Adults who persistently cause harassment, alarm or distress can now face Respect Orders in England and Wales, after the new powers took effect on 26 October. Police, councils and other eligible agencies can seek court orders restricting specified behaviour, with a breach carrying criminal penalties.
The Home Office's launch announcement says courts can bar people from town centres or prevent drinking in public trouble spots. Orders can also require action aimed at addressing the behaviour, such as alcohol treatment or anger management. These are court-imposed conditions, not automatic restrictions on everyone using a public place.
Respect Orders are civil orders for people aged 18 and over. The distinction matters because obtaining an order and proving a breach involve different standards of evidence. The accompanying statutory guidance explains both stages and sets out checks that agencies must make before asking a court to act.
What changes when an order is breached
The government says Respect Orders replace civil injunctions for adult anti-social behaviour offenders and give police the power to arrest suspected breaches. Conviction for breaching an order can lead to an unlimited fine, a community sentence or imprisonment, with a maximum prison term of two years in the Crown Court.
The orders will be recorded on the Police National Computer, according to the launch announcement. That allows officers dealing with anti-social behaviour to check whether someone is subject to an order and whether the conduct breaches its conditions. The announcement does not provide figures for orders already issued or breaches prosecuted.
Applications normally go to the County Court, although the High Court can also issue an order. The statutory guidance says the court must be satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that the adult has engaged in or threatens conduct causing, or likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress. It must also consider an order just and convenient to prevent anti-social behaviour.
A criminal prosecution for breaching an order has a higher threshold: the breach must be proved beyond reasonable doubt. The guidance distinguishes this from the civil test used when the order is first made. An allegation that somebody has broken a condition therefore does not, by itself, establish guilt.
Risk checks before a court application
Before applying, an eligible authority must complete a risk assessment. This has to address potential harassment, alarm or distress, vulnerabilities of the person concerned and alternative ways of preventing the behaviour. The guidance says agencies should also consider whether earlier or informal interventions would be appropriate.
The assessment can take account of mental health and housing circumstances, as well as the impact on people experiencing the behaviour. Completing it is mandatory, but the guidance says there is no statutory requirement to give the checklist itself to the court. It nevertheless recommends providing supporting material so the court can understand the assessment and the reasons for seeking an order.
Conditions requiring treatment or behaviour-change work need to be realistic. Courts should consider whether suitable services are available locally and whether the individual can comply. Agencies are told to take account of vulnerabilities, caring responsibilities and support needs, rather than propose an intervention that cannot be delivered or supervised.
The guidance also says conditions should, as far as practicable, avoid interfering with normal work or education times and conflicting with another court order. Proposed terms and their duration should be clear. Where an order contains several requirements, the court must consider whether they are compatible with one another.
Not every part of the guidance starts together
The Home Office published the updated guidance ahead of commencement and removed the previous version on 26 October. Its publication page expressly says the separate Local Policing Body review chapter did not take effect that day. A commencement date for that chapter will be announced later, so the Respect Orders launch should not be read as activating every procedure in the document.
Separate youth injunctions remain available for those aged 10 to 17, while housing injunctions address housing-related anti-social behaviour. Respect Orders themselves apply only to adults. The guidance says they should not be used against harmless or trivial conduct that does not meet the legal threshold, and that agencies must make reasonable, proportionate decisions about each application.
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Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
