processes.

Projected risk trajectories will continue to be scrutinised in-depth throughout the year to assure the effectiveness of mitigations to manage the corporate risk profile.

Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA)

The GIAA carried out seven audits in 2023-24 covering the most significant risks affecting the NCA. These audits included Strategic Action Plans; Run & Sustain; Cyber Security; Portfolio Benefits; Financial Forecasting; Recruitment; and Asset Denial. Director-led action plans are in place to respond to the findings of each report.

The GIAA provided a moderate annual assurance opinion in 2023-24 on the overall adequacy and effectiveness of the Agency’s framework of governance, risk management and control, taking account of the results of previous assurance and the work of other providers.

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS)

In 2023-24, HMICFRS inspected the NCA’s National Data Exploitation Capability (NDEC) and the role it plays in tackling serious and organised crime. A second phase of the Vetting and Anti-Corruption inspection was also undertaken with HMICFRS examining how well the NCA helps police forces and other law enforcement bodies to identify and tackle corruption. The overall quality of our work with partners was recognised, whilst also noting areas where capacity and capability may be strengthened. Additionally, NCA has participated in a HMICFRS consultation exercise providing expertise to inform and improve their programme of National Child Protection Inspections (HMICFRS).

National Audit Office (NAO)

The NAO conducted an audit of Agency accounts for the year 2023-2024 and the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) delivered an unqualified audit opinion in July 2024. The Agency also provided data to the NAO for the Homes for Ukraine initiative, and provided a survey response for the NAO report on the Use of AI in Government.

Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)

An interim progress review of the ‘Information Management’ audit including records management, training and awareness was undertaken by the ICO in July 2023. A final review was completed in February 2024 which recognised progress made and concluded that no further reviews were required.

Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA)

In December 2023 the IPA awarded the Suspicious Activity Reporting (SARS) Reform Programme a ‘Green’ rating and the NCA Transformation Portfolio Stage Gate 0 Strategic Assessment was rated ‘Amber’. IPA recommended that both of these programmes should be removed from the Governments Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP).

Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office (IPCO)

The IPCO carried out six annual inspections in 2023-24 (2022-23: five) covering specialist areas of compliance with legislation and guidance and an interim progress review. The annual inspections covered NCA compliance with the Principles relating to the detention and interviewing of overseas detainees and passing/receiving intelligence on detainees, and the Agency’s continued compliance with legislation covering the acquisition of communications data, the use and management of covert surveillance, the use of covert human intelligence sources and property interference, targeted intercept and targeted equipment interference. Each of these IPCO inspections now includes a data assurance aspect regardless of the subject area under review. Through these reviews, the IPCO found the NCA to be acting lawfully and for the correct statutory purposes.

Recommendations and observations from the annual IPCO inspection on Covert Surveillance, Property Interference & CHIS are being addressed in order to maintain compliance with safeguarding requirements and codes of practice. A “good deal of progress” was reported and the Agency was able to utilise the full range of covert tactics available under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and the Police Act 1997. This will support current controls acting to reduce the Information Management Corporate Risk.

UK Accreditation System (Forensics)

The NCA maintained accreditation for the conduct of crime-scene and laboratory-based forensic operations as a result of two inspections in May and July 2023 under International Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation (ILAC) G19, ISO 17025 and ISO 17020 as mandated by the Forensic Science Regulator, alongside additional scope extensions.

Remuneration and staff report

Certain disclosures within this remuneration and staff report are subject to audit. Audited sections are noted individually.

Remuneration policy

Senior management salaries were based on recommendations of the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB), an independent body providing advice to the Prime Minister and others on senior civil servants’ salaries.

Further information about the Review Body can be found here.

Remuneration (including salary) and pension entitlements

The following sections provide details of the remuneration and pension interests of the board members.

National Crime Agency 1 April 2023 – 31 March 2024

Remuneration (salary, non-cash benefits and pension) (audited)

Where an individual has only served for part of the year, the full-year equivalent salary is reported in brackets. These figures represent the values for the full year.

Single total figure of remuneration (audited)

Date appointed – appointment end	2023-24 Salary and allowances £ 000	2022-23 Salary and allowances £ 000	2023-24 Bonuses £ 000	2022-23 Bonuses £ 000	2023-24 Pension benefits £ 000 *	2022-23 Pension benefits £ 000 *	2023-24 Total £ 000	2022-23 Total £ 000
Director General, Graeme Biggar (i ^) 5 October 2021	170-175	160-165	-	-	-	40	n/a	200-205
Director General – Strategic Projects, Steve Rodhouse (ii) 25 June 2018	190-195	180-185	-	-	118	(46)	305-310	135-140
Director General – Operations, Robert Jones (iii ^) 1 November 2021	160-165	150 - 155	-	-	-	36	n/a	185-190
Director General - Capabilities, Nina Cope (iv) 3 April 2017 - 5 June 2022	-	20-25 (175-180)	-	-	-	18	-	40-45
Director General - Capabilities, Claire Smith (v ^) 13 June 2022	165-170	120-125 (155-160)	-	-	-	-	n/a	120-125 (155-160)
Director General – Threats, James Babbage (vi ^) 26 June 2023	115-120 (155-160)	-	-	-	-	-	n/a	-
Chief Financial Officer, Jacqui Smillie (^) 1 June 2021 – 31 May 2024	140-145	130-135	-	-	-	(27)	n/a	105-110
Non-Executive Directors, Andrew Tivey 29 July 2019 – 27 July 2024	10–15	10–15	-	-	-	-	10–15	10–15
Non-Executive Directors, David Horncastle (vii) 4 July 2019 – 5 December 2023	10–15	10–15	-	-	-	-	10–15	10–15
Non-Executive Directors, Mary Calam 4 July 2019 – 27 July 2024	10–15	10–15	-	-	-	-	10–15	10-15
Non-Executive Directors, Sir Jonathan Stephens 21 February 2022 – 3 July 2025	10-15	10-15	-	-	-	-	10-15	10-15

Notes to Remuneration table:

The value of pension benefits accrued during the year is calculated as: (the real increase in pension multiplied by 20) + (the real increase in any lump sum) - (the contribution made by the individual). The real increase excludes increases due to inflation or any increase or decrease due to a transfer of pension rights.

Accrued pension benefits for these directors are not included in the table above for 2023-24 due to an exceptional delay in the calculation of these figures following the application of the public service pension remedy.

Details of changes to the composition of the NCA Board are given on page 52.

i Graeme Biggar was appointed as Interim Director General NCA on 5 October 2021 until his permanent appointment on 15 August 2022.

ii Steve Rodhouse was appointed as Interim Director General Strategic Projects on 2 June 2023. Before this he held the role of Director General Operations.

iii Robert Jones was appointed as Interim Director General Operations on 2 June 2023. Before this he held the role of Interim Director General NECC.

iv Nina Cope left the NCA on 5 June 2022.

v Claire Smith was seconded from the Ministry of Defence as Temporary Director General Capabilities on 13 June 2022. Claire’s secondment has been extended to 12 June 2025 and her remuneration is disclosed as her contracted secondment salary. Claire’s 2022-23 salary and total remuneration has been restated to remove pension benefits.

vi James Babbage was seconded from the GCHQ as Temporary Director General Threats on 26 June 2023 and his remuneration is disclosed as his contracted secondment salary.

vii David Horncastle left his role as a Non-executive director on 5 December 2023.

Salary and allowances

Salary and allowances includes gross salary, overtime, reserved rights to London weighting or London allowances, recruitment and retention allowances, private office allowances and any other allowance to the extent that it is subject to UK taxation. This report is based on accrued payments made by the Agency and are recorded in these financial statements.

Performance pay or bonuses

Performance pay or bonuses are based on performance levels attained and are made as part of the appraisal process. No performance related pay or bonuses were paid to Board members during 2023-24.

Performance related bonuses are paid in arrears. The bonuses reported in 2023-24 relate to performance in the 2022-23 financial year and the comparative bonuses reported for 2022-23 relate to performance in the 2021-22 financial year.

Notice periods for senior officers

Notice periods for the Director General, Directors General (Operations and NECC), the Chief Financial Officer and Non-Executive Directors are three months. The notice period for the seconded Temporary Director General Capabilities and the seconded Temporary Director General Threats is one month.

Benefits and pension contributions

The pension entitlements of the current senior management team are disclosed below. These are in addition to salaries paid and taxable benefits in kind for travel and the associated taxes paid by the NCA.

Pension entitlements 2023-24 (audited)

Accrued pension benefits for board members (employees and seconded) with Civil Service pension arrangements are not included for 2023-24 due to an exceptional delay in the calculation of these figures following the application of the public service pension remedy.

The figures in the table below are provided by the Agency’s Police Pensions Administrator for those board members with Police Pension Scheme arrangements.

	Accrued pension at pension age as at 31/3/2024 £ 000	Total lump sum at pension age as at 31/3/2024 £ 000	Real increase in pension at pension age £ 000	Real increase in lump sum at pension age £ 000	CETV at 31/3/2024 £ 000	CETV at 31/3/2023 £ 000	Real increase in CETV £ 000
Steve Rodhouse	129	-	7	-	2,911	2,638	171

The non-executive directors are non-pensionable appointments.

Police Pension Scheme

Directors with a police pension are members of the Police Pension Scheme 1987.

The Police Pension Scheme 1987 is a ‘final salary’ scheme. The pension is calculated as a proportion of final average pensionable pay, generally pay in the last year of service as a member of the scheme. The pension received depends on pensionable service, which for most officers will be the length of service in the police force for which they have paid pension contributions, with appropriate adjustments for part-time service. 30 years’ service is required to qualify for the maximum pension. The scheme provides the following benefits:

a maximum pension is two-thirds of average pensionable pay
there is an option to exchange (‘commute’) part of the pension for a lump sum
average pensionable pay is in effect the highest pensionable pay for the three years before retirement
each year of pensionable service for the first 20 years gives entitlement to a pension of 1/60 of final pay and each year for the final 10 years gives 2/60, up to a limit of 40/60.

Seconded directors who are police officers are members of pension schemes managed by their respective police forces.

As part of this scheme, the NCA accepts liability for payment of the pension benefits in respect of the officer’s past service with a police force, although no transfer values are payable from a former employer in respect of this liability, as well as their pensionable service while employed by the Agency. Pension benefits are paid as they fall due from the NCA resources. Pensions paid in the year are charged against the Pension Provision (see Part three and Notes to the accounts). In order to comply with HM Treasury’s Financial Reporting Manual (FReM) and Accounts guidance, the NCA is required to provide in these accounts for the full value of the expected future pensions liabilities of the officers. The NCA has commissioned the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) to value the scheme liabilities as at 31 March 2024 as part of its quadrennial review.

Civil Service pensions

Pension benefits are provided through the Civil Service pension arrangements. From 1 April 2015, a new pension scheme for civil servants was introduced – the Civil Servants and Others Pension Scheme or alpha. This scheme provides benefits on a career average basis with a normal pension age equal to the member’s state pension age (or 65 if higher).

From that date, all newly appointed civil servants and the majority of those already in service joined alpha.

Prior to April 2015, civil servants participated in the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS). The PCSPS has four sections: three provide benefits on a final salary basis (classic, premium or classic plus) with a normal pension age of 60. One provides benefits on a whole career basis (nuvos) with a normal pension age of 65.

These statutory arrangements are unfunded, with the cost of benefits met by monies voted by parliament each year. Pensions payable under classic, premium, classic plus, nuvos and alpha are increased annually, in line with Pensions Increase legislation.

The accrued pension quoted is the pension the member is entitled to receive when they reach pension age, or immediately on ceasing to be an active member of the scheme if they are already at or over pension age. Pension age is 60 for members of classic, premium and classic plus, and 65 for members of nuvos. For members of alpha the pension age is the higher of 65 or state pension age.

Further details about the Civil Service pension arrangements can be found at the website www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk.

Cash equivalent transfer values (CETVs) (audited)

This is the actuarially-assessed capitalised value of the pension scheme benefits accrued by a member at a particular point in time. The benefits valued are the member’s accrued benefits and any contingent spouse’s pension payable from the scheme. A CETV is a payment made by a pension scheme or arrangement to secure pension benefits in another scheme or arrangement when the member leaves a scheme and chooses to transfer the pension benefits they have accrued in their former scheme.

The pension figures shown relate to the benefits the individual has accrued as a consequence of their total NCA and related precursor Agency service, not just their current appointment. CETVs are calculated in accordance with the Occupational Pension Schemes Transfer Values (Amendment) Regulations and do not take account of any actual or potential reduction to benefits resulting from Lifetime Allowance Tax which may be due when the pension benefits are taken. CETVs are calculated using the guidance on discount rates for calculating unfunded public service pension contribution rates that existed at 31 March 2024.

Real increase in CETVs

This reflects the increase in CETVs that is funded by the employer. It does not include the increase in accrued pension due to inflation or contributions paid by the employee (including the value of any benefits transferred from another pension scheme or arrangement), and uses common market valuation factors for the start and end of the period.

McCloud/Sargeant judgment

In December 2018, the Court of Appeal ruled that the ‘transitional protection’ offered to some members of the judicial and fire fighters’ schemes as part of the 2015 Pension reforms amounted to unlawful discrimination.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) liaises regularly with HM Treasury and the Home Office in relation to remedy arrangements. The NPCC has set up a Pension Remedy Working Group which meets on a monthly basis. Representatives from the NCA contribute to NPCC work to understand and mitigate the impact of the remedy across relevant Home Office agencies and departments and help develop common arrangements and policies.

The impact of an increase in scheme liabilities arising from McCloud/Sargeant judgement will be measured through the pension valuation process, which determines employer and employee contribution rates.

In respect of the McCloud Pension case, claimants have lodged claims for compensation under two active sets of litigation, Aarons and Penningtons. Government Legal Department settled the injury to feelings claims for Aarons on behalf of Chief Officers without seeking any financial contributions. Pecuniary loss claims were stayed until the remedy was bought into force on 1 October 2023. The settlement of the injury to feelings claims for Aarons sets a helpful precedent, therefore no liability in respect of compensation claims is recognised in these accounts. As at 31 March 2024, it is not possible to reliably estimate the extent or likelihood of Penningtons claims being successful, and therefore no liability in respect of compensation claims is recognised in these accounts.

Any members affected by the Public Service Pensions Remedy were reported in the 2015 scheme for the period between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022 in 2022-23, but are reported in the legacy scheme for the same period in 2023-24.

The impact of Remedy will affect civil service pensions as well as Police pension members, however, the increase in annual pension payments does not affect the NCA financial statements and therefore no financial impact is included in these accounts. The impact of an increase in annual pension payments arising from McCloud/Sargeant is determined through the Police Pension Fund Regulations 2007. These require a police authority to maintain a pension fund into which officer and employer contributions are paid and out of which pension payments to retired officers are made. If the police pension fund does not have sufficient funds to meet the cost of pensions in year, the amount required to meet the deficit is then paid by the Secretary of State to the police authority in the form of a central government top-up grant. A provision is included in the Police Pension Scheme liability shown in Note 3 of these accounts (page 110). Whilst this ruling will also have a future impact on civil service pensions, no other contingent liability is required in these accounts.

Compensation on early retirement or for loss of office (audited)

No officers left under Voluntary Exit terms during 2023-24 (2022-23: None).

Payments to past directors (audited)

No payments were made to past directors in 2023-24 (2022-23: None).

Fair pay disclosure (audited)

Reporting bodies are required to disclose the ratio between the remuneration of the highest-paid director in their organisation and the median remuneration of the organisation’s workforce.

Year	25th percentile pay and benefits ratio	Median pay and benefits ratio	75th percentile pay and benefits ratio
2023-24	5.0:1 £38,560	4.6:1 £41,347	3.8:1 £50,697
2022-23	5.2:1 £35,016	4.7:1 £38,642	4.0:1 £45,605

Total pay and benefits figures in the table above are the same as total salary.

The banded remuneration of the highest-paid director in the NCA in the financial year 2023-24 was £190-195k, a 5.5% increase from 2022-23 (2022-23: £180–185k). This was 4.6 times (2022-23: 4.7 times) the median remuneration of the workforce, which was £41,347 (2022-23: £38,642). The NCA’s calculation of the median earnings of the workforce (excluding the highest-paid director) and the ratio between this and the highest-paid director was based on full-time equivalent officers as at 31 March 2024, on an annualised basis. The median pay and benefits ratio for 2023-24 reflects the Agency’s commitment to an affordable and inclusive pay and benefits system for all officers.

The average salary change from 2022-23 in respect of the employees of the NCA taken as a whole was an increase of 9.07%.

In 2023-24, no employees received remuneration in excess of the highest-paid director. Remuneration ranged from £15k to £192k (2022-23: £15k to £182k).

No contingent labour costs are included in the median pay calculation. The impact of excluding contingent labour and seconded officers does not have a material impact on the calculation.

Total remuneration includes salary, non-consolidated performance-related pay and benefits-in-kind. It does not include severance payments, employer pension contributions or the cash equivalent transfer value of pensions. The NCA’s median pay included allowances but not overtime

Trade unions

The NCA has in place an employee relations policy that outlines a consultative framework for engaging trade union representatives. There are 3 recognised trade unions and facility time is provided to allow union representatives to take part in industrial relations duties.

In October 2013, the NCA introduced new union facility time arrangements limiting the proportion of the pay bill allocated to paid union facility time to 0.1%, in line with the Cabinet Office Facility Time Framework.

Facility time publication requirements

Effective from 1 April 2020

Table 1 – Trade union representatives

	Full Time Equivalent (FTE) employee number 2023-24	Full Time Equivalent (FTE) employee number 2022-23
Number of employees who were relevant union officials during the reporting period	75	71

Table 2 - Percentage of time spent on facility time

Percentage of time	Number of employees 2023-24	Number of employees 2022-23
0%	5	6
1%-50%	70	65
51%-99%	-	-
100%	-	-

Table 3 - Percentage of pay bill spent on facility time

Percentage of pay on facility time	2023-24	2022-23
Total cost of facility time	£266,034	£225,156
Total pay bill	£367,733,293	£338,959,447
Percentage of the total pay bill spent on facility time	0.07%	0.07%

Table 4 - Paid trade union activities (TUA)


Time spent on paid TUA	No paid TUA. TUA is unpaid except in exceptional circumstances. Only Trade Union duties are paid.

Staff report

Staff costs (audited)

For year to 31 March 2024

	Permanently employed 2023-24 £ 000	Others 2023-24 £ 000	Total 2023-24 £ 000	Total 2022-23 £ 000
Wages and salaries	271,715	27,489	299,204	269,092
Social security costs	29,729	-	29,729	28,402
Pension costs	68,078	-	68,078	60,199
Sub total	369,522	27,489	397,011	357,693
Less recoveries in respect of outward secondments	(946)	-	(946)	(933)
Sub total	368,576	27,489	396,065	356,760
Total service cost net of employee contributions	1,010	-	1,010	2,980
Total net costs	369,586	27,489	397,075	359,740

Pension benefits

Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS)

The PCSPS is an unfunded multi-employer defined benefit scheme in which the NCA is unable to identify its share of the underlying assets and liabilities. A full actuarial valuation was carried out as at 31 March 2020. Details can be found in the resource accounts of the Cabinet Office: Civil Superannuation.

For 2023-24, employers’ contributions of £63.16m were payable to the PCSPS (2022-23: £57.04m) at one of 4 rates in the range 26.6% to 30.3% (2022-23: 26.6% to 30.3%) of pensionable pay, based on salary bands. The scheme’s actuary reviews employer contributions every 4 years following a full scheme valuation. The contribution rates reflect benefits as they are accrued, not when the costs are actually incurred, and reflect past experience of the scheme.

Partnership and stakeholder schemes

Employees can opt to open a partnership pension account - a stakeholder pension with an employer contribution. Employers’ contributions of £1.80m (2022-23: £1.64m) were paid to one or more of a panel of 3 appointed stakeholder pension providers.

Employer contributions are age-related and range from 8% to 14.75% (2022-23: 8% to 14.75%) of pensionable pay. Employers also match employee contributions up to 3% of pensionable pay.

In addition, employers’ contributions of £55.4k (2022-23: £50.8k) of pensionable pay, were payable to the PCSPS to cover the cost of the future provision of lump sum benefits on death-in-service and ill-health retirement of these employees. Contributions due to the partnership pension providers at 31 March 2024 were £2.62m (31 March 2023: £2.32m).

Contributions prepaid at 31 March 2024 were £nil (31 March 2023: £Nil).

In the reporting period, 5 staff (2022-23: 6) retired early on ill-health grounds.

Numbers of Senior Civil Servants (SCS)

NCA’s senior staff grades are analogous to SCS equivalents. Numbers of Senior Civil Servants (or equivalent) by pay band as at 31 March 2024:

SCS grade	NCA equivalent	2023-24 number	2022-23 number
SCS 4	Director General NCA	1	1
SCS 3	Director General - Capabilities	1	1
SCS 3	Director General - Operations	1	1
SCS 3	Director General – Strategic Projects	1	-
SCS 3	Director General – Threats	1	1
SCS 2	Directors	10	10
SCS 1	Deputy Directors	35	26
Total		50	40

Disclosure only includes directly employed Senior Civil Servants, and secondees where occupying a permanent position.

Staff numbers and costs (audited)

The NCA’s total headcount as at 31 March 2024 was 5,987 officers made up of directly employed officers, seconded officers, loaned officers and contingent labour, including employment agency officers and specialist contractors.

At 31 March 2024, the breakdown of officer headcount by gender was as follows:

Staff composition by headcount	Male	Female	Total Headcount
Directors General and Directors	10	5	15
Other Senior Civil Servants	21	15	36
Other Employees	3,213	2,723	5,936
Total*	3,244	2,743	5,987

*This total represents the NCA headcount as at 31 March 2024, including employment agency officers, commercial contractors, seconded officers and officers on career break.

The average number of full-time equivalent (FTE) officers employed during the year was: (audited)

	2023-24 FTE	2022-23 FTE
Permanently Employed (UK employment contract)	5,554	5,377
Other	235	243
Total average number of officers	5,789	5,620

As at 31 March 2024, the NCA had 56 officers attached from other organisations (2022- 23: 58). They are excluded from the above figures as they do not form part of the NCA establishment. The NCA is not charged for the attached officers, who are considered to be working for the benefit of their employers.

Officer turnover

Officer turnover during 2023-24 was 7.5% (2022-23: 9.7%)

Officer sickness reporting

NCA officers were absent on sick leave for an average of 4.8 days per employee during the year to 31 March 2024 (2022-23: 7.3 days).

Staff policies applied during the year

Inclusion, diversity and equality

The NCA is committed to treating everyone with dignity and respect, valuing diversity, working in partnership, and sharing knowledge and best practice.

It seeks to create and maintain an environment which values all officers and respects the contribution they make, and where fairness and equality of opportunity are assured. Inclusion, diversity and equality issues are embedded in strategic planning, policy development and organisational processes.

The NCA aims to provide a positive environment in which everyone feels valued, and where the organisation is open to the experience, insights and skills of people of different age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, race, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity status, and political opinion.

The NCA supports a range of work styles for individual officers, while meeting organisational need. This is reflected by the Agency’s values of Integrity, Agility, Alliance and Excellence.

The NCA is committed to the employment and career development of disabled officers and takes part in the Disability Confident Scheme. The NCA is recognised as a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader. This demonstrates the NCA’s recognition of the value that those with a disability bring and evidences the Agency’s commitment to removing barriers and supporting disabled officers to be successful in the workplace.

The NCA actively ensures that disability is not regarded as a barrier to recruitment or promotion and has a policy of inviting people who have a disability, and who meet the minimum behavioural and technical entry criteria, to interview or assessment. Once in post, disabled officers are provided with any reasonable support or adjustments they might need to carry out their duties.

The NCA works closely with the internal Inclusion, Culture and Engagement (ICE) team, internal diversity groups including the Disability Network Advisory Group (DNAG), and other organisations, to help us to continue to improve and provide support to officers who need it.

Monitoring expenditure on consultancy and temporary staff

The NCA is required to report expenditure during the year on consultancy and the use of contingent labour (temporary staff). This expenditure includes, as separate line items, total consultancy expenditure and contingent labour expenditure incurred.

Temporary (non-payroll) staff

The table below gives the cost of providing contingent labour to cover business as usual or service delivery activities in the Agency.

Temporary staff are employed either through an employment agency or recruitment consultant, and are engaged on an ad hoc or temporary basis to fulfil requirements within established posts or provide cover (for example, for a vacancy, holiday, sickness or additional resource). They can undertake operational or professional roles.

Temporary workers are interim staff at the NCA junior grades. Interim managers include staff at the NCA middle management grades and senior interim staff at director level, where applicable.

Staff seconded to the NCA from other government departments and related arm’s length bodies are excluded from the disclosure as they are not considered ‘non-payroll’.

The use of specialist contractors in 2023-24 was driven by support for the NCA’s transformational programme and contractors engaged to work on externally-funded projects. Externally-funded projects operate on a cost recovery basis. The totals below are shown gross (i.e. not net of any related externally-funded income).

	2023-24 £ 000	2022-23 Restated £ 000
Temporary workers – admin and clerical** Admin and clerical agency staff are normally lower-grade contingent labour who are filling in for a role within the organisational structure	2,824	4,354
Interim managers†$ Middle- to senior-grade staff, concerned with the fulfilment of particular professional functional or senior management positions within the organisational structure	13,414	9,670
Specialist contractors/services (consultants) ^$ Specialists are normally middle to senior grades, used to provide expertise that is not available in-house, fulfilling functional or senior positions within the organisational structure	77,524	70,952*
	93,762	84,976

*Restatement of prior year figures as a result of additional supplier information on specialist contractors.

**This total includes £1.17m (2022-23: £2.82m) expenditure on temporary workers within cost recovered externally-funded special operations.

† This total includes £5.44m (2022-23: £1.19m) expenditure on interim managers within cost recovered externally-funded special operations.

This total includes £41.92m (2022-23 Restated: £26.93m) expenditure on specialist contractors within cost recovered externally-funded special operations.

$ Included in the above is £10.10m (2022-23 Restated: £13.78m) contingent labour expenditure which has been capitalised.

Consultancy

Consultancy expenditure covers the provision to management of objective advice relating to the strategy, transformation, structure, management or operations of the NCA, in pursuit of its purposes and objectives. Such advice will be provided outside the business- as-usual environment, when in-house skills are not available, and will be time-limited.

Resource employed for the purpose of supporting the business-as-usual environment, when in-house skills are not available, but are not expressly contingent labour, are used exclusively for the delivery of services, providing further flexibility to fill unavoidable short-term operating gaps.

For the purposes of disclosure, the NCA classifies such expenditure as Specialist contractors – middle-to-senior grades used to provide expertise that is not available in- house, fulfilling functional or senior positions within the organisational structure, engaged on a short-term basis, although not always provided through an employment agency.

Reporting of high paid off-payroll appointments

The review of tax arrangements of public sector appointees requires the NCA to publish information on the Agency’s highly paid and/or senior off-payroll engagements. In accordance with FReM, this includes staff who are paid more than £245 per day and contracted through an agency relationship.

Table 1 – All off-payroll engagements as at 31 March 2024 for more than £245 per day:

	2023-24	2022-23
Number of existing engagements as at 31 March 2024	85	78
Of which at time of reporting:
Number that have existed for less than one year at time of reporting	40	37
Number that have existed for between one and two years at time of reporting	25	18
Number that have existed for between two and three years at time of reporting	7	15
Number that have existed for between three and four years at time of reporting	7	3
Number that have existed for four or more years at time of reporting	6	5

All existing off-payroll engagements outlined above have been subject to a risk-based assessment as to whether assurance is required that the individual is paying the right amount of tax.

Table 2 - All highly paid off-payroll workers engaged at any point during the year ended 31 March 2024, earning £245 per day or greater:

	2023-24	2022-23
Number of temporary off-payroll workers engaged during the year ended 31 March 2024	122	112
Number assessed as within scope of IR35	115	107
Number assessed as outside scope of IR35	7	5
Number engaged directly (via PSC contracted to department) and are on departmental payroll	-	-
Number of engagements reassessed for consistency / assurance purpose during the year	-	-
Number of engagements that saw a change to IR35 status following the consistency review	-	-

Following the risk-based assessment, no assurance was required from the employment agencies. The NCA had no off-payroll engagements for board members or senior officials with financial responsibility between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024.

Parliamentary accountability and audit report

Statement of Outturn against Parliamentary Supply

This section is subject to audit.

In addition to the primary statements prepared under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the Government Financial Reporting Manual (FReM) requires the NCA to prepare a Statement of Outturn against Parliamentary Supply (SoPS) and supporting notes.

The SoPS and related notes are subject to audit, as detailed in the Certificate and Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General to the House of Commons.

The SoPS is a key accountability statement that shows, in detail, how an entity has spent against their Supply Estimate. Supply is the monetary provision (for resource and capital purposes) and cash (drawn primarily form the Consolidated Fund), that parliament gives statutory authority for entities to use. The estimate details supply and is voted on by parliament at the start of the financial year.

Should an entity exceed the limits set by their Supply Estimate, called control limits, their accounts will receive a qualified opinion.

The format of the SoPS mirrors the Supply Estimates, published on gov.uk, to enable comparability between what parliament approves and the final outturn.

The SoPS contains a summary table, detailing performance against the control limits that parliament have voted on, cash spent (budgets are compiled on an accruals basis and so outturn won’t exactly tie to cash spent) and administration.

The supporting notes include:

outturn by estimate line, providing a more detailed breakdown (Note 1)
a reconciliation of outturn to net operating expenditure in the Statement Of Comprehensive Net Expenditure (SOCNE), to tie the SoPS to the financial statements (Note 2)
and a reconciliation of outturn to net cash requirement (Note 3)

The SoPS and Estimates are compiled against the budgeting framework, which is different to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Further information on the Public Spending Framework and the reasons why budgeting rules are different to IFRS can be found in Chapter 1 of the Consolidated Budgeting Guidance, available on www.gov.uk.

The SoPS provides a detailed view of financial performance, in a form that is voted on and recognised by parliament. The financial review in the Performance report provides a summarised discussion of outturn against estimate and functions as an introduction to the SoPS disclosures.

Summary tables

Summary table, 2023-24

All figures presented in £ 000

	SoPS Note	Outturn Voted	Outturn Non- voted	Outturn Total	Estimate Voted	Estimate Non- Voted	Estimate Total	Outturn Vs Estimate, savings/(excess) Voted	Outturn Vs Estimate, savings/(excess) Total	Prior year outturn total 2022-23 £ 000
Departmental Expenditure Limit - Resource (RDEL)	1.1	667,827	-	667,827	674,912	-	674,912	7,085	7,085	621,270
Departmental Expenditure Limit - Capital (CDEL)	1.2	136,979	-	136,979	140,068	-	140,068	3,089	3,089	105,767
Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) - Resource	1.1	29,125	-	29,125	50,000	-	50,000	20,875	20,875	18,036
Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) - Capital	1.2	1,542	-	1,542	1,583	-	1,583	41	41	309
Total Budget		835,473	-	835,473	866,563	-	866,563	31,090	31,090	745,382
Non-Budget - Resource	1.1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total		835,473	-	835,473	866,563	-	866,563	31,090	31,090	745,382
Total Resource		696,952	-	696,952	724,912	-	724,912	27,960	27,960	639,306
Total Capital		138,521	-	138,521	141,651	-	141,651	3,130	3,130	106,076
Total	835,473	-	835,473	866,563	-	866,563	31,090	31,090	745,382

Figures in the areas outlined in a thick line cover the voted control limits voted by parliament. Refer to the Supply Estimates guidance manual, available on www.gov.uk, for detail on the control limits voted by parliament.

Net cash requirement 2023-24

All figures presented in £ 000

	SoPS Note	Outturn	Estimate	Outturn vs Estimate, Saving/ (excess)	Prior year outturn total 2022-23
Net cash requirement	3	683,991	840,000	156,009	650,921

Administration costs 2023-24

All figures presented in £ 000

Type of spend	SoPS Note	Outturn	Estimate	Outturn vs Estimate, Savings/(excess)	Prior year outturn total 2022-23
Administration Costs	1.1	37,210	38,412	1,202	35,747

Although not a separate voted limit, any breach of the administration budget will also result in an excess vote.

Explanations of variances between estimates and outturn are given under SoPS 3 below.

Notes to the statement of outturn against parliamentary supply 2023-24

SoPS 1 Outturn detail, by estimate line

SoPS 1.1 Analysis of resource outturn by estimate line

Type of spend (Resource)	Resource Outturn Administration Gross £ 000	Resource Outturn Administration Income £ 000	Resource Outturn Administration Net £ 000	Resource Outturn Programme Gross £ 000	Resource Outturn Programme Income £ 000	Resource Outturn Programme Net £ 000	Estimate Total £ 000	Estimate Vire- ments £ 000	Estimate Total including virements £ 000	Outturn vs Estimate savings/(excess) £ 000	Prior year outturn total 2022-23 £ 000
Spending in Departmental Expenditure limit (DEL) Voted: A – National Crime Agency	38,443	(1,233)	37,210	775,437	(144,820)	630,617	667,827	674,912	-	674,912	7,085	621,270
Spending in Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) Voted: B – National Crime Agency	-	-	-	29,125	-	29,125	29,125	50,000	-	50,000	20,875	18,036
Total	38,443	(1,233)	37,210	804,562	(144,820)	659,742	696,952	724,912	-	724,912	27,960	639,306

SoPS 1.2 Analysis of capital outturn by estimate line

Type of spend (Capital)	Outturn Gross £ 000	Outturn Income £ 000	Outturn Net £ 000	Resource Outturn Programme Gross £ 000	Estimate Net Total £ 000	Estimate Vire- ments £ 000	Estimate Total including virements £ 000	Outturn vs Estimate savings/(excess) £ 000
Spending in Departmental Expenditure limit (CDEL) Voted: A – National Crime Agency	198,203 (61,224)	136,979	140,068	-	140,068	3,089	105,767
Annually Managed Expenditure Voted: B – National Crime Agency	1,542	-	1,542	1,583	-	1,583	41	309
Total	199,745	(61,224)	138,521	141,651	-	141,651	3,130	106,076

The total estimate columns include virements. Virements are the reallocation of provision in the estimates that do not require parliamentary authority (because parliament does not vote to this level of detail and delegates this to HM Treasury). Further information on virements is provided in the Supply Estimates Manual, available on www.gov.uk.

The outturn vs estimate column is based on the total, including virements. The estimate total before virements have been made is included so that users can link the estimate back to the estimates laid before parliament.

SoPS 2. Reconciliation of outturn to net operating expenditure

Item	Reference	Outturn total £ 000	Prior year outturn total 2022-23 £ 000
Total resource outturn in Statement of Parliamentary Supply	SoPS 1.1	696,952	639,306
Less: Capital grants		(60,438)	(36,485)
Less: Other – research and development (R&D) expenditure		14,216	6,130
Less: Other – capital expenditure		6,197	6,146
Net Operating Expenditure in Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure		656,927	615,097

As noted in the introduction to the SoPS above, outturn and the estimates are compiled against the budgeting framework, which is different to IFRS. Therefore, this reconciliation bridges the resource outturn to net operating expenditure, linking the SoPS to the financial statements.

Capital grants, research and development, and capital expenditure are budgeted for as CDEL, but do not classify as an asset under International Accounting Standard (IAS) 16 and are accounted for as spend or income on the face of the Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure (SOCNE), and therefore function as a reconciling item between Resource and Net Operating Expenditure. Corresponding adjustments are made in SoPS 1.2 and SoPS 2.

SoPS 3. Reconciliation of net resource outturn to net cash requirement

Item	Reference	Outturn total £ 000	Estimates total £ 000	Outturn vs estimate, savings (excess) £ 000
Resource outturn	SoPS 1.1	696,952	724,912	27,960
Capital outturn	SoPS 1.2	138,521	141,651	3,130
Adjustments to non-cash items: Depreciation and impairment		(103,943)	(108,721)	(4,778)
New provisions and adjustments to previous provisions		(2,461)	(51,583)	(49,122)
Leased asset additions		(39,623)	-	39,623
Other non-cash items		1,548	(159)	(1,707)
Adjustments to reflect movements in working balances: Increase in receivables		(27,866)	-	27,866
Adjustments to reflect movements in working balances: Increase in payables		20,550	133,900	113,350
Adjustments to reflect movements in working balances: Use of provisions		313	-	(313)
Removal of non-voted budget items
Consolidated Fund Standing Services		-	-	-
Other adjustments		-	-	-
Net cash requirement		683,991	840,000	156,009

As noted in the introduction to the SoPS above, outturn and the estimates are compiled against the budgeting framework, not on a cash basis. Therefore, this reconciliation bridges the resource and capital outturn to the net cash requirement.

Explanation of key variances between estimates and outturn

Resource departmental expenditure limit (RDEL)

RDEL underspend includes both cash and non-cash items. Excluding non-cash depreciation, the NCA cash underspend was £2.41m (0.43%).

RDEL non-cash depreciation underspend of £4.68m reflects a few high value assets which did not go live as early as anticipated during the financial year. A thorough review of the non-current asset register was carried out with the necessary adjustments to depreciation terms updated in order to reflect a more accurate asset profile.

Capital departmental expenditure limit (CDEL)

CDEL underspend of £3.09m is 2.21% of the estimated budget. The CDEL underspend was due to delays in delivering the NCA’s portfolio projects as a result of higher than forecast vacancies within the NCA and supply chain issues.

Resource annually managed expenditure (AME)

The reported outturn represents a £20.9m (42%) underspend. AME by its nature is demand led and volatile. The NCA maintains a budget with comfort to react to the volatile nature of expenditure in this category. AME expenditure is affected by changes in discount rates, with the majority of the expenditure the result of interest payments in relation to the police pension liability, as well as movements in provisions and asset revaluations.

The NCA has no control over this expenditure and the underspend represents a smaller movement in provisions than forecast.

Net cash requirement

Cash is drawn down from HM Treasury when required and not in advance of need. The cash held at the end of the financial year is returned to HM Treasury during financial year 2024-25.

Losses and special payments

This section is subject to audit.

The only reportable loss during 2023-24 was in relation to an asset write off totalling £0.56m for which HM Treasury approval was received.

In accordance with Managing Public Money, the NCA is required to disclose the total value of special payments made during the year. Separate disclosure is also required for any special payments greater than £0.30m.

One special payment was made during 2023-24 for which HM Treasury approval was received. In all cases where special payments are made, HM Treasury approval is received and the expenditure is met through NCA Estimate delegation.

Remote contingent liabilities

The NCA has no remote contingent liabilities to be disclosed under the Parliamentary reporting requirements.

Fees and charges

There has been no material fees or charges for the year requiring disclosure in accordance with Managing Public Money.

Graeme Biggar CBE

Director General, NCA

19 July 2024

The Certificate and Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General to the Houses of Parliament

Opinion on financial statements

I certify that I have audited the financial statements of the National Crime Agency for the year ended 31 March 2024 under the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000.

The financial statements comprise the National Crime Agency’s:

Statement of Financial Position as at 31 March 2024;
Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure, Statement of Cash Flows and Statement of Changes in Taxpayers’ Equity for the year then ended; and
the related notes including the significant accounting policies.

The financial reporting framework that has been applied in the preparation of the financial statements is applicable law and UK adopted international accounting standards.

In my opinion, the financial statements:

give a true and fair view of the state of the National Crime Agency’s affairs as at 31 March 2024 and its net expenditure for the year then ended; and
have been properly prepared in accordance with the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000 and HM Treasury directions issued thereunder.

Opinion on regularity

In my opinion, in all material respects:

the Statement of Outturn against Parliamentary Supply properly presents the outturn against voted Parliamentary control totals for the year ended 31 March 2024 and shows that those totals have not been exceeded; and
the income and expenditure recorded in the financial statements have been applied to the purposes intended by Parliament and the financial transactions recorded in the financial statements conform to the authorities which govern them.

Basis for opinions

I conducted my audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs UK), applicable law and Practice Note 10 Audit of Financial Statements and Regularity of Public Sector Bodies in the United Kingdom (2022). My responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of my certificate.

Those standards require me and my staff to comply with the Financial Reporting Council’s Revised Ethical Standard 2019. I am independent of the National Crime Agency in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to my audit of the financial statements in the UK. My staff and I have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements.

I believe that the audit evidence I have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for my opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, I have concluded that the National Crime Agency’s use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work I have performed, I have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the National Crime Agency’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

My responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Accounting Officer with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this certificate.

The going concern basis of accounting for the National Crime Agency is adopted in consideration of the requirements set out in HM Treasury’s Government Financial Reporting Manual, which requires entities to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements where it is anticipated that the services which they provide will continue into the future.

Other information

The other information comprises information included in the Annual Report, but does not include the financial statements and my auditor’s certificate and report thereon. The Accounting Officer is responsible for the other information.

My opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in my certificate, I do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

My responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or my knowledge obtained in the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated.

If I identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, I am required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work I have performed, I conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, I am required to report that fact.

I have nothing to report in this regard

Opinion on other matters

In my opinion the part of the Remuneration and Staff Report to be audited has been properly prepared in accordance with HM Treasury directions issued under the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000.

In my opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

the parts of the Accountability Report subject to audit have been properly prepared in accordance with HM Treasury directions issued under the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000;
the information given in the Performance and Accountability Reports for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements and is in accordance with the applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which I report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the National Crime Agency and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, I have not identified material misstatements in the Performance and Accountability Report.

I have nothing to report in respect of the following matters which I report to you if, in my opinion:

adequate accounting records have not been kept by the National Crime Agency returns adequate for my audit have not been received from branches not visited by my staff; or
I have not received all of the information and explanations I require for my audit; or
the financial statements and the parts of the Accountability Report subject to audit are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
certain disclosures of remuneration specified by HM Treasury’s Government Financial Reporting Manual have not been made or parts of the Remuneration and Staff Report to be audited is not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
the Governance Statement does not reflect compliance with HM Treasury’s guidance.

Responsibilities of the Accounting Officer for the financial statements

As explained more fully in the Statement of Accounting Officer’s Responsibilities, the Accounting Officer is responsible for:

maintaining proper accounting records;
providing the C&AG with access to all information of which management is aware that is relevant to the preparation of the financial statements such as records, documentation and other matters;
providing the C&AG with additional information and explanations needed for his audit;
providing the C&AG with unrestricted access to persons within the National Crime Agency from whom the auditor determines it necessary to obtain audit evidence;
ensuring such internal controls are in place as deemed necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements to be free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error;
preparing financial statements which give a true and fair view, in accordance with HM Treasury directions issued under the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000;
preparing the annual report, which includes the Remuneration and Staff Report, in accordance with HM Treasury directions issued under the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000; and assessing the National Crime Agency’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Accounting Officer anticipates that the services provided by the National Crime Agency will not continue to be provide in the future.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

My responsibility is to audit, certify and report on the financial statements in accordance with the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000.

My objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue a certificate that includes my opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting non-compliance with laws and regulations, including fraud

I design procedures in line with my responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of non-compliance with laws and regulations, including fraud. The extent to which my procedures are capable of detecting non-compliance with laws and regulations, including fraud is detailed below.

Identifying and assessing potential risks related to non-compliance with laws and regulations, including fraud

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of non-compliance with laws and regulations, including fraud, I:

considered the nature of the sector, control environment and operational performance including the design of the National Crime Agency’s accounting policies.
inquired of management, the National Crime Agency’s Head of Internal Audit and those charged with governance, including obtaining and reviewing supporting documentation relating to the National Crime Agency’s policies and procedures on:
- identifying, evaluating and complying with laws and regulations;
- detecting and responding to the risks of fraud; and
the internal controls established to mitigate risks related to fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations including the National Crime Agency’s controls relating to the National Crime Agency’s compliance with the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000, Managing Public Money and the Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2023.
inquired of management, the National Crime Agency’s Head of Internal Audit and those charged with governance whether:
- they were aware of any instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations;
- they had knowledge of any actual, suspected, or alleged fraud,
discussed with the engagement team and the relevant external specialists, including pensions experts, regarding how and where fraud might occur in the financial statements and any potential indicators of fraud.

As a result of these procedures, I considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the National Crime Agency for fraud and identified the greatest potential for fraud in the following areas: revenue recognition, posting of unusual journals, complex transactions, bias in management estimates and reported outturn against Parliamentary supply control totals. common with all audits under ISAs (UK), I am required to perform specific procedures to respond to the risk of management override.

I obtained an understanding of the National Crime Agency’s framework of authority and other legal and regulatory frameworks in which the National Crime Agency operates. I focused on those laws and regulations that had a direct effect on material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements or that had a fundamental effect on the operations of the National Crime Agency. The key laws and regulations I considered in this context included Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000, Managing Public Money, Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2023, Crime and Courts Act 2013, Serious Crime Act 2015, Employment Law, Pensions Legislation and Tax Legislation.

Audit response to identified risk

To respond to the identified risks resulting from the above procedures:

I reviewed the financial statement disclosures and testing to supporting documentation to assess compliance with provisions of relevant laws and regulations described above as having direct effect on the financial statements;
I enquired of management, the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee and in-house legal counsel concerning actual and potential litigation and claims;
I reviewed minutes of meetings of those charged with governance and the Board; and internal audit reports; and
I addressed the risk of fraud through management override of controls by testing the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments; assessing whether the judgements on estimates are indicative of a potential bias; and evaluating the business rationale of any significant transactions that are unusual or outside the normal course of business.

I communicated relevant identified laws and regulations and potential risks of fraud to all engagement team members including internal specialists and remained alert to any indications of fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations throughout the audit.

A further description of my responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of my certificate.

Other auditor’s responsibilities

I am required to obtain appropriate evidence sufficient to give reasonable assurance that the Statement of Outturn against Parliamentary Supply properly presents the outturn against voted Parliamentary control totals and that those totals have not been exceeded. The voted Parliamentary control totals are Departmental Expenditure Limits (Resource and Capital), Annually Managed Expenditure (Resource and Capital), Non-Budget (Resource) and Net Cash Requirement.

I am required to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to give reasonable assurance that the expenditure and income recorded in the financial statements have been applied to the purposes intended by Parliament and the financial transactions recorded in the financial statements conform to the authorities which govern them.

I communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control I identify during my audit.

Report

I have no observations to make on these financial statements.

Gareth Davies

Comptroller and Auditor General

25 July 2024

National Audit Office
157-197 Buckingham Palace Road
Victoria
London
SW1W 9SP

Question 4

Part three - Financial statements

Accepted Answer

Statement of comprehensive net expenditure for the period ended 31 March 2024

This account summarises the expenditure and income generated and consumed on an accruals basis. It also includes other comprehensive income and expenditure, which include changes to the values of non-current assets and other financial instruments that cannot yet be recognised as income or expenditure.

	Note	2023-24 £ 000	2022-23 £ 000
Revenue from contracts with customers	5	(198,547)	(165,050)
Other operating income	5	(7,944)	(6,615)
Total operating income		(206,491)	(171,665)
Staff costs	3	397,075	359,740
Other operating expenditure	4	332,361	323,252
Interest on lease liabilities	4	1,019	843
Depreciation right-of-use assets	4	18,812	16,042
Depreciation and impairment charges	4	85,131	70,005
Total operating expenditure		834,398	769,882
Net operating expenditure		627,907	598,217
Interest on pension liabilities	3a	29,020	16,880
Net expenditure for the year		656,927	615,097

Other comprehensive net expenditure

	Note	2023-24 £ 000	2022-23 £ 000
Items which will not be reclassified to net operating expenditure:
Net gain on revaluation of property, plant and equipment	4, 6	(1,425)	(2,941)
Actuarial (gain)/loss on pension reserve	3a	(49,350)	(378,900)
Comprehensive net expenditure for the period ended 31 March 2024		606,152	233,256

Statement of financial position as at 31 March 2024

This statement presents the financial position of the NCA. It comprises 3 main components: assets owned or controlled; liabilities owed to other bodies; and equity, the remaining value of the entity.

	Note	2023-24 £ 000	2022-23 £ 000
Non-current assets
Property, plant and equipment	6	173,369	163,317
Intangible non-current assets	7	211,308	166,524
Right-of-use assets	8	98,391	77,757
Total non-current assets		483,068	407,598
Current assets
Trade and other receivables	11	120,663	148,529
Cash and cash equivalents	10	35,645	20,436
Total current assets		156,308	168,965
Total assets		639,376	576,563
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables	12	(167,800)	(150,717)
Provisions	13	(3,018)	(3,392)
Total current liabilities		(170,818)	(154,109)
Total assets less current liabilities		468,558	422,454
Non-current liabilities
IAS 19 pension liability	3	(664,021)	(713,981)
Provisions	13	(13,710)	(11,188)
Other payables	12	(74,733)	(59,191)
Total non-current liabilities		(752,464)	(784,360)
Total assets less total liabilities		(283,906)	(361,906)
Taxpayers’ equity and other reserves:
General Fund		197,134	167,380
Pension Reserve		(496,200)	(545,550)
Revaluation Reserve		15,160	16,264
		(283,906)	(361,906)

The notes on pages 97-128 form part of these accounts.

Graeme Biggar CBE

Director General, NCA

19 July 2024

Statement of cash flows for the period ended 31 March 2024

The Statement of cash flows shows the changes in cash and cash equivalents of the NCA during the reporting period. The statement shows how the NCA generates and uses cash and cash equivalents by classifying cash flows as operating, investing and financing activities. The amount of net cash flows arising from operating activities is a key indicator of service costs and the extent to which these operations are funded by way of income from the recipients of services provided by the NCA. Investing activities represent the extent to which cash inflows and outflows have been made for resources which are intended to contribute to the NCA’s future public service delivery.

	Note	2023-24 £ 000	2022-23 Restated £ 000
Cash flows from operating activities
Net expenditure for the year	SoCNE	(656,927)	(615,097)
Adjustments for non-cash transactions:
Depreciation and audit fee	4	104,104	86,206
Loss on asset revaluation	4	-	209
IFRS 16 non-cash recognition*		(1,537)	1,401
Loss on disposal of non-current assets	4	394	69
Pension costs	3a	30,030	19,860
Employee contribution	3a	830	770
Police Pension payment made	3a	(31,470)	(29,300)
Decrease/(increase) in receivables	11	27,866	(4,287)
Increase in payables	12	32,624	85,174
Less: movements in payables relating to items not passing through the Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure	12	(59,358)	(77,286)
Use of provisions	13	2,148	359
Net cash outflow from operating activities		(551,296)	(531,922)
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of property, plant and equipment	6	(53,220)	(60,349)
Less: PPE capital creditors	6	12,268	12,338
Purchase of intangible assets	7	(86,489)	(65,091)
Less: intangible capital creditors	7	13,052	13,625
Proceeds from disposal of property, plant and equipment		829	434
Net cash outflow from investing activities		(113,560)	(99,043)
Cash flows from financing activities
Payments of lease liabilities	8	(20,154)	(20,799)
Interest on lease liabilities	8	1,019	843
From the consolidated fund		699,200	627,000
Net financing		680,065	607,044
Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents in the period		15,209	(23,921)
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the period		20,436	44,357
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period		35,645	20,436

*IFRS16 non-cash items include rent deductions and dilapidations

Statement of changes in taxpayers’ equity for the period ended 31 March 2024

This statement shows the movement in the year on the different reserves held by the NCA, analysed into ‘general fund reserves’ (i.e. those reserves that reflect a contribution from the Consolidated Fund). The Revaluation Reserve reflects the changes in asset values that have not been recognised as income or expenditure. The General Fund represents the total assets less liabilities of the NCA, to the extent that the total is not represented by other reserves and financing items.

	Note	General Reserve Fund £ 000	Pension Reserve £ 000	Revaluation Reserve £ 000	Total Reserves £ 000
Balance at 31 March 2022		123,881	(924,450)	20,839	(779,730)
Net gain on revaluation of property, plant and equipment	4, 6	-	-	2,941	2,941
Actuarial loss on pension reserve	3a	-	378,900	-	378,900
Comprehensive net expenditure for the year		(615,097)	-	-	(615,097)
Non-cash charges – auditor’s remuneration	4
		159	-	-	159
Transfer between reserves		7,516	-	(7,516)	-
Supply payable		(20,436)	-	-	(20,436)
Net parliamentary funding		671,357	-	-	671,357
Balance at 31 March 2023		167,380	(545,550)	16,264	(361,906)
Net gain on revaluation of property, plant and equipment	4, 6	-	-	1,425	1,425
Actuarial loss on pension reserve	3a	-	49,350	-	49,350
Comprehensive net expenditure for the year		(656,927)	-	-	(656,927)
Non-cash charges – auditor’s remuneration	4	161	-	-	161
Transfer between reserves		2,529	-	(2,529)	-
Supply payable	10	(35,645)	-	-	(35,645)
Net parliamentary funding		719,636	-	-	719,636
Balance at 31 March 2024		197,134	(496,200)	15,160	(283,906)

The notes on pages 97-128 form part of these accounts.

Notes to the accounts

1. Statement of accounting policies

Basis of preparation

The financial statements for the NCA have been prepared in accordance with the 2023-24 Government Financial Reporting Manual (FReM) issued by HM Treasury. The accounting policies contained in the FReM apply International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as adapted or interpreted for the public sector context. Where the FReM permits a choice of accounting policy, the accounting policy which is judged to be most appropriate to the particular circumstances of the NCA for the purpose of giving a true and fair view has been selected. The particular policies adopted by the NCA are described below. They have been applied consistently in dealing with items that are considered material to the accounts.

The NCA is a non-ministerial department which is accountable to the Home Secretary for its performance. Accordingly, it has been considered appropriate to adopt a going concern basis for the preparation of these financial statements.

The presenting currency is in pounds sterling, rounded to the nearest thousand.

a) Accounting convention

The accounts have been prepared on an accruals basis under the historical cost convention, modified to account for the revaluation of property, plant and equipment. Intangible assets and inventories are not revalued.

b) Income

Income is recognised in accordance with IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers as adapted by FReM.

Revenue is recognised when a performance obligation is met at a point in time at the transaction price allocated to the performance obligation. If the cash has not been received by year end, the income is accrued and recognised in the SOCNE.

The NCA does not include income from sales of non-current assets within the scope of IFRS 15 as such gains would not be classed as revenue. Proceeds from the sale of non- current assets are offset against the net book value to determine the profit or loss on disposal as set out in Note 4.

All income is recognised in the year to which it relates. If cash has been received in advance of its associated expenditure, it is deferred to the following year and included as a contract liability in Note 12.

The table below show the income streams recognised under IFRS 15 during the financial year 2023-24:

Income stream	Description of income stream	Performance obligation	Determination of transaction price	Payment terms
Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme	Recovery of proceeds of crime	The NCA has powers set out in legislation to recover this income	Value of penalty collected	Payment by court order
Civil recoveries applied to receivers’ fees	Recovery of costs in relation to civil recovery case work	Receivers’ investigations work undertaken by the NCA	Value of costs awarded	Payment by court order
Overhead Recharge	Recovery of administration costs	Supply of service delivery in line with agreed project work	Agreed within Memorandum of Understanding	Payment at time service is consumed
Proceeds of Crime Centre (PoCC) accreditation, registration and training	PoCC accreditation, registration and training provided by the NCA	On accreditation, registration or delivery of training	Standard price per level of accreditation and per training course	Payment in advance
Recovery of costs	Legal and other non-routine work carried out by the NCA	Completion of work against agreed deliverables	In agreement between the NCA and funding provider	Payment at time work completed on an accruals basis
Rental income	Licence fee arrangement for provision of accommodation within the NCA estate	Provision of accommodation	Agreed within Licence Agreement	Payment at the time service is consumed
Specific operational funding	External funding for specific operational projects	Work carried out by the NCA	Agreed within Memorandum of Understanding	Payment at the time work is completed on an accruals basis
Training and conference fees	Supply of training and conference services	Supply of services	Set out in order confirmation	Payment at time or in advance of event

Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS) income is required to be spent in the year in which it was awarded.

Specific operational funding and recovery of costs relate to income received from stakeholders to cover the costs of specific operational initiatives. Consequently, certain costs are recovered when the performance obligation is met at a transaction price agreed within a memorandum of understanding or other agreement.

Significant judgements

The performance obligation is satisfied when the goods or services are supplied, under the following income streams:

Income in relation to ARIS and civil recoveries applied to receivers’ fees is recognised when it is awarded by court order.

For rental income and overhead recharges, the obligation is satisfied for income recognitions under IFRS 15 at the time the service is consumed.

PoCC accreditation fees are received in advance creating a contract liability. Income is recognised at a point in time when training is provided or on accreditation registration.

For all other streams, income is recognised as expenses are incurred to complete the obligation within the agreement between the parties on an accruals basis. Contract assets relate to the Agency’s right to consideration for work completed but not billed at the reporting date. Contract liabilities recognise receipt of cash for services where the performance obligation is not satisfied.

Income Streams not recognised under IFRS 15

Income is received in the form of government grants from Devolved Administrations to allow a collaborative working relationship between the NCA and the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and the NCA and the Police Service of Scotland. Funding is recognised during the year it is received, accounted for under IAS 20 Accounting for Government Grants and taken through the SOCNE.

Donation of goods and services is a notional income stream offset by notional expenditure recognised in Note 4. The notional funding element is recognised in accordance with IAS 20.

c) Foreign currency

Transactions denominated in foreign currency are converted into sterling at the rate of exchange ruling on the date of each transaction, except where rates have not fluctuated significantly, in which case an average rate for the month is used. All end of year balances are translated at the prevailing spot rate on 31 March 2024.

Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currency at the Statement of Financial Position date are translated at the rates ruling at that date. Any translation differences arising are taken to the SOCNE.

d) Leases

From 1 April 2022 the NCA has adopted IFRS 16, as interpreted and adapted in the FReM.

In accordance with FReM, intra-UK government agreements, including memorandum of terms of occupation (MOTO) agreements, are treated as an enforceable contract and therefore within scope of IFRS 16 where they convey the right to use an asset.

Where a lease has been identified, NCA recognises a right-of-use asset and corresponding liability, except for short term leases and leases for which the underlying asset is of low value, set to the NCA’s capitalisation threshold of £5,000. For such leases the lease payments are recognised as expenses on a straight line basis over the lease term.

NCA determines the lease term as the non-cancellable period of a lease combined with periods covered by an option to either:

extend the lease where NCA are reasonably certain to exercise that option,
terminate the lease where NCA are reasonably certain not to exercise the option

Where the interest rate implicit in a lease cannot be readily determined, NCA calculates the lease liability using the HM Treasury discount rate promulgated in PES papers as the incremental borrowing rate.

e) Pensions reserve

In accordance with government accounting guidance, actuarial gains or losses on pension scheme liabilities are recognised in the statement of changes in taxpayers’ equity. The movement in gain or loss is shown in the Pensions reserve.

f) Pension costs

Employer contributions to the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme are charged to the SOCNE as incurred at the relevant percentage of employees’ pensionable pay as specified by the pension scheme administrators. The annual charge is designed to reflect the cost of pension benefits over the employees’ service life.

The cost of providing unfunded pension benefits for former police officers is charged to the Net Expenditure account over the qualifying service life of the officer. The qualifying service for these pension benefits includes prior service with a police force in addition to service with the NCA, although no funding is received from the officer’s previous employer in relation to this past service. The annual charge to the SOCNE is calculated so that the statement of financial position provision reflects the proportion of the future pension liability relevant to accumulated qualifying service at the statement of financial position date. The police pension liability includes a provision for future injury awards. A payment to cover the net pension deficit is included in the NCA budget annually. The deficit is caused by expenditure on pensions exceeding contributions.

The Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) has, in accordance with IAS 19, advised that any obligation that arises from other long-term employee benefits that depend on length of service needs to be recognised when service is rendered. As injury awards under the police scheme are dependent on service, GAD values the liability expected to arise due to injury awards in respect of service prior to the valuation date. GAD uses historic data from police authorities to determine the expected incidence and size of future injury awards.

In accordance with government accounting guidance, actuarial gains or losses on pension scheme liabilities are recognised in the statement of changes in taxpayers’ equity. The movement in gain or loss is shown in the Pensions reserve.

g) Value added tax (VAT)

Most of the activities of the NCA are outside the scope of VAT and, in general, output tax does not apply and input tax is not recoverable. Input tax is recovered in accordance with services listed in HM Treasury’s Contracting-Out of Services Direction, which is provided for in Section 41(3) of the VAT Act 1994. Irrecoverable VAT is charged to the relevant expenditure category or included in the capitalised purchase cost of fixed assets. Where output tax is charged or input tax is recoverable, the amounts are stated net of VAT.

h) Critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

The preparation of financial statements requires management to make appropriate judgements and assumptions that affect the amounts reported for assets and liabilities for the year ending 31 March 2024, and for amounts reported for income and expenses during the relevant period.

Key accounting judgements and sources of estimation uncertainty relate to:

i Provisions

A provision is recognised when the Agency has a present legal or constructive obligation that has arisen as a result of a past event, when payment is probable and the amount can be estimated reliably. In determining the value to recognise as a provision in the accounts we use estimates provided by suitably qualified professionals.

ii Police pension scheme and related schemes

The GAD estimates the present value of the defined benefit liabilities. These are determined using the Projected Unit Credit Method (PUCM). Under the PUCM, the actuarial liability represents the present value of future benefit payments arising in respect of service prior to the valuation date.

i) Non-current assets

Expenditure incurred by the NCA on the acquisition of capital assets or expenditure that adds to the value of existing assets is capitalised, provided that the assets give benefit to the NCA for a period of more than one year. Where appropriate, the NCA capitalises the cost of salaries directly attributed to developing the non-current assets as permitted within IAS 16.

Capital assets, both tangible and intangible, are assets that cost or are valued at or above a capitalisation threshold of £5,000, which is set by the NCA Board and with an expected working life of more than one year. Individual assets that cost less than £5,000 but are required to be grouped together to form one capital asset with a total value greater than £25,000 are capitalised. Technical equipment assets, the individual components of which cost less than £5,000 but which are non-consumable in nature, are also treated as capital assets.

Expenditure on the fit-out and works to buildings financed by operating leases is capitalised as a tangible non-current asset if the works add to the value of the building. Fit-out costs of all new buildings could include the costs of new furniture and equipment that individually cost less than £5,000, but collectively cost more than £25,000, where it is more appropriate to capitalise the initial costs. Tangible non-current assets are carried at fair value for existing use.

The NCA proactively reviews the content of its Non-Current Asset Register (NCAR).

All assets held on NCAR are subject to an annual verification exercise to include an impairment review. The NCA operates an Impairment Review Policy. An impairment review is carried out when there is an indication of impairment for any asset, or group of assets.

Impairment costs are recognised in the SOCNE.

Capital investment development programme business case reviews and approvals enabled the NCA to validate the existence, utilisation and value of assets recorded in the NCAR.

j) Depreciation and amortisation

A full month’s depreciation or amortisation is provided in the month following first use or availability for use and apportioned to the date of disposal. No depreciation is provided on assets under construction until they are brought into use or are available for use.

Depreciation or amortisation is provided on all non-current assets either in use or available for use on a straight-line basis to write-off the cost or valuation evenly over the asset’s anticipated useful life, as follows:

Asset type	Useful economic life
Land and buildings	Land is not depreciated. Buildings are depreciated to their useful estimated residual value over the remainder of the buildings’ estimated useful economic lives. The range of freehold buildings’ lives at 31 March 2024 to 2050 was 1 to 30 years.
Improvements to leasehold buildings	The shorter of the duration of lease or anticipated useful economic life of improvements, subject to maximum period of 10 years.
Motor vehicles	3–9 years
Plant and equipment	5 years
Furniture and fittings	10 years
IT equipment and software	3–10 years
Intangible non-current assets – IT licences and software	5 years (or the duration of the licence)
Right-of-use asset	Duration of the lease or anticipated useful economic life of the right-of-use asset, where this is shorter.

Tangible assets are revalued annually and are reported at current cost.

k) Revaluation

The NCA has a policy of revaluing its non-current assets (excluding freehold properties) annually by applying government-approved indices per asset type.

Freehold properties are subject to two-yearly professional revaluations. A full professional valuation was carried out by RICS Chartered Surveyors Avison Young, as at 31 March 2023. Property values have been updated to reflect this valuation. All freehold building assets are aligned to standard depreciation terms per building as determined by its remaining useful economic life.

Right-of-use assets are depreciated on a straight line basis over the associated lease term or estimated useful life where this is shorter. Impairment losses are charged in the same way as those arising on property, plant and equipment.

As permitted by FReM, right-of-use assets are subsequently measured using the cost model. This is because lease terms require the right-of-use asset to be updated for market conditions, for example, rent reviews. Moreover, right-of-use assets (the lease agreement) generally have shorter useful lives than their respective underlying assets, and FReM allows cost to be used as a proxy for assets with shorter economic lives or lower values.

Intangible assets are not revalued.

l) Provisions

The legal provision assesses the likelihood, potential risk and value of legal actions against the NCA. The provision incorporates estimates for both legal costs and compensation.

The retirement provision was created to provide for expected future pension obligations arising from the HM Treasury-approved exit scheme, which the NCA adopted in October 2010. The valuation, as advised by HM Treasury, includes a post-employment benefits real discount rate of 2.45%, which is applied to future years’ cash flows with effect from 31 March 2024 (1.70% from 31 March 2023).

The dilapidation provision assesses and values expected dilapidation costs due when the NCA vacates a leased building. The provision is based on an estimated charge for the specific sites involved and allows for the reversal of any changes to the buildings made by the NCA and the costs of redecoration.

Dilapidation general provisions are measured at their present value using the discount rate provided by HM Treasury as per the table below:

	Nominal rates
Short-term (1-5 years)	4.26%
Medium-term (5-10 years)	4.03%
Long-term (10+ years)	4.72%

	Inflation
Year 1	3.60%
Year 2	1.80%
Into Perpetuity	2.00%

m) Contingent liabilities

Contingent liabilities are disclosed in accordance with IAS 37 as applied or adapted for the public sector under the FReM. Additionally, the NCA complies with HM Treasury’s ‘Managing Public Money’ guidance, and ensures that HM Treasury and Parliamentary approval are sought where appropriate.

n) Recovered assets

The criminal confiscation, civil recovery and taxation provisions under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (PoCA) are utilised by the NCA to deprive criminals of their illicit profits and assets. Consequently, proceeds from recovered assets are received and paid over to the Home Office. The NCA continues to participate in the incentivisation scheme whereby the NCA and referring law enforcement agencies receive a portion of the remittances, treated as income, as an incentive to build their asset recovery capacity.

Sale proceeds from recovered assets less allowable costs, including receivers’ fees deducted, are paid to the Home Office.

The NCA manages bank accounts where recovered cash is deposited. Each year-end, the excess of civil recoveries over receivers’ fees applied, net of any direct disposal costs, is paid over to the Home Office. For assets recovered through criminal and tax cases, the amounts are paid over quarterly.

Section 280 Subsection 3, of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 enables the Director General to meet the costs of an appointed interim receiver from sums received from civil recovery proceedings in a way that directly mirrors the provisions in criminal confiscation cases in Parts 2 and 4 of PoCA. The commencement date of the provision was 1 July 2005 and, thereafter, the costs of interim receivers and trustees were permitted to be offset against eventual case proceeds. Assets and cash held by the NCA on behalf of third parties in relation to these activities are not included in the NCA’s accounts but are separately reported in Note 17.

o) Financial instruments

The majority of the NCA’s financial instruments are trade receivables and payables.

As the majority of the NCA’s receivables are held with central government departments they are considered to be held at low credit risk.

The NCA operates a 30 day payment policy for all payables which are monitored on a monthly basis for compliance. The NCA do not hold any long-term trade payables and all balances are shown at cost.

The NCA does not operate hedge accounting. Therefore, the specific requirements of IFRS 9 for hedging instruments do not apply.

p) IFRS 16 Leases

IFRS 16 leases was issued in January 2016 and effective from 1 January 2019. The NCA has implemented the new standard as prescribed by HM Treasury guidance. The guidance required by IFRS 16, and adapted by FReM, was implemented on 1 April 2022 by UK Government bodies.

IFRS 16 sets out the principles for the recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure of leases, introducing a single lease accounting model for right-of-use assets. This results in a more faithful representation of leased assets, removing the distinction between finance and operating leases under IAS 17. The new standard requires a lease liability and corresponding asset to be recognised for leases with a term of more than 12 months, unless the underlying asset is of low value, as detailed below.

HM Treasury has withdrawn the accounting policy choice to apply IFRS 16 retrospectivity to each prior reporting period presented in accordance with IAS 8. At the date of initial application, therefore, the NCA has recognised the cumulative effects of initially applying IFRS 16 as an adjustment to the opening balance of taxpayers’ equity.

As allowed by IFRS 16, the NCA adopted a practical expedient approach, ‘grandfathering’ leases currently recognised under IAS 17.

The following exemptions have been applied:

i) Low value leases - defined as a lease with a whole-life cost less than £5,000 at the date of entering into the agreement

ii) Short-term leases - defined as a lease with a term less than 12 months

All leases were assessed under the IFRS 16 recognition criteria to determine whether they were in or out of scope. When not explicably stated in the lease, judgements were made on the following:

i) Discount rate used to value the whole-life cost of the asset. In these cases, the HM Treasury discount rate was used.

ii) To determine the existence and recognition of a right-of-use asset, the NCA has assessed 2 aspects as determined in the standard:

Whether a contract involves the use of an identified asset, for a consideration
Whether the NCA has the right to control the use of that identified asset for a period of time

iii) Term of the lease - on initial measurement of right-of-use assets and lease liabilities, the lease term is determined by the non-cancellable period for which the NCA has the right to use the underlying asset, together with periods covered by an option to extend the lease, if the NCA is reasonably certain to exercise the option. The NCA will use hindsight in determining the lease term if the contract contains options to extend or terminate the lease in accordance with IFRS 16 paragraph C10(e).

iv) Motor vehicles with separate lease and non-lease components (service rental charges), have been accounted for as a single lease component, in accordance with IFRS 16 paragraph 15.

v) For dilapidations provisions there will be no adjustment to the right-of-use values on transition. Dilapidations provisions will only be capitalised as part of the right-of-use asset for new leases, in accordance with IFRS 16 paragraph 25.

vi) Software licenses are outside the scope of IFRS 16 and continue to be recognised under IAS 38.

vii) Income from leases will continue to be recognised under IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers.

On initial application of IFRS 16, the NCA has recognised right-of-use assets at an amount equal to the initial lease liability, adjusted by the amount of any prepaid or accrued lease payments recognised immediately before the date of initial application, and/or any initial direct costs. The initial lease liability has been calculated based on the present value of future cash flows for each lease over the applicable lease term.

q) IFRS and other accounting changes that have been issued but are not yet effective

IFRS 17 ‘Insurance Contracts’ replaces IFRS 4, and sets out the requirement for the recognition and measurement of contracts and associated revenue where an entity accepts insurance contract liability from another party. NCA has not entered into insurance contracts and does not currently expect to be affected by this new standard.

IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts is currently applicable for reporting periods beginning from 1 January 2023. The standard is being applied by HM Treasury in the Government Financial Reporting Manual (FReM) from 1 April 2025 (with limited options for early adoptions).

2. Statement of Operating Expenditure by Operating Segment

2023-24 description of segment	Gross expenditure £ 000	Income £ 000	2023-24 Net expenditure £ 000
Corporate Business Services	51,031	(1,810)	49,221
Corporate Finance	126,045	(12,542)	113,503
Digital, Data and Technology	140,843	(20,554)	120,289
Human Resources	23,798	(297)	23,501
Intelligence	182,513	(11,206)	171,307
Investigations	118,921	(18,540)	100,381
Integrated Protective Security	14,452	(128)	14,324
Legal	7,039	(211)	6,828
National Economic Crime Centre	21,532	(9,627)	11,905
Strategy and Change	15,122	(155)	14,967
Threat Leadership	113,295	(49,349)	63,946
Transformation*	48,827	(82,072)	(33,245)
2023-24 Total	863,418	(206,491)	656,927

As a result of in-year reporting line changes, 2022-23 totals have been restated in line with the 2023-24 structure. The 2022-23 restated comparatives are shown in the table below:

2022-23 description of segment	Gross expenditure (Restated) £ 000	Income (Restated) £ 000	2022-23 Net expenditure (Restated)£ 000
Corporate Business Services	47,076	(1,244)	45,832
Corporate Finance	97,294	(16,226)	81,068
Digital, Data and Technology	132,230	(13,020)	119,210
Human Resources	19,151	-	19,151
Intelligence	188,434	(11,342)	177,092
Investigations	123,721	(19,086)	104,635
Integrated Protective Security	10,647	(609)	10,038
Legal	6,179	(24)	6,155
National Economic Crime Centre	28,092	(30,352)	(2,260)
Strategy and Change	14,876	-	14,876
Threat Leadership	94,762	(37,457)	57,305
Transformation	24,300	(42,305)	(18,005)
2022-23 Total	786,762	(171,665)	615,097

*In 2023-24, the NCA received income of £70.95m in relation to the Economic Crime Levy.

Description of segments

The underlying factors in identifying the reportable segments are driven by budget allocations, departmental priorities and financial risks. This provides the Board with decision-making information based upon sound financial reporting. It enables the determination of resource spend by entity, departmental priority and operational activity.

No segmental data is shown for assets or liabilities, as many of these costs, such as depreciation, are posted to a central cost centre within Corporate Finance. Any analysis of assets and liabilities by cost centre would not provide meaningful data and so has not been included in these accounts.

Corporate Business Services

Corporate Business Services comprise Finance, Commercial, Estates and Business Services (Fleet, Sustainability, Organisational Services and Business Management Team).

Corporate Business Services supports the NCA’s operational activity by providing sound financial advice; maintenance of the NCA estate, including the delivery of the Agency’s estates strategy by the Concordis Programme; and the management of the NCA’s fleet. The Commercial Department is responsible for ensuring that goods and services are purchased in a legal and compliant manner, taking into consideration sustainability and environmental issues.

Corporate Finance

Corporate Finance plan and prioritise our resource and capital expenditure, support our investment and capability strategy, provide analysis on value for money and evaluation of options for any investment opportunity, and ensure compliance with our statutory, regulatory and corporate governance duties. Corporate Finance includes the NCA spend that is not command-specific (such as non-cash expenditure).

Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT)

DDaT is responsible for creating a cutting-edge technology and information environment that connects, empowers and enhances our officers’ capabilities to protect the public from serious and organised crime. This includes horizon scanning and innovation to tackle emerging threats and exploit opportunities alongside designing, operating and enhancing our data and technology services to support our performance ambitions.

Human Resources (HR)

The NCA HR Function delivers HR services including learning, development and talent, HR strategy and insights, workforce planning, recruitment and candidate engagement, pay and reward, HR Policy, health and safety, occupational health and psychological services, complex casework, and diversity and inclusion.

Intelligence

The NCA Intelligence Command collects and exploits intelligence and data for the purpose of generating opportunities to disrupt serious and organised crime.

It aims to achieve this by putting intelligence at the heart of the NCA and looking for new opportunities in intelligence collection. It works to develop new and enhance traditional capabilities to increase the quantity and quality of intelligence available to exploit, both in the UK and abroad.

Investigations

The NCA Investigations Command’s aim is to protect the public from the most serious threats by disrupting and bringing to justice those serious and organised crime offenders who present the highest risk to the UK.

Integrated Protective Security (IPS)

The IPS Command’s aim is to strengthen the ability to prevent, detect and investigate security incidents in order to secure the NCA, and to protect the public.

The Vetting Team deliver National Security Vetting (NSV) clearances for both directly employed new recruits and non-directly employed staff. The team also uplift security clearances where necessary and review clearances of existing staff. The team is responsible for the vetting aftercare for all officers with NCA Enhanced clearance.

Legal

NCA Legal supports the Agency in protecting the public from serious and organised crime by advising on all aspects of the NCA’s work, including both operational activity and enabling capabilities. It also conducts litigation on behalf of the Agency, both in defending claims brought against it, and by recovering the proceeds of crime and obtaining civil orders. As well as a business support team, it has five separate teams of lawyers and support staff: data and operational advisory; civil litigation; commercial and employment; financial disruptions litigation; and alternative disruptions litigation.

National Economic Crime Centre (NECC)

The NECC aims to enhance the UK response to fraud and illicit finance, including wealth linked to corrupt elites by leading across the whole serious and organised crime system. This command is linked to the Threat Leadership Command in that the NECC conducts threat leadership for economic crime.

The UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU) and Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) also fall under this command. The ongoing SARs reform programme is designed to transform the current system used to report SARs, and to analyse and act on these reports. The programme aims to increase the number of disruptions against criminals by improving the quality of SARs reporting and increasing the utilisation of this data.

Strategy and Change

The Strategy and Change Command is responsible for the strategic direction of the Agency and supports the governance and accountability functions of the NCA on behalf of the NCA Board and Command Team. We are tasked with increasing the strategic influence and visibility of the Agency across HM Government, and with key domestic and international partners, the public and the media.

The Command also delivers the planning, sequencing and governance of the Transformation Portfolio and the development of the Agency Operating Model. These ensure that change is structured and prioritised to enable the NCA to maximise its crime- fighting capabilities in alignment with its objectives.

Threat Leadership

The Threat Leadership command drives the national response to the serious and organised crime threat, through one NCA voice. The command works with partners inside the NCA and externally to set the strategic direction, facilitate effective delivery of the response and ensure that we understand the impact of our activity.

Threat Leadership tackles threats including child sexual abuse, modern slavery and human trafficking, organised immigration crime, border vulnerabilities, firearms and drugs threats, and the National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU).

Transformation

The Transformation command is responsible for the management and delivery of cross Agency transformational activity that enables the NCA to deliver against its strategic objectives and maximise value from its investments.

The command is responsible for integrating operational and business stakeholders across the Agency to identify the impacts of change and develop plans to deliver successful adoption of change and realisation of benefits. It also facilitates greater alignment between different operational programmes.

3. Staff Costs

	2023-24 £ 000	2022-23 £ 000
Wages and salaries	299,204	269,092
Pension costs	68,078	60,199
Social security costs	29,729	28,402
Current service cost net of employee contributions	1,010	2,980
Less recoveries in respect of outward secondments	(946)	(933)
Total Staff Costs	397,075	359,740

Further analysis of staff costs can be found in the Staff Report on page 71.

3 a) Police Pension Scheme

The NCA operates a defined benefit Police Pension Scheme for former police officers.

The Police Pension Fund was established under the Police Pension Fund Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/1932).

As part of the scheme, the NCA accepted liability for payment of the pension benefits in respect of the officers’ past service with a police force, although no transfer values were payable from a former employer in respect of this liability, as well as their pensionable service whilst employed by the NCA.

Pension benefits were paid from the NCA resources as they fell due. In the year ending 31 March 2024, £31.47m was paid to pensioners (2022-23: £29.30m).

Officers in the 1987 pension scheme make contributions of 14.25% to 15.05% of salary (according to salary threshold), those joining the 2006 scheme pay 11.00% to 12.75% and those in the 2015 scheme pay 12.44% to 13.78%. The schemes have different accrual rates and retirement ages. Pensions paid in the reporting period were charged against the pension liability. The NCA incurred the cost of employer contributions in the reporting period totalling £1.9m (2022-23: £1.76m). The employee’s contribution is set nationally by the Home Office and is subject to revaluation by GAD during 2023-24.

In order to comply with the Government Financial Reporting Manual and Accounts Guidance, the NCA was required to provide in these accounts for the full value of the expected future pensions liabilities of the officers. Since 2010–11 GAD has valued contingent injury awards in accordance with IAS 19. The NCA commissioned GAD to value the scheme liabilities as at 31 March 2024. The full provision for pension liabilities at 31 March 2024 of £664.02m (2022-23: £713.98m) is based on the assumptions and information set out below.

Pension liabilities

	2023-24 £ 000	2022-23 £ 000
Present value of liabilities	664,021	713,981
Net pension liabilities	664,021	713,981

The main assumptions used by the GAD were as follows:

	2023-24 % pa	2022-23 % pa
Discount rate	5.10	4.15
Inflation assumption	2.55	2.40
Rate of increase in salaries	3.55	3.65
Rate of increase in pensions	2.55	2.40
Rate of CARE revaluation	3.80	3.65

The net scheme assets at 31 March 2024 are as follows:

Re-measurements of net defined liability/(asset) for the year	2023-24 £ 000	2022-23 £ 000
Direct Recruits Scheme
Experience (losses)/gains	(29,210)	(87,120)
Effect of changes in demographic and financial assumptions	78,560	466,020
Re-measurements of net defined liability	49,350	378,900

The re-measurement of net defined (liability)/asset calculated by the GAD has been reflected in the statement of financial position (pension reserve).

The results of any actuarial valuation are inherently uncertain because of the assumptions that must be made. In recognition of this uncertainty, the approximate effects on the actuarial liability as at 31 March 2024 of changes to the main actuarial assumptions are set out below:

Change in assumptions

	Approximate effect on total liability %	Approximate effect on total liability £ 000
Rate of Return
i. Rate of discounting scheme liabilities: +0.5% a year	(6.5)	(44,000)
ii. Rate of increase in salaries: +0.5% a year	0.0	1,000
iii. Rate of increase in pensions/deferred revaluation: +0.5% a year	7.0	48,000
Pensioner mortality
iv. Life expectancy: Pensioners living (on average) one year longer	2.0	13,000

The current population mortality projections make a short-term allowance for the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. When deriving the ONS 2020-based mortality improvement projections, a panel of mortality experts gave their views on the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on mortality rates in the short term. Based on this, short term adjustments were made to the 2019 to 2024 period to allow for estimated deaths in 2021 and an averaging of the experts’ views on estimated improvements by age group over this period.

The change in the pension liabilities resulting from operating and finance costs have been charged to the SOCNE. This charge is reduced by the contributions receivable in the year from the active members.

Changes in pension assets and liabilities for the year by scheme:

	2023-24 Total £ 000	2022-23 Total £ 000
Operating cost: Current service cost net of employee contributions	1,010	2,980
Finance cost: Interest on pension liabilities	29,020	16,880
Net Return	30,030	19,860
Actuarial gain/(loss)
Experience loss on pension liabilities	(29,210)	(87,120)
Changes in demographic & financial assumptions	78,560	466,020
Total Actuarial Gain Credited to Pension Reserve	49,350	378,900

Movement in pension liabilities during the year

	2023-24 Total £ 000	2022-23 Total £ 000
Net liabilities at start of year	713,981	1,101,551
Current and past service cost	1,840	3,750
Pensions paid in the year	(31,470)	(29,300)
Pension transfers-in	-	-
Net finance charge	29,020	16,880
Re-measurement of the net defined benefit liability	(49,350)	(378,900)
Net liabilities at end of year	664,021	713,981

Service cost

	2023-24 Total £ 000	2022-23 Total £ 000
Current service cost (net of employee contributions)	1,010	2,980
Costs covered by employee contributions	830	770
Past service cost	-	-
Total Service Costs	1,840	3,750

4. Expenditure

	2023-24 Total £ 000	2022-23 Total £ 000
IT and communications	132,719	110,313
Supplies and services	55,976	57,853
Other operational costs	49,274	70,237
Estate	30,576	30,199
Travel and subsistence	18,637	16,939
Research and development expenditure	14,216	6,130
Transport	9,017	8,135
Training and recruitment	8,969	9,139
Capital grant expenditure	6,197	6,146
Legal costs	3,443	4,646
Conferences and hospitality	2,253	1,724
Interest on lease liabilities	1,019	843
Non-current assets write off	559	-
Gain/loss on disposal of non-current assets	(165)	69
Grants	-	105
	332,690	322,478
Non-cash items:
Non-Pay provision expenses	529	1,249
Revaluation loss on non-current assets	-	209
Auditor’s remuneration and expenses*	161	159
Other operating expenditure	333,380	324,095
Depreciation and amortisation	85,131	70,005
Depreciation right-of-use assets	18,812	16,042
Total expenditure	437,323	410,142

*No remuneration was paid to the NAO for non-audit work.

5. Income

	2023-24 Total £ 000	2022-23 Total £ 000
Revenue from contracts with customers:
Specific operational funding*	172,962	110,021
Recovery costs from public bodies	10,625	13,746
Assets Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS)**	6,128	33,268
Other revenue from contracts with customers	2,670	2,674
Overhead recharge	5,540	4,106
Rental income	622	1,235
	198,547	165,050
Other operating income:
Police Service of Scotland	5,212	5,211
Police Service of Northern Ireland	1,391	1,391
Donations and other operating income	1,341	13
	7,944	6,615
Total Income	206,491	171,665

*In 2023-24, the NCA received income of £70.95m in relation to the Economic Crime Levy.

**In 2022-23 an amount of £23.33m was received as income in relation to Operation AGADE.

6. Property, plant and equipment

	Buildings £ 000	Land £ 000	Improvements to leasehold buildings £ 000	Motor vehicles £ 000	IT hardware £ 000	Plant and machinery £ 000	Furniture and fittings £ 000	Payments on account and assets under construction £ 000	Total £ 000
Cost or valuation
At 1 April 2023	33,227	8,350	58,204	63,063	178,231	30,427	6,473	7,173	385,148
Additions	1,823	-	4,630	4,900	8,257	3,724	85	29,801	53,220
Disposals	-	-	(1,526)	(5,284)	(22,103)	(5,416)	(500)	-	(34,829)
Impairments	-	-	-	-	-	(1,414)	-	-	(1,414)
Transfers and Reclassifications	-	-	41	555	2,753	250	-	(3,599)	-
Revaluations	-	-	1,064	351	950	483	206	-	3,054
At 31 March 2024	35,050	8,350	62,413	63,585	168,088	28,054	6,264	33,375	405,179
Depreciation
At 1 April 2023	(23,727)	-	(35,485)	(31,664)	(115,339)	(12,221)	(3,395)	-	(221,831)
Charge in year	(634)	-	(7,515)	(7,355)	(22,806)	(4,823)	(603)	-	(43,736)
Disposals	-	-	1,526	4,675	22,103	5,416	501	-	34,221
Impairments	-	-	-	-	-	1,165	-	-	1,165
Transfers and Reclassifications	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Revaluation	-	-	(691)	(120)	(506)	(197)	(115)	-	(1,629)
At 31 March 2024	(24,361)	-	(42,165)	(34,464)	(116,548)	(10,660)	(3,612)	-	(231,810)
Carrying amount at 31 March 2023	9,500	8,350	22,719	31,399	62,892	18,206	3,078	7,173	163,317
Net book value at 31 March 2024	10,689	8,350	20,248	29,121	51,540	17,394	2,652	33,375	173,369

All assets were owned by the NCA

	Buildings £ 000	Land £ 000	Improvements to leasehold buildings £ 000	Motor vehicles £ 000	IT hardware £ 000	Plant and machinery £ 000	Furniture and fittings £ 000	Payments on account and assets under construction £ 000	Total £ 000
Cost or valuation
At 1 April 2022	43,258	6,782	146,741	49,059	194,169	55,825	11,889	3,398	511,121
Additions	2,081	-	3,009	17,356	24,979	7,286	265	5,373	60,349
Disposals	-	-	(96,737)	(5,611)	(44,381)	(34,280)	(6,299)	-	(187,308)
Impairments	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Transfers and Reclassifications	108	(117)	172	1,049	759	(184)	110	(1,598)	299
Revaluations	(12,220)	1,685	5,019	1,210	2,705	1,780	508	-	687
At 31 March 2023	33,227	8,350	58,204	63,063	178,231	30,427	6,473	7,173	385,148
Depreciation
At 1 April 2022	(31,119)	-	(122,913)	(32,811)	(137,938)	(41,627)	(8,840)	-	(375,248)
Charged in year	(784)	-	(6,056)	(3,614)	(20,370)	(4,202)	(573)	-	(35,599)
Disposals	-	-	96,737	5,229	44,355	34,280	6,278	-	186,879
Impairments	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Transfers and Reclassifications	26	-	(58)	44	57	27	(4)	-	92
Revaluations	8,150	-	(3,195)	(512)	(1,443)	(699)	(256)	-	2,045
At 31 March 2023	(23,727)	-	(35,485)	(31,664)	(115,339)	(12,221)	(3,395)	-	(221,831)
Carrying amount at 31 March 2022	12,139	6,782	23,828	16,248	56,231	14,198	3,049	3,398	135,873
Net book value at 31 March 2023	9,500	8,350	22,719	31,399	62,892	18,206	3,078	7,173	163,317

All assets were owned by the NCA

7. Intangible assets

	Purchased software £ 000	Payments on account and assets under construction £ 000	Total £ 000
Cost or valuation
At 1 April 2023	232,476	27,459	259,935
Additions	55,068	31,421	86,489
Disposals	(25,873)	-	(25,873)
Impairments	(548)	-	(548)
Transfers and Reclassifications	19,887	(19,887)	-
At 31 March 2024	281,010	38,993	320,003
Amortisation
At 1 April 2023	(93,411)	-	(93,411)
Charged in year	(41,395)	-	(41,395)
Disposals	25,873	-	25,873
Impairments	238	-	238
Transfers and Reclassifications	-	-	-
At 31 March 2024	(108,695)	-	(108,695)
Carrying amount at 31 March 2023	139,065	27,459	166,524
Carrying amount at 31 March 2024	172,315	38,993	211,308

All intangible assets were owned by the NCA

	Purchased software £ 000	Payments on account and assets under construction £ 000	Total £ 000
Cost or valuation
At 1 April 2022	244,289	25,645	269,934
Additions	38,105	26,986	65,091
Disposals	(73,410)	-	(73,410)
Impairments	-	-	-
Transfers and Reclassifications	23,492	(25,172)	(1,680)
At 31 March 2023	232,476	27,459	259,935
Amortisation
At 1 April 2022	(133,630)	-	(133,630)
Charge in year	(34,406)	-	(34,406)
Disposals	73,336	-	73,336
Transfers and Reclassifications	1,289	-	1,289
At 31 March 2023	(93,411)	-	(93,411)
Carrying amount at 31 March 2022	110,659	25,645	136,304
Carrying amount at 31 March 2023	139,065	27,459	166,524

8.1 Right-of-use assets

	Buildings £ 000	Motor vehicles £ 000	Total £ 000
Cost or valuation
At 1 April 2023	92,095	1,704	93,799
Additions	36,836	2,787	39,623
Disposals	-	(203)	(203)
At 31 March 2024	128,931	4,288	133,219
Amortisation
At 1 April 2023	(15,993)	(49)	(16,042)
Charge in year	(17,872)	(940)	(18,812)
Disposals	-	26	26
At 31 March 2024	(33,865)	(963)	(34,828)
Carrying amount at 31 March 2023	76,102	1,655	77,757
Carrying amount at 31 March 2024	95,066	3,325	98,391

	Buildings £ 000	Motor vehicles £ 000	Total £ 000
Cost or valuation
At 1 April 2022	-	-	-
Initial adoption of IFRS 16 as at 1 April 2022	88,520	-	88,520
Additions	3,575	1,704	5,279
At 31 March 2023	92,095	1,704	93,799
Amortisation
At 1 April 2022	-	-	-
Charge in year	(15,993)	(49)	(16,042)
At 31 March 2023	(15,993)	(49)	(16,042)
Carrying amount at 31 March 2022	-	-	-
Carrying amount at 31 March 2023	76,102	1,655	77,757

8.2 Lease liabilities

	Buildings 2023-24 £ 000	Motor Vehicles 2023-24 £ 000	Total 2023-24 £ 000	Total 2022-23 £ 000
Obligations under right of use leases comprise:
Not later than one year	18,076	1,264	19,340	16,812
Later than one year and not later than 5 years	41,370	1,893	43,263	37,664
Later than 5 years	43,555	-	43,555	24,075
	103,001	3,157	106,158	78,551
Less interest element	(11,835)	(250)	(12,085)	(3,307)
Present value of obligation	91,166	2,907	94,073	75,244

	Buildings 2023-24 £ 000	Motor Vehicles 2023-24 £ 000	Total 2023-24 £ 000	Total 2022-23 £ 000
Interest expense	(888)	(131)	(1,019)	(843)
Repayment of principal on leases	18,923	1,231	20,154	20,799
Total cash payments in respect of leases	18,035	1,100	19,135	19,956

9. Financial instruments

As the cash requirements of the NCA are met through the estimates process, financial instruments play a more limited role in creating and managing risk than they would apply to a non-public sector body of a similar size. The majority of financial instruments relate to contracts for non-financial items in line with the NCA’s expected purchase and usage requirements and the NCA is therefore usually exposed to little credit, liquidity or market risk.

10. Cash and cash equivalents

	2023-24 £ 000	2022-23 £ 000
Balance at 1 April 2023	20,436	44,357
Net change in cash and cash equivalents balances	15,209	(23,921)
Balance at 31 March 2024	35,645	20,436
The following balances at 31 March 2024 were held at:
Commercial banks and cash in hand	6,281	5,429
Balance held with Government Banking Service	29,364	15,007
Balance at 31 March 2024	35,645	20,436

The NCA operated a number of bank accounts and cash imprest accounts during the year. The Agency does not draw down funds from HM Treasury in advance of need.

The UK accounts operated some commercial accounts under a pooling arrangement that allowed some accounts to be overdrawn, as long as the main NCA account was in credit to cover the overdrawn balances. Cash and cash equivalent balances held at 31 March 2024 were converted to sterling at the prevailing spot rate.

Bank interest of less than £1,000 was received during the year on bank balances (2022-23: less than £1,000).

11. Trade receivables, financial and other assets

	2023-24 £ 000	2022-23 £ 000
Amounts falling due within one year:
Contract assets*	80,864	114,045
Prepayments	29,578	26,992
Trade receivables	7,698	4,268
Other receivables	2,523	3,224
	120,663	148,529

*Accrued income is shown within Contract Assets in accordance with IFRS 15 Revenue from contracts with customers.

12. Trade payables and other current liabilities

	2023-24 £ 000	2022-23 £ 000
Amounts falling due within one year:
Accruals	70,638	77,799
Amounts issued from the Consolidated Fund for supply but not spent at year end	35,645	20,436
Trade payables	22,422	18,747
IFRS 16 lease liability	19,340	16,053
Other tax and social security	16,153	14,994
Other payables	2,200	1,851
Contract liabilities	1,402	837
	167,800	150,717
Amounts falling due after more than one year:
IFRS 16 lease liability	74,733	59,191
	74,733	59,191

13. Provisions for liabilities and charges

	Legal provision £ 000	Retirement provision £ 000	Dilapidation provision £ 000	2023-24 Total provision £ 000	2022-23 Total provision £ 000
Balance at 1 April 2023	1,758	2,843	9,979	14,580	14,221
Provided in the year	589	-	1,542	2,131	1,762
Provisions not required written back *	(115)	-	-	(115)	(629)
Provisions utilised in the year **	(134)	(179)	-	(313)	(1,080)
Borrowing costs (unwinding of discounts)	-	256	189	445	306
Balance at 31 March 2024	2,098	2,920	11,710	16,728	14,580

*Provisions not required written back is a credit to AME. This occurs when the provision is reviewed and confirmed to be overstated.

**Provisions utilised in the year are a charge to DEL and reflect expenditure incurred that offset in part or in total the original provision.

13.1 Analysis of expected timing of discounted flows

The provisions are anticipated to crystallise as follows:

	Legal provision £ 000	Retirement provision £ 000	Dilapidation provision £ 000	2023-24 Total provision £ 000	2022-23 Total provision £ 000
Not later than one year	2,098	174	746	3,018	3,392
Later than one year and not later than 5 years	-	657	5,229	5,886	5,033
Later than 5 years	-	2,089	5,735	7,824	6,155
Balance at 31 March 2024	2,098	2,920	11,710	16,728	14,580

14. Contingent liabilities and indemnities

Contingent Liabilities

The NCA had a small number of claims from employees, members of the public and suppliers that could result in compensation payments being made upon tribunal or court judgment or settlement. The probability of the claims being successful is considered less than 50%.

Contingent liabilities were entered into in relation to the construction of the new London headquarters. The likelihood of them being called upon is considered less than 50%.

Indemnities

The NCA previously had in place a Departmental Minute dated March 2015 providing the NCA with authorisation to enter into indemnities of specific types and values. In 2022-23, the Accounting Officer was delegated authority from HMT to enter into indemnities up to £3m with no more than £50m in total at any one time.

Controls are in place to ensure indemnities do not exceed the £50m limit.

All indemnities in place are considered as within the NCA’s business as usual activity.

Indemnities in place as at 31 March 2024:

Firearms Indemnities	2023-24	2022-23
Agreements entered into with suppliers during the year	9	28
Maximum value at any one time	£25.00m	£35.00m

There were 4 indemnities in place with firearms training establishments on 31 March 2024 (2022-23: 4).

Other indemnities:	2023-24 Number	2023-24 Value	2022-23 Number	2022-23 Value
Indemnities with clearing banks	7	£2.32m	6	£2.02m
Operational Indemnities	11	£7.25m	7	£5.12m
PF78 indemnities*	5	£0.13m	5	£0.13m

*A PF78 (solicitor’s undertaking as to expenses) occurred in circumstances where a person, by dint of their age or capacity, was unable to defend their own interests. In these cases, the court would direct that their interests were independently represented by the office of the Official Solicitor. In such circumstances, the NCA was requested by the court to provide an undertaking to indemnify the Official Solicitor’s reasonable costs.

In addition to new indemnities shown in the tables above, one new indemnity was entered into during 2023-24 in relation to construction work carried out at the new London head- quarter site. No indemnities were called upon during the year.

15. Leases

Commitments under leases

The NCA was committed to pay for the following operating lease rentals in future financial years:

Firearms Indemnities	2023-24 £ 000	2022-23 £ 000
Obligations under operating leases comprise:
Buildings:
Not later than one year	80	80
Later than one year and not later than 5 years	319	319
Later than 5 years	7,423	7,503
Total	7,822	7,902

16. Capital and other commitments

Other financial commitments

The NCA has entered into non-cancellable contracts for the provision of information technology, communication services and facilities management. The payments to which the NCA is committed are as follows:

	2023-24 £ 000	2022-23 £ 000
Other financial commitments:
Not later than one year	31,120	23,806
Later than one year and not later than five years	19,306	20,789
Later than five years	-	-
Total	50,426	44,595

The NCA undertook a number of transactions with government departments and other government bodies during the year, including the Home Office and the Cabinet Office, with whom the Agency works closely.

The Remuneration Report provides information on key management compensation. No minister, board member, key manager or other related party has undertaken any material transactions with the NCA during the year.

18. Third-party assets

Seized property is property appropriated by the NCA and other law enforcement bodies but which may still be liable to be returned. Seized property held by the NCA as at 31 March 2024 consisted of £45.56m (2022-23: £52.77m) in cash, motor vehicles, cryptocurrency and other valuables suspected of being derived from criminal activity.

These are not the NCA’s assets and are not included in the financial statements of the NCA:

	2023-24 £ 000	2022-23 £ 000
Third party assets:
Monies	35,244	33,684
Physical assets	4,061	2,666
Cryptocurrency*	6,256	16,417
Total	45,561	52,767

*Cryptocurrency is valued using a Coinbase rate of exchange available on 31 March 2024. By its nature, the value of cryptocurrency is highly volatile and subject to unpredictable valuation movements.

19. Recovered assets

The NCA currently manages bank accounts where recovered assets are deposited. Each financial year-end, the excess of civil recoveries net of any direct disposal costs is paid over to the Home Office. For assets recovered through Criminal and Tax cases the amounts are paid over quarterly. The figures presented below are net of direct costs.

	2023-24 £ 000	2022-23 £ 000
Recovered assets receipts
- Civil	4,046	57,295
- Criminal	-	-
- Tax	440	578
	4,486	57,873
Recovered assets receipts
Asset recoveries applied against receivers’ fees (see below)	-	-
Net recovered receipts	4,486	57,873
Receipts paid to the Home Office during the year	(3,747)	(57,378)
Recovered asset proceeds held at 31 March	739	495
Recovered asset Held by NCA in Civil bank Accounts as at 31 March	238,160	232,761

The NCA pays to the Home office, quarterly in arrears, recovered asset receipts net of estimated receivership and enforcement costs. A final payment for £0.74m is due from the monies held in the separately identified third party bank accounts and will be paid to the Home office by June 2024. The remaining civil receipts of £238.16m held in the civil third party bank accounts is related to two operations, Operation AGADE and Operation LOBULOSE.

Operation AGADE is a civil recovery investigation into funds held by Barclays Bank. Following information received from Barclays Bank in relation to funds held in various suspense/sundry accounts believed to be the proceeds of crime, mainly fraud, Barclays have worked in cooperation with the NCA to allow for the recovery of the funds in the related suspense accounts. On 25 November 2022, following an uncontested hearing at the High Court, the NCA obtained a Recovery Order in relation to the £53.90m held in the suspense accounts at Barclays Bank. It was agreed for £4m to be held to pay any victim claims, this has been reduced to £2.01m.

Operation LOBULOSE is a civil recovery investigation acting under a request from the US Department of Justice (DOJ). The US DOJ is pursuing assets which are suspected to be or represent the proceeds of the multi-billion Malaysian Development Board (1MDB) fraud against the Malaysian Government. As part of the US request, a Prohibition Order was applied for in respect to the £200m plus funds held by the High Court in London. The application for the Prohibition Order was heard in February 2022 and the Order granted by the High Court in April 2022. However, there was a delay in transferring these funds to the NCA because of an application by the defence for permission to appeal and various applications to vary the Prohibition Order. The defence application for permission to appeal was refused and only limited legal exclusions for the defendants were granted by the High Court. On 8 February 2023 the NCA received a transfer from the High Court Funds Office of £228.56m into a segregated funds account, to be managed by the NCA Trustee, pending a result in the civil forfeiture proceedings in the US. We have negotiated interest of £5.60m at the current rate of 4.35%. The current balance of £236.15m includes £54k court cost order and £7.65m interest.

The civil and tax figures quoted above differ from the NCA’s reported performance against the Home Office civil and tax recovery target in the annual report as a result of the deduction of allowable costs and cases under appeal in the above figures.

The criminal receipts figure quoted above relates to the NCA’s ongoing responsibility to enforce payment against criminal confiscation orders obtained in previous years by the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) or where the NCA has obtained a confiscation order in connection with an investigation commenced by the ARA. It is by its nature a small and diminishing amount. All other existing confiscation orders obtained by the NCA and new confiscation orders unconnected with the ARA obtained since the merger continue to be enforced by the courts. This figure has no relationship to the value of the new confiscation orders obtained by the NCA for the period ended 31 March 2024, nor to the value of receipts banked by the courts in fulfilment of confiscation orders obtained by the NCA for the period ended 31 March 2024 and previous years.

20. Forfeiture and confiscation orders

Receipts paid to the Home Office during the year in fulfilment of cash forfeiture orders obtained in the period ended 31 March 2024 and previous years are set out below. It should be noted that the time-lag created by the 30-day appeal period which follows all cash forfeiture orders and the normal business delays in processing forfeited cash through to the Home Office means that the amount paid to the Home Office in any given financial year will not correspond precisely to the stated value of new cash forfeiture orders obtained over the same period.

	2023-24 £ 000	2022-23 £ 000
Forfeiture and confiscation monies paid over	8,196	11,280

21. Events after the reporting period

In accordance with the requirements of IAS 10 Events After the Reporting Period, post- Statement of Financial Position events are considered up to the date on which the accounts are authorised for issue by Graeme Biggar (Accounting Officer). This is interpreted as the same date as the Certificate and Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Annex A- Regulatory reporting

Core tables

The following tables have been produced to support the NCA Annual Report and Accounts. They are designed to allow users to review financial performance over previous periods.

These tables are consistent in their presentation across Government Departments and allow users to make comparisons.

Table 1: Total departmental spending

	2019-20 Outturn £ 000	2020-21 Outturn £ 000	2021-22 Outturn £ 000	2022-23 Outturn £ 000	2023-24 Outturn £ 000
Resource DEL NCA	485,008	498,230	503,420	621,270	667,827
Total Resource DEL	485,008	498,230	503,420	621,270	667,827
of which: Pay	290,769	333,782	350,491	359,740	397,075
of which: Depreciation	56,674	64,195	55,468	86,047	103,943
Resource AME NCA	40,538	21,571	13,850	18,036	29,125
Total Resource AME	40,538	21,571	13,850	18,036	29,125
Total Resource Outturn	525,546	519,801	517,270	639,306	696,952
of which: Depreciation	56,674	64,195	55,468	86,047	103,943
Capital DEL NCA	63,625	46,929	45,403	105,767	136,979
Capital AME	-	-	-	309	1,542
Total Capital Outturn	63,625	46,929	45,403	106,076	138,521
of which: Capital expenditure of fixed assets net of sales	86,034	108,656	102,732	142,686	198,203
of which: Dilapidations provision – Right-of-use additions	-	-	-	309	1,542
of which: Income from sales of assets and other grants	(22,409)	(61,727)	(57,329)	(36,919)	(61,224)
Total Capital Outturn	63,625	46,929	45,403	106,076	138,521

	2019-20 Outturn £ 000	2020-21 Outturn £ 000	2021-22 Outturn £ 000	2022-23 Outturn £ 000	2023-24 Outturn £ 000
Total Departmental Spending	589,171	566,730	562,673	745,382	835,473
Of which: Total Resource DEL	485,008	498,230	503,420	621,270	667,827
Of which: Total Resource AME	40,538	21,571	13,850	18,036	29,125
Of which: Total Capital DEL	63,625	46,929	45,403	105,767	136,979
Of which: Total Capital AME	-	-	-	309	1,542

Total Resource DEL increased in 2023-24 to reflect growing in-year pressures on the NCA’s operations.

Total Resource AME increased in 2023-24 due to an increase in pension scheme interest payments.

Total Capital DEL increased in 2023-24 due to the NCA’s strategy to grow and improve capabilities in relation to data technology and estates.

Total Capital AME increased in 2023-24 as a result of dilapidations provisions under new leases.

For explanations on the variances between 2023-24 and 2022-23, please refer back to the sections on the Statement of Parliamentary Supply, and the underlying variances in the Financial statements in Part 3 of this report.

Table 2: Administration costs for the NCA

	2019-20 Outturn £ 000	2020-21 Outturn £ 000	2021-22 Outturn £ 000	2022-23 Outturn £ 000	2023-24 Outturn £ 000
Resource DEL NCA	36,408	36,513	35,212	35,747	37,210
Total admin outturn	36,408	36,513	35,212	35,747	37,210
Of which: Expenditure	36,408	36,513	35,343	35,888	38,443
Of which: Income	-	-	(131)	(141)	(1,233)
Of which: Total admin outturn	36,408	36,513	35,212	35,747	37,210

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E03106627 978-1-5286-4858-5

Where operational activity against the most harmful criminals and groups is assessed to have had one of the highest categories of impact (major or moderate). These cases will often involve the use of specialist capabilities not routinely available to local or regional law enforcement agencies. ↩
Disruptions are achieved when Law Enforcement activity results in evidenced impact against a SOC threat. ↩
Goal 7 Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. Goal 11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Goal 13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. Goal 15 Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss. ↩
Until such time as the UK vehicle market provides EVs with a range in excess of 1,000 miles, the Agency will be unable to transition its operational fleet to electric. Alongside cross-government partners; the Agency is working with the Office for Zero Emissions to monitor market progression and to ensure appropriate exemptions are in place to enable operational effectiveness to be maintained. ↩

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Statement by the Director General

Part 1 – Performance report

Performance overview

Who we are and what we do

The serious and organised crime threat

Main Themes

Technology and online spaces

Global insecurities

The interconnectivity of serious and organised crime

NCA priorities in 2023-2024

2023-2024 Summary

Key highlights from this year’s performance:

NCA Strategy 2023-2028

Financial summary

Financial outturn

Financial outturn against estimate

Going concern statement

Performance analysis

Modern slavery and human trafficking

Context (1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023)

Headlines (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

Organised immigration crime

Context (1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023)

Headlines (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

Borders

Context (1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023)

Headlines (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

Child sexual abuse (CSA)

Context (1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023)

Headlines (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

Drugs

Context (1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023)

Headlines (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

Firearms

Context (1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023)

Headlines (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

Cybercrime

Context (1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023)

Headlines (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

Fraud

Context (1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023)

Headlines (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

Illicit finance and money laundering

Context (1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023)

Headlines (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

National capabilities

Major Crime Investigative Support (MCIS)

Serious Crime Analysis Section (SCAS)

UK Missing Persons Unit (UKMPU)

Joint International Crime Centre (JICC)

Child Sexual Exploitation Referral Bureau (CSERB)

United Kingdom Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU)

The Proceeds of Crime Centre (PoCC)

Devolved administrations

Scotland

Northern Ireland

Enabling and operational capabilities

Operational capabilities

Integrated Communications Intelligence (ICI)

Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)

Security

Professional standards

Digital, data and technology

Estates (Concordis)

People

Sustainability Report

Introduction

Performance Commentary

Mitigating Climate Change: working towards Net Zero by 2050

Travel

Waste

Paper

Water

Sustainable construction

Climate Change Adaptation

Nature Recovery and Biodiversity

Sustainable Procurement

Reducing Environmental Impacts from ICT and Digital

TCFD-Aligned Disclosure