By Rob Miller
Forensic accountant and expert witness specialising in offering expertise on POCA, cryptocurrency, and financial dispute matters.
Updated November 2026 | 11 min read time
A section 18 POCA order requires a defendant in confiscation proceedings in England and Wales to tell the court what they own and earn, and to name anybody else with an interest in their property. Unless the court sets a different date, the statement is due 15 business days after the confiscation timetable is set, and it comes before the prosecution serves its own case.
That order of events is the reason this statement matters. The defendant writes the first account of their own finances, and the prosecution builds its section 16 statement (its case on what the defendant gained and still holds) on top of it. A wrong figure here travels with the case all the way to the court’s order. That’s why the section 18 POCA statement is often the first document I check when I’m instructed as an expert witness in confiscation proceedings.
It also arrives at a bad moment. The timetable is set before the sentencing hearing ends, so the defendant leaves the hearing that sentenced them with a 15-business-day deadline and a questionnaire about everything they own. That questionnaire is their first chance to put their own numbers in front of the court before the prosecution has a chance to put in theirs.
By Rob Miller FCA MAE, forensic accountant and expert witness Published November 2026
What is a Section 18 Order in POCA Confiscation Proceedings?
A section 18 POCA order is a court order requiring the defendant to give the court information it needs to decide a confiscation order. Under section 18 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the Crown Court can make an order at any stage during confiscation proceedings, including to help it decide a third party’s share of property. The order can specify how the information is given and by when.
Practitioners call the defendant’s answer one of three things: a section 18 statement, an s18 POCA statement, or the section 18 POCA questionnaire, because prosecutors often serve a standard form. Whatever it’s called, it deals mainly with one question: what the defendant can pay. This is known as the available amount. The order can ask for any information the court needs, but the benefit figure, which is the amount the defendant is said to have gained from crime, is usually argued later, in the section 17 response.
When is a Section 18 POCA Statement Due?
A section 18 POCA statement is due on the date the court sets, and by default that is 15 business days after the confiscation timetable is set. Unless the court orders otherwise, the sequence follows Rule 33.11 of the Criminal Procedure Rules 2025 (as amended). Since 29 June 2026, section 15A of POCA requires the court to set the timetable before the end of the sentencing hearing.
The order is as follows:
- The defendant serves section 18 information within 15 business days of the timetable, and during that 15-day window, must notify anyone they name as having an interest in their property, with the reasons also provided.
- The prosecutor serves its section 16 statement within a further 20 business days.
- The defendant serves a section 17 response within 30 business days of the section 16 statement.
- Anyone else with an interest in the property has 45 business days from being served with notice of the proceedings to respond.
Fifteen business days is effectively three weeks. Whether that’s enough depends on how many places the defendant’s money sits. One bank account and a rented flat is manageable. A limited company, a mortgaged house, and accounts in a partner’s name is an entirely different task, because every one of these figures needs a document behind it.
The court can shorten or extend any of these deadlines, with or without a hearing, so if a statement can’t be finished in time, ask for more time before the date passes. Remember: asking for an extension before the deadline is a request, asking for one after is an explanation, so if the statement won’t be ready, be sure to ask early.
What Should a Section 18 POCA Statement Include?
The bare minimum to expect from a section 18 POCA statement is a listing of the defendant’s property and income, as well as the name/s of anybody else with a financial interest in the property. This person’s address, their solicitor (if they have one), and the nature of their interest should also be noted. Most orders will ask for more, and the prosecution’s questionnaire often does.
In practice, a complete statement covers:
- Property in the UK and abroad, with the basis of each value and any mortgage or charge against it.
- Bank, building society, investment and pension accounts, with balances and account numbers.
- Vehicles, jewellery, cryptoassets, and any other assets of value.
- Business interests, with the value of the defendant’s share and any director’s loan account.
- Income from every source, and the tax returns that support it.
- Debts and liabilities.
- Gifts and transfers the defendant has made, with dates and values.
- Property held jointly or in someone else’s name, and the other person’s interest.
Every value needs a source. When staring down the barrel of confiscation, the temptation for a defendant is often to keep the numbers low and the answers short. This instinct is understandable when those numbers decide what they’ll be ordered to pay. But it usually backfires. A house entered at “around £300,000” invites the prosecution to supply its own figure, and the court has no reason to prefer the defendant’s estimate over an actual valuation.
Overstating assets costs just as much though, because the figure fixes what the defendant has to pay, and reducing the order afterwards is harder than getting it right at the beginning. A valuation, a mortgage statement, and the Land Registry title make the entry stand up to scrutiny.
Filling in a section 18 POCA statement is like doing a tax return when the inspector already has the bank statements open on the desk. The prosecution’s financial investigator will have the defendant’s bank records, and any asset in them that’s missing from the statement becomes a question at the hearing. It also gives the prosecution a starting point for arguing that any omissions must mean other assets are also likely to be hidden.
If you’re reading this with the 15 business days already counting down, ask for the extension this week, while it’s still a routine request. I can advise on what your client’s s18 POCA statement needs before it goes in: call me on 0161 243 0595. That is advisory work for the defence. Whether I can also act as the independent expert later in the same case depends on how far I’ve been involved in preparing the statement, and I’ll tell you at the outset.
What Happens if a Defendant Doesn’t Comply With a Section 18 POCA Order?
If a defendant ignores a section 18 POCA order, or answers it incompletely without good reason, the court can draw conclusions against them about their finances, and it keeps its other powers to deal with the failure too. The judge has to be satisfied that someone explained to the defendant, in terms they understand, that the order must be obeyed and what may follow if it isn’t. Once that’s been done, not understanding the order stops being an acceptable answer.
The conclusion that matters most is that the defendant has hidden assets. Since June 2026, where the defendant’s benefit is more than everything they hold and the court thinks part of the gap is hidden property, it must put a value on that property and add it to what the defendant can pay. It must first weigh other explanations, such as money spent or assets that have fallen in value.
Put plainly, failing to comply with a section 18 POCA order makes it easier for the court to find hidden property, and the value of that property is added to what the defendant must pay, even if the defendant says it doesn’t exist. A missing, or vague s18 POCA statement makes that finding easier to reach, because the defendant has given the court no account of where the money actually went. The statement is their opportunity to give that account first. My post on identifying hidden assets covers how those findings are made.
Can a Section 18 POCA Statement be Used Against the Defendant?
Yes. A section 18 POCA statement can be used against the defendant in the confiscation itself, but an admission in it can’t be used to prosecute them for a crime. If anything in the statement amounts to an admission that the defendant benefited from crime, that admission cannot be used as evidence against them in a criminal prosecution.
This protection is a lot narrower than it may sound. It covers admission of benefit, and only in criminal prosecutions. Everything else contained within the statements is fair game in the confiscation itself. The court will use it to decide what the defendant can pay, and the prosecution will check it against bank records. I recommend you write it as though every line will be checked, because, inevitably, it will be.
The statement can also work in the defendant’s favour. If the prosecution accepts something the defendant says, the court can treat that point as being settled.
What is a Section 17 POCA Response?
A section 17 POCA response is the defendant’s answer to the prosecution’s own section 16 statement. It states which allegations the defendant accepts and, for each one they dispute, why they dispute it and what evidence they are relying on. It is also where the defendant says whether anyone else shared in the benefit.
Silence at this stage has a cost. The court can treat a defendant who doesn’t respond as accepting everything in the prosecution’s statement, except the allegation that they benefited from crime, which the prosecution still has to prove.
Since 29 June 2026, criminal lifestyle only arises if the prosecutor asks the court to decide it. Where it does, and the court finds a criminal lifestyle, the court assumes that property and spending going back six years before proceedings started came from crime, unless the defendant shows otherwise or making the assumption would create a serious risk of injustice. The section 17 POCA response is where the defendant answers the assumptions, payment by payment and asset by asset, and my post on the POCA 6 year rule explains how these assumptions work.
The section 17 response has to match the section 18 statement served weeks earlier. If an asset is described one way in section 18, and another way in section 17, the prosecution doesn’t need to prove anything to make the defendant look unreliable. The defendant has done that for them.
What is a Section 18A POCA Order?
A section 18A POCA order requires someone other than the defendant, such as a spouse, partner, or business associate, to give the court information about their interest in property they share with the defendant. The court uses it to decide how much of a jointly owned asset, such as the family home, belongs to the defendant and how much belongs to the other person.
This is the point where confiscation stops being only the defendant’s problem. A partner who isn’t accused of anything can be ordered to account for their share of the family home, and what they say helps the court decide how much of it is to be treated as the defendant’s.
The consequences here mirror section 18. If the person refuses to comply without good reason, the court can draw conclusions against them, and if the prosecution accepts what they say, the court can treat it as being settled. However, their protection is wider than the defendant’s. Nothing they provide under section 18A can be used to prosecute them for an offence.
How Does a Forensic Accountant Help With a Section 18 POCA Statement?
A forensic accountant turns the defendant’s account of their finances into figures the court can rely on. For a section 18 POCA statement, that means valuing each asset using evidence, reconciling the list against the bank records the prosecution will hold, and identifying third-party interests and liabilities at the outset. The wider role of a forensic accountant in confiscation proceedings starts here.
Because the section 18 statement comes before the section 16 statement, its figures are the ones the prosecution starts from. Evidenced figures leave the prosecution much less to dispute. Loose ones leave gaps, and the prosecution is entitled to fill them with its own figures. The same analysis then supports the section 17 response and the wider confiscation defence, including any challenge to the benefit figure.
I handle every POCA confiscation instruction personally. If your client has a section 18 order, call me on 0161 243 0595 or email info@inquestaforensic.co.uk before the statement goes in, while there is still time to get the figures right first time. Where I advise on the statement, I’ll say at the start whether that affects my ability to act as the expert later in the case.
Disclaimer: This blog is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Always consult with a professional for specific advice related to your situation.
