Sussex Police seized £1.3 million in assets and money from criminals in the year to March, new figures show.

Police forces can recover the proceeds of crime through confiscation and forfeiture orders, which require those found guilty to pay a fine, or give the police the power to seize assets from them.

These proceeds are then used to tackle crime or are returned to victims.

Home Office figures show around £1.3 million was seized by Sussex Police in the year to March – a fall from £1.4 million in 2021-22.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said: "The Proceeds of Crime Act (Poca) gives police powers to seize cash or assets of £1,000 or more if there are reasonable grounds for suspecting the money was gained from crime or that it is intended to be used to commit crime.

"Volunteers, staff and officers from Surrey and Sussex Police’s economic crime unit work alongside colleagues in criminal investigations departments.

"Their work demonstrates the determination of Sussex Police to pursue every avenue available to not only to catch criminals but to also deny criminals the benefits of their illegality.

"Confiscation orders are sought upon conviction for acquisitive crimes by the force to ensure that the maximum amount of monies are repaid or returned to victims as compensation where possible."

Poca allows for cash or assets to be seized under civil forfeiture, if it is suspected to be from crime or it is suspected that it will be used for an unlawful purpose.

Any funds obtained through Poca confiscation or cash forfeiture orders go to central government.

"A proportion of this is returned to law enforcement. Surrey and Sussex Police receive 50 per cent cash back from cash forfeitures and 18.75 per cent cash back from confiscation orders," the spokesman added. 

"Poca funding received by Sussex Police is then distributed between the Police and Crime Commissioner and the force. This allows us to continue the fight in seizing criminal assets, with the remainder being used to support crime reduction and diversion projects."

Overall in England, Wales and Northern Ireland the total value of assets recovered was around £339 million, a five per cent drop from the year before.

A large proportion of this was from fraud cases – the serious fraud office was responsible for almost £103 million in confiscation and forfeiture orders, slightly more than the £102 million recovered by all local police forces combined.

It is unclear whether this is from a larger volume of fraud cases or from the crime being dealt with more effectively.

A Home Office spokesman said: “This government is fully committed to ensuring the full force of the law is used to deprive criminals of their ill-gotten gains and the confiscated assets given as compensation to innocent victims.

"Over the past six financial years £1.6 billion has been recovered in criminal assets, including nearly £340 million during the past year, and we continue to work at pace to improve our asset recovery regime to recover more criminal funds.”