Serious fraud is lower priority during COVID crisis

New guidance has set out which new offences should be "fed into the system and how those offences are progressed."   Offences are banded into categories of priority, with the most violent offences against the person naturally taking highest priority (deemed "Immediate").  

For the moment, serious fraud is further down the agenda with the guidance recommending not clogging up the courts with these cases, but rather "delaying the start of proceedings […] until a wider listing plan is in place." The guidance suggests that "a virtual specialist fraud court could be set up to manage cases and prepare a longer listing plan."  

Virtual courts may work for managing complex fraud cases, but jury trials themselves are unlikely to be able to be conducted virtually.  

The fact that charging decisions will be delayed is not to say that the SFO should be inactive: the guidance recommends continued preparation of longer cases, including engaging with defence representations, to shorten the process post-charge.