Crime and regulatory - market insights April 2025

Prevention of future death reports  

Prevention of future deaths (PFD) reports, also known as Regulation 28 Reports, have long been an important consideration for those representing organisations at inquests. At every inquest a coroner has a duty to consider whether the circumstances in which the death arose give rise to a risk of future deaths. If the coroner is concerned that there is a risk of future deaths then they must issue a PFD Report to the relevant organisation, which requires a response by the recipient within 56 days. Despite a response being required by law, the coroner does not have the power to compel a recipient to reply, leading to PFD Reports being ignored in some cases.  

From 1 January 2025, a new policy aimed at increasing accountability for organisations failing to respond to PFD Reports was introduced by the Chief Coroner for England and Wales. The Chief Coroner will now place organisations on a publicly accessible list for failure to respond to a PFD Report describing this as a “badge of dishonour”, with the list highlighting those organisations which have failed to engage with the process.  

The management of human factors in health and safety cases 

It is estimated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that 80% of accidents may be attributed to the actions or omissions of individuals. Humans are not infallible and managing human failures is essential for accident prevention and the prevention of ill-heath. As such, organisations should give due consideration to ‘human factors’ defined as “environmental, organisational and job factors, and human and individual characteristics, which influence behaviour at work in a way which can affect health and safety”. This can include the design of systems of work and identification of appropriate control measures, including any AI that may assist in identifying particular issues such as fatigue or inattentiveness of its workers.   

We have seen a growing use of human factor expert evidence in prosecutions brought by the HSE, and we are increasingly instructing our own independent experts to assist in the defence of these cases. In our experience, courts are increasingly acknowledging the value of human factors expert evidence in explaining complicated issues related to human error to juries.  

Online Safety Act 2023  

In 2025 there will be further developments as part of Ofcom’s online safety roadmap. In January 2025 Ofcom published its statement on age assurance and children’s access assessments which indicates the first steps towards the implementation of the child protection provisions within the Online Safety Act. It is intended that this will be followed by the publication of Ofcom’s children’s risk assessment guidance in April 2025. In addition to its work in relation to children’s online safety, in February 2025 Ofcom published its draft guidance on protecting women and girls, containing advice on content and activity which disproportionately them, and on assessing and reducing the risk of harm to them. 

This follows new criminal offences to the Online Safety Act 2023, including cyberflashing, sharing intimate images without consent and intentionally encouraging or assisting serious self-harm of another person, that were introduced on 31 January 2024. In March 2024 we saw the first conviction for cyber flashing as well as the publication by Ofcom, as the regulatory and enforcer of online safety, of illegal harms codes of practice and guidance in December 2024. 

We have also identified the Online Safety Act as a key topic in the Public sector section.

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill received Royal Assent on 3 April 2025. The implementation period is expected to be at least 24 months. This means that there is no legal requirement to comply with the provisions of the Act until the legislation comes into force.

The new Act, also referred to as Martyn's Law, is intended to improve protective security and organisational preparedness across the UK. It requires certain premises and events to ensure steps have been taken to prepare for potential terrorist attacks and get ready to help keep people safe in the event of an attack. The Home Office will publish statutory guidance during the implementation period, aimed to assist with understanding the requirements set out in the legislation.

We have also identified the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act in the Political risk and Public sector sections.