Deferred prosecution agreements

What are Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs)?

A Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) is a power given to the court under the Crime and Courts Act 2013 (CCA 2013) to approve a financial penalty and compensatory payments which have been agreed between the company and the prosecutor.

They are not available to individuals and are only available in respect of the offences referred to in CCA 2013, Sch 17. See: Offences for which a DPA may be entered into—checklist, which lists all the common law offences and statutory offences for which a DPA may be entered into.

DPAs are formal court-endorsed agreements that provides a company with certainty that it will not face criminal prosecution if it complies with the terms of the agreement. A DPA allows a company to continue to trade without being prosecuted over a set period when they have been investigated for financial crime or bribery and have paid a fine and made other financial recompense.

The designated prosecutors, currently the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), have had these agreements at their disposal since 24

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