Data on criminal syndicates and solicitors involved in personal injury compensation scams will be shared between the Ministry of Justice and the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) under a new agreement, the Gazette has learned.

The agreement will allow the MoJ and IFB, the insurance industry-funded fraud investigator, to swap details on suspected fraudsters before requesting police raids.

The news comes as a high-level group of regulators attempts to cut bureaucracy and share fraud data more freely. Chaired by the IFB, the high-level strategy group comprises the MoJ, Financial Services Authority, Solicitors Regulation Authority, Association of British Insurers, the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the National Fraud Strategic Authority and several police forces.

Kevin Rousell, head of claims management regulation at the MoJ, said: ‘The aim is to make it a more hostile environment for fraudsters. If you get some successes, it creates a ripple effect. We both hold intelligence on lots of businesses – claims management companies – and we get intelligence on people linked to these too, like lawyers, engineers and doctors.’

Rousell said that intelligence on suspected fraudsters would be shared with other enforcement agencies where appropriate information sharing agreements are in place, as with the IFB. ‘If the police are interested, raids could follow, and maybe charges and eventual prosecution,’ he said. ‘You need hard ­evidence to make progress.’