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The UK’s Serious Fraud Office has abandoned plans to move its offices to Canary Wharf in order to spend its resources on improving the way it handles cases.
The prosecutor had been planning to move its headquarters from a Trafalgar Square site owned by the Canadian government to buildings in the docklands leased by the UK government within the next year.
But the plan has been scrapped so that the SFO can use its limited finances to improve internal systems, the agency told the Financial Times.
Its decision not to move has been signed off by the attorney-general, which is responsible for overseeing the SFO, the agency added. Because of the nature of the its work, a move is complicated and made more expensive by its need for specialist equipment and high storage demands.
The SFO said: “In the current financial climate it is right that operationally critical work is prioritised, which is why recent funding will go to projects including an enhanced case management system and the creation of a new asset confiscation enforcement team.”
The prosecutor was given an extra £9.3mn of funding in November as it seeks to improve its case management and evidence handling systems. An average case at the agency takes more than four years from investigation to the first outcome and involves 5mn documents. The decision not to move was also taken in November.
The agency’s funding is always made up of a core sum plus an additional amount, which changes yearly, to handle large cases. The agency’s budget for 2025-26 is £88.9mn.
Like most public prosecutors, the SFO has long struggled with a limited budget as it attempts to go after deep-pocketed white-collar criminals.
However, the agency overhauled some of its own systems following criticism. Last year it reviewed its evidence-handling software after problems with its search function were detected.
The system is core to criminal prosecutions, as the defence must be given anything from the prosecution’s trove of evidence that may help the defence’s case.
The agency earlier this month said a review of its systems had not turned up any material that could undermine the safety of any of its convictions.
A number of public sector bodies have moved to Canary Wharf in recent years, as some of the traditional large financial groups in the Docklands have moved back to the City of London or downsized their footprints. The then-Conservative government opened a new hub in the area in 2018 and had been relocating departments in an attempt to save money on Whitehall buildings.
Long-term leases to the government are considered attractive to landlords, while a new community of fintechs has also migrated to the financial district. British digital lender Zopa Bank announced this week it is relocating from London Bridge to the area.
The SFO first moved to its current building, which houses Canada’s High Commission, in 2012.
