Reform of information order powers – Law Society response

The proposals

The Home Office is consulting on reforms to the information order powers in section 339ZH of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and section 22B of the Terrorism Act 2000.

The information order powers were introduced in the Criminal Finances Act 2017.

They allow the National Crime Agency (NCA) to compel businesses in the AML-regulated sector who had submitted a money laundering or terrorist financing disclosure to provide specific further information about their customer or client.

The powers were amended by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 so they could be used to compel information for analysis purposes in non-disclosure contexts.

The existing powers require a court order. They would be replaced with a statutory power to issue “information notices”, granted to authorised NCA officers.

Our view

We understand the UK government’s aim of streamlining investigatory processes and improving information gathering.

However, we have serious concerns about the justification, scope and safeguards of the proposed reforms.

We are concerned by the move from a court-based approval system to the NCA being able to issue information notices directly without third-party, independent (judicial) oversight.

Our key concerns are:

• lack of evidence: the consultation does not demonstrate that the current regime is ineffective or unworkable, with no empirical data or case studies to justify removing judicial oversight
• insufficient safeguards: proposed NCA procedures do not provide independent scrutiny, with no clear mechanism for recipients to challenge notices, leaving costly and burdensome as the only recourse
• overly broad powers: the scope of information notices is ambiguous and could extend to sensitive communications data, raising concerns about proportionality, privacy and potential misuse
• unclear penalties and enforcement: details on financial penalties, their retention, scale and enforcement are insufficient, creating risks of inconsistency and conflicts of interest

Next steps

While we support efforts to enhance financial crime enforcement, any new powers must be balanced, evidence-based and subject to appropriate oversight.

We encourage the Home Office to reconsider the proposed reforms considering these concerns.

The consultation closed on 7 November 2025.