Overview
- Home Office officials unveiled the unit on Monday with a £20m NCA coordination cell and a pledge to add 75 specialist officers across hotspot forces in the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, and a joint Kent–Essex team.
- The wider £30m package allocates £6m to Trading Standards, £1.5m to Immigration Enforcement, £1.35m to HMRC, and £900,000 to run the new unit inside the Home Office.
- Ministers expect thousands of premises to be visited for raids and closures with asset seizures and hundreds of arrests as a standing national campaign rolls out each year.
- A rapid review of enforcement powers is under way that includes consulting on longer closure orders so agencies can keep criminal front shops shut for more time.
- Authorities cite NCA estimates of £12bn in criminal cash each year with about £1bn pushed through high street shops, a flow that retailers and consumer groups say undercuts honest traders and risks public safety.