Through its 17 September 2026 decision to impose financial penalties on Barry Pirrie and Tracey Woods of M&J Group (Construction and Roofing) Ltd (“M&J”), the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has exercised its powers to issue financial penalties on individuals for concealing evidence in a dawn raid for the very first time.
Approximately 2 years ago, the CMA commenced its investigation into the suspected bid rigging cartel involving tenders for roofing and construction projects in schools (including those publicly funded through the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF)) with unannounced on-site inspections (a.k.a. “dawn raids”) at the business premises of M&J and others.
During the M&J dawn raid, Estimating Director, Barry Pirrie, directed Office Manager, Tracey Woods, to remove a work mobile phone and hard copy documents from the premises to conceal the evidence from CMA officials. Mr Pirrie also falsely denied having a work mobile phone to CMA officers.
Barrie Pirrie was fined £20,000 and Tracey Woods was fined £5,000. Whilst the items were ultimately handed over later the same day, the CMA considered that it could not be certain that relevant information had not been deleted, destroyed or otherwise lost during the temporary concealment.
M&J was also fined £25,000. The CMA accepted that the business had ensured external specialist legal advisors attended promptly and that it had expressly directed employees not to conceal, delete or destroy documents, however, the CMA found that the business had not taken sufficient steps to adequately ensure compliance, and so issued a penalty also on the business.
The CMA imposed the penalties using its enforcement powers under s.40A(1) of the Competition Act 1998. At the time of the dawn raid the maximum penalty for both businesses and individuals was £30,000 for a fixed amount or £15,000 per day or both. As of 1 January 2025, following changes introduced under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA), whilst the maximum penalty for an individual remains the same, the maximum penalty which may be imposed on a business has increased to 1% of the business’ annual turnover for a fixed amount or 5% of the business’ daily turnover for a daily rate, or both.
Whilst the CMA will not always instigate its information gathering process in a Competition Act investigation through a dawn raid, where it does decide this is warranted, it now has more wide-ranging powers. Changes brought into force by the DMCCA, allow the CMA to carry out unannounced inspections at domestic premises of directors to address the rise in remote working and to compel access to cloud data as well as data stored on business premises and servers to address the increasing use of cloud data storage infrastructure.
Key Takeaways
Employees and directors should be aware of the increased risk of financial penalties being imposed on them directly and for the CMA to come knocking at their home. The penalty decisions serve as a caution to businesses to take proactive steps to prepare for dawn raids and ensure compliance with investigatory requirements, beyond simply engaging external support and directing employees not to destroy evidence on the day of a raid. Thorough training and preparedness is advised to ensure directors and employees understand their obligations during an inspection (and consequences for failing to adhere to investigatory requirements) and that clear internal procedures are in place for preserving evidence, with protocols in place for overseeing employees and shadowing CMA officials.
What about CMA consumer law enforcement cases?
With the CMA’s new direct consumer enforcement powers, dawn raids are no longer confined to competition investigations. The CMA can also use unannounced on-site inspection powers to gather evidence in consumer law cases. As under the Competition Act regime, obstructing an on-site inspection can carry criminal consequences. Businesses should therefore ensure that their dawn-raid protocols address both competition and consumer enforcement investigations, while recognising that the precise powers and sanctions differ between the two regimes.
How we can help
Responding to a CMA Competition Act investigation requires specialist expertise and strategy. That strategy begins on day one of an investigation with rapid identification of relevant facts and evidence paramount and time being of the essence for certain strategic avenues. Our expert competition team has deep experience (and a proven track record) of navigating these complexities to achieve the best possible outcome, whatever emerges to be the best strategy on the facts and evidence: be that leniency, defence, or settlement.
With our close partnerships with external e-discovery and forensic IT providers as well as our network of regional offices across the UK and strategic partnerships beyond, we are able to deploy specialist-led dawn raid crisis response teams across the breadth of the UK and Ireland, as well as helping you to prepare in advance through effective, dawn raid materials and training to limit the risk of penalties being imposed on directors, employees and the business.
