What the Crime and Policing Bill has in store

Daryl Bigwood looks at the key provisions in the Crime and Policing Bill in relation to anti-social behaviour.

Last month (25 February 2025) the Government introduced the Crime and Policing Bill ('the Bill') to Parliament. Whilst the Bill requires some in-depth review, the initial headlines are:

  • Registered Providers given Closure Order powers; and
  • The introduction of Respect Orders; and 
  • The replacement of the current anti-social behaviour injunction regime with 'Youth Injunctions' and 'Housing Injunctions'; and
  • The requirement to provide Risk Assessments when making applications for Respect Orders, Youth Injunctions, or Housing Injunctions; and
  • The creation of an offence of cuckooing; and
  • The creation of Local Policing Body reviews; and
  • The obligation to supply ASB data to the Secretary of State. 

Closure Orders

The Bill gives Registered Providers the power to issue Closure Notices and apply for Closure Orders. 

This power will only apply to properties owned or managed by the registered provider. 

There are also provisions permitting a member of the providers senior management team to authorise 48-hour Closure Notices. 

There is no suggestion within the Bill that, having obtained a Closure Order, the registered provider could not then rely on the mandatory ground of possession. 

Respect Orders

Respect Orders are introduced by the Bill. These orders effectively mirror the current anti-social behaviour injunction regime however they can only be obtained against persons aged 18 or over. 

However, Respect Orders will only be available in respects of conduct which has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm, or distress to any person. This means that Respect Orders will not be available in circumstances where the conduct amounts to housing related nuisance or annoyance. Where the conduct amounts to housing-related nuisance or annoyance an application will need to be made for a Housing Injunction (see below). 

Respect Orders are obtained through either the County Court or High Court however the breach of a Respect Order is a criminal offence. The punishment for a breach is either:

  • Up to 6-months imprisonment or an unlimited fine (or both) if convicted in the Magistrates' Court; or
  • Up to 2-years imprisonment or an unlimited fine (or both) if convicted in the Crown Court.

Respect Orders will open the door for the criminal courts to impose a wider range of sanctions (such as community orders) in the event of a breach. The courts will be prohibited from granting a conditional discharge for the breach of a Respect Order (but seemingly will be permitted to grant an unconditional discharge). 

These additional sentencing powers go some way to addressing the concerns raised by the Civil Justice Council in their 2020 report on Anti-social Behaviour and the Civil Courts. 

As the Bill is currently drafted, a breach of a Respect Order will not give rise to a mandatory ground of possession. 

When an application for a Respect Order is made the court will be able to treat it as an application for a Housing Injunction (and vice versa). 

Youth Injunctions

The Bill amends section 1 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 (the section which currently governs anti-social behaviour injunctions) so as to mean that these injunctions will, once the Bill comes into force, only be available in respects of persons aged under 18 (but aged 10 or over). 

These injunctions will be dealt with by the Youth Court and a breach will, in so far as the Bill is currently drafted, amount to a mandatory ground of possession under Ground 7A of Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988. 

Housing Injunctions

The Bill further amends the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 so as to introduce Housing Injunctions. The provisions in respects of these new injunctions effectively mirror the current injunction regime except that the anti-social behaviour must be housing-related. This means conduct which is either capable of causing:

  • Nuisance or annoyance to a person in relation to that person's occupation or residential premises; or
  • Housing-related nuisance or annoyance to any person (i.e. conduct which directly or indirectly relates to housing management functions). 

Housing Injunctions can only be granted against persons aged 18 or over. 

A breach of a Housing Injunction will seemingly be treated in the same manner as a breach of a current injunction however will not give rise to a mandatory ground of possession. 

When an application for a Housing Injunction is made the court will be able to treat it as an application for a Respect Order (and vice versa). 

Risk assessments

Before applying for a Respect Order, a Youth Injunction, or a Housing Injunction a risk assessment must be completed. This assessment must contain prescribed information including:

  • Any known (or suspected) vulnerabilities of the respondent/defendant;
  • What alternatives are available;
  • The risks posed by the respondent/defendant. 

There will also be a requirement to have regard to statutory guidance in respects of risk assessments. 

Transitional provisions

Any injunctions applied for or obtained before the Bill comes into force will continue under the current statutory regime and will not be effected by the Bill. 

Cuckooing offence

The Bill creates a new offence of cuckooing (or 'controlling another's home for criminal purposes' to give it its full title).

The offence will be committed where:

  • Person A exercises control over the dwelling of Person B; and
  • Person A is controlling the dwelling for the purpose of using the dwelling (whether by himself or any other person) for one or more prescribed offence; and 
  • Person B does not consent to that control for that purpose.

The Bill defines 'dwelling' so as to include gardens and outbuildings along with any structures. 

The Bill also establishes a test to determine whether Person A has control of a dwelling. This includes whether they can control who enters/leaves the dwelling, whether they control deliveries to/from the dwelling, and whether they control the purpose for which the dwelling is being used. 

A further test in respects of establishing whether Person A (i.e. the occupier/tenant of the dwelling) has consented to the occupation is also introduced. This sets out that a person will not be taken to have consented if they are under 18 years old, lack capacity to consent, do not have enough information about the proposed use of the dwelling to make an informed decision, do not give their consent freely (e.g. circumstances where someone is threatened or coerced or controlled into giving consent), or they withdraw their consent. 

The current list of prescribed offences includes various drug, weapons, fraud, theft, exploitation, and sexual offences. There is also a power for the list of prescribed offences to be varied. 

Someone convicted of the offence of cuckooing can be sentenced to:

  • Up to 6-months imprisonment or an unlimited fine (or both) if convicted in the Magistrates' Court; or
  • Up to 5-years imprisonment or an unlimited fine (or both) if convicted in the Crown Court.

Local Policing Body ('LPB') Reviews

The Bill requires each local police force area to create and implement a policy in respects of LPB Reviews. 

A LPB Review will be an escalation from an ASB Case Review. A person can request a LPB Review where either:

  • They applied for an ASB Case Review but it was determined that the threshold was not met; or
  • An ASB Case Review was carried out. 

Whilst not expressly set out in the Bill it seems logical that a person would only request a LPB Review following an ASB Case Review if they were dissatisfied with the outcome. 

The LPB Review may give recommendations to other agencies (including registered providers) in respects of resolving ASB and the Bill will make it a statutory requirement for that other agency to have consideration of those recommendations when discharging their public duties and functions. 

Supply of ASB Data to the Secretary of State

The Bill gives the Secretary of State a power to require relevant authorities (which includes registered providers) to provide data in respects of ASB. The data requested can include data in respects of the number and nature of reports of ASV received, the responses to those reports, and information in respects of ASB Case Reviews. 

The Secretary of State will also have the power to prescribe how often this data is to be provided and the form in which it is to be provided. 

The Bill also expressly sets out that the requests from the Secretary of State may require an authority to collate, collect, and create information. This means that it will be highly unlikely than an authority will be able to say that they do not have the data requested and therefore absolve themselves of having to supply it. 

Points to consider / Potential Issues

Breaches of Respect Orders and Housing Injunctions not giving rise to a mandatory ground of possession is concerning and will hopefully be something which is picked up on and amended as the Bill progresses through Parliament. 

The formal requirement to include risk assessments with applications for Respect Orders, Youth Injunctions, and Housing Injunctions may seem like an additional burden however, in practice, most registered providers will already be completing similar assessments in order to consider their public law obligations. This change simply means there is now clearer guidance on what information those assessments must contain and what issues they must address. 

The prosecution of persons who breach Respect Orders (or commit the new cuckooing offence) is not confined to the Crown Prosecution Service. This could therefore see registered providers having to move into the world of criminal investigations and prosecutions in order to protect their tenant's and their housing stock. 

The Closure Order power, whilst welcomed by some, may have unexpected consequences. For example, in possession proceedings (especially proceedings which relate to the conduct of persons visiting a property), registered providers may have to account for why they didn't opt to use their closure powers in order to show the proportionality of their decision to seek possession. Also, enforcement of Closure Orders is going to require support from the police and will not be something registered providers will be able to enforce themselves as they cannot arrest people for breaching the orders. 

The new LPB Reviews and duty to provide data to the Secretary of State may increase the administrative burden on registered providers. Consideration may, specifically in respects of the collection and supply of data, need to be given as to how current systems can be used to capture the data required. 

The Bill has only just had its first reading and no date for the second reading has been published. It is likely that the Bill will be amended as it passes through Parliament and that the final Bill may look substantially different to the current first draft. Also, if the Bill does become an Act, this does not mean that all of the proposed changes will immediately come into force. Some changes may not come into force immediately and indeed some may never be brought into force.

Daryl Bigwood is a Senior Associate at Cobb Warren.