Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 creates a criminal offence for organisations. In broad terms, the offence is concerned with cases where the way an organisation’s activities were managed or organised caused a person’s death and amounted to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care.

This is not a general paperwork offence and it is not aimed at every accident or every safety failing. The structure of the Act shows that it is focused on deaths, duties of care, gross breach and organisational management. It is designed to deal with serious cases where the organisation itself is said to have failed in a way that justifies criminal liability.

For business owners, the practical point is that the law looks beyond the immediate event. If a fatal incident leads to scrutiny, attention may turn to how the organisation’s activities were managed or organised and whether senior management played a substantial part in the breach.

The Act is not limited to one industry. Its contents show that it applies to organisations and then makes specific provision for particular categories, including Crown bodies, armed forces, police forces and partnerships.

That means ordinary private sector businesses are not the only organisations that need to consider it. At the same time, the Act also contains special sections dealing with particular public and operational functions. Scope should therefore be checked carefully where an organisation performs mixed commercial and public roles, or where it falls into a category with its own application provision.

If your business structure is unusual, or if your organisation works closely with public bodies or carries out functions touched by the special sections, it is sensible to check the exact statutory wording before relying on a summary.

The contents of the Act show the main building blocks of the offence. There is the offence itself, the meaning of a relevant duty of care, the idea of gross breach, and a section on factors for the jury. There is also a clear focus on senior management.

That structure matters because it shows this is not a simple strict liability rule. A prosecution must fit the statutory framework. The issue is not only whether something went wrong, but whether the death is said to have been caused by the way the organisation’s activities were managed or organised, whether a relevant duty of care existed, and whether the breach was gross.

For a business, this means not every incident, not every policy failure and not every health and safety issue will amount to corporate manslaughter or corporate homicide. The Act is aimed at serious organisational failings that meet the legal test set out in the legislation.

The Act contains a dedicated section on the meaning of a relevant duty of care. It also contains separate sections on public policy decisions, exclusively public functions and statutory inspections.

Further sections deal with military activities, policing and law enforcement, emergencies, and child-protection and probation functions. Those headings matter because they show that the Act does not apply in exactly the same way across every activity an organisation may carry on.

For businesses, the safest reading is a narrow one. Do not assume that every duty, every function or every public-facing activity is treated identically. If your organisation operates in an area touched by one of these special sections, the exact wording should be checked before you rely on a high-level explanation.

One of the most important features of the Act is its focus on senior management. The offence is concerned with whether the way the organisation’s activities were managed or organised by senior management was a substantial element in the breach.

That does not mean every senior manager is personally liable under this Act. The contents include a separate section headed "No individual liability". The Act instead directs attention to organisational management at a senior level when deciding whether the organisation itself committed the offence.

For businesses, this means a fatal incident may lead to close examination of how important decisions were made, how serious risk information moved through the organisation, and whether the alleged failings reflected the way the organisation was run rather than a one-off act by a single worker.

The Act does more than create an offence. It also gives courts power to make remedial orders and publicity orders. Those powers can matter greatly in practice.

A remedial order is aimed at requiring the breach or related matters to be remedied. A publicity order is aimed at requiring the conviction or related details to be publicised. For a business, that can affect operations, customer confidence, tendering, reputation and internal management attention, not just the criminal case itself.

The Act also contains sections on procedure, evidence and sentencing, and on the need for the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions for proceedings. Those are legal process points rather than day-to-day operating rules, but they show that the Act has its own procedural framework.

The Act does not stand alone. Its contents include a section on convictions under this Act and under health and safety legislation. That is a clear sign that businesses should not treat this Act as replacing ordinary health and safety duties.

The Act also includes a section abolishing liability of corporations for manslaughter at common law. In practical terms, the statutory regime is intended to govern this area for organisations in the way the Act provides.

For most businesses, the day-to-day message is straightforward. Ordinary safety compliance still matters, and a serious fatal incident may raise issues under more than one legal regime. This Act sits alongside that wider legal landscape rather than displacing it.

This page is a practical overview, not a substitute for reading the legislation. Because the Act contains several special scope sections and category-specific application provisions, businesses should check the exact wording where the facts are sensitive, unusual or involve public functions.

That is especially important if your organisation may fall within the provisions on Crown bodies, armed forces, police forces or partnerships, or if the activity in question may touch public policy decisions, statutory inspections, emergencies, policing, military activity, child-protection or probation functions.

If a death has occurred, or if enforcement action is being considered, get legal advice urgently. The legal and reputational stakes are too high to rely on a summary alone.

This is a UK Public General Act cited as 2007 c. 19. It received Royal Assent on 26 July 2007.

The legislation website records that the Act is up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before 28 July 2026. It also states that there are changes that may be brought into force at a future date. Businesses should therefore check the current revised version before relying on any summary for a live issue.

The contents also include sections on commencement and savings, extent and territorial application, and interpretation. If timing, territorial reach or the exact wording of a provision matters to your situation, check the current legislation directly.