On 23rd September 2014, the Law Society of England and Wales has published general guidelines for completing a NCA consent
request. As reported, the guidelines were drafted as a result of discussions held between the Law Society’s Money Laundering Task Force (MLTF) and the NCA regarding common reporting errors and the complexity of NCA guidance in this area.

The Law Society recommended to take the following actions:

• be familiar with the NCA’s change in policy, effective from 1 October 2014, where they will now refuse to consider consent requests that it believes do not contain sufficient information;
• use SAR Online when submitting consent requests as this will prompt you for certain relevant information;
• ensure that the contact details held by the NCA for the appropriate individual at your firm are up to date, especially if you have not submitted a SAR for some time.

Download the guidelines
NCA consent request guidance (PDF 148kb)

Source:  the Law Society of England and Wales