Labour plans to tackle anti-social behaviour: what to expect

Anti-social behaviour continues to have a devastating impact on communities and stretches the resources for local authorities and the police.

On 22 November 2024, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans to introduce Respect Orders in England and Wales, as a key strategy in Labour’s plan to tackle anti-social behaviour. She described them as “a modernised version” of the ASBO, which would give local authorities and the police stronger powers to ban persistent offenders from town centres or drinking in local public spots where they have caused misery to local people.

It is proposed that the Respect Orders could prohibit offenders from entering and accessing specified areas where there have been repeated issues caused, and amendments to existing legislation would give the Police stronger powers to seize nuisance vehicles, such as e-bikes/scooters and cars without warning.

Unlike civil injunctions, failure to comply with a Respect Order will be a criminal offence and the sanctions could range from community orders, to rehabilitation orders to address the underlining cause of the behaviour (for example, through mandated alcohol and drug treatment), to unlimited fines or imprisonment for up to two-years. This will ensure that the most serious offenders are dealt with before their behaviour can escalate and cause further harm.

Should the offender breach their Respect Order then the police will have the power to arrest.

The new powers are to be introduced as part of the forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill which has yet to be introduced to parliament. The Home Secretary has indicated that these powers would be piloted before national rollout, but details of pilot have not yet been confirmed.

We would recommend that housing associations look to develop their links with the partner agencies at this early stage so that as and when the Respect Orders are introduced housing associations can consider these as another avenue in tackling anti-social behaviour.

How these will interact with possession and injunctive proceedings remains unclear however, speculatively they could be another tool to demonstrate to the Court how the offender has failed to comply with another partner agency and used as supporting evidence in any possession or injunctive proceedings.

It will be a case of watching this space to see how these plans take shape.