The Crime and Policing Bill- what does it mean for housing providers?

The Crime and Policing bill (‘the Bill’) was introduced to House of Commons and had its first reading on 25 February 2025. The second reading is due on 10 March 2025.

The Bill has been introduced to tackle the epidemic of serious violence and violence against women and girls and equip police with the powers they need to combat antisocial behaviour (‘ASB’), crime and terrorism. It supports the Government’s Safer Streets Mission to halve knife crime and violence against women and girls in a decade and rebuild public confidence in policing and the criminal justice system.

Key points in the Bill;

• Cracking down on crime and ASB by introducing Respect Orders to enable police and others, including housing providers, to tackle persistent ASB.
• Rebuilding public confidence in policing and the wider criminal justice system. 
• Protecting children and vulnerable adults by creating new offences of cuckooing and child criminal exploitation.
• Ensuring the police and intelligence services have the powers they need to protect the British people from terrorism and hostile state threats.

What is the Bill's impact on Housing? 

The Bill seeks to enhance the powers available to the police and other local agencies, including housing providers, under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 (the 2014 Act) to tackle ASB.  

• Respect Orders There is a new civil behavioural order to enable courts to stop adult offenders from engaging in specified activities relating to their ASB. Positive requirements and prohibitions can be granted. In order for a respect order to be granted, the court must be satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that the respondent has engaged in, or threatens to engage in ASB, and that it is just and convenient to grant the order. ASB is defined as ‘conduct that has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress’. Breach of a Respect Order will be a criminal offence, meaning the police can enforce suspected breaches via arrest. These Orders will be piloted to ensure that they are as effective as possible before national roll-out. Unlike ASBOs, the Respect Order will apply to adult ASB offenders only, and will be issued by the civil courts. Prior to making an application for a respect order, the relevant authority must carry out a risk assessment. 
• Closure Orders The Bill extends the power to issue closure notices to registered social housing providers. Currently only local authorities and police can issue closure notices. The test for issuing a notice remains unchanged. The powers vested in a senior police officer or local authority, for example to cancel or vary a closure notice, are similarly vested in a registered social housing provider. The Bill also extends the timeframe that relevant agencies can apply to a magistrates’ court for a closure order from 48 hours after service of a closure notice to 72 hours. 
• Youth injunctions and housing injunctions These injunctions can be applied for by housing providers if ASB affects their housing management functions. A Youth Injunction is for anyone under 18 who’s behaviour is causing or likely to cause nuisance or annoyance (to the civil standard of proof). A Housing Injunction is for anyone aged 18 or older who’s behaviour is capable of causing nuisance and annoyance in a residential setting (to the civil standard of proof). These injunctions are intended to operate in the same way as existing civil injunctions under Part 1 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. 
• Cuckooing Cuckooing is controlling another’s home for criminal purposes and is a highly exploitative practice whereby criminals target and take over the homes of vulnerable people for the purpose of illegal activity. It is often associated with ASB, and the exploitation of children used by criminal gangs inside properties. Currently, a range of offences can be used to prosecute criminal activity commonly associated with cuckooing. The Government’s view, however, that the existing legal framework does not reflect the harm caused to victims and so this new offence was announced;- that a person commits an offence if they: exercise control over the dwelling of another person; -and do so for the purpose of enabling that dwelling to be used in connection with the commission (by any person) of one or more of the offences (listed in Schedule 5), and -B does not consent to A exercising control for that purpose. All three elements must be met for the offence to have been committed. The effect is to criminalise the control however it is exercised. 
• Other provisions in the Bill that relate to ASB; There are various other provisions in the Bill that relate to ASB such as; 
• Creating a duty for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to promote awareness of the ASB Case Review in their police force area and provide a route for victims to query decisions via their office;
• Introducing new ASB data reporting requirements by creating a power for the Home Secretary to make regulations requiring local bodies, such as councils and social housing providers, to report specified ASB data to the Home Office. This will allow better monitoring of targeted ASB interventions and help to inform future Government work to tackle ASB, and
• Further provisions regarding Local Policing Body (‘LPB’) case reviews, including; requiring LPBs to consult relevant bodies and housing providers on LPB review procedures, making provisions about what is to happen where an applicant is dissatisfied, requiring LPBs to consult appropriate local social housing providers and, for local social housing providers to cooperate with LPBs on LPB case reviews. 

The full Bill can be read here; Crime and Policing Bill (Bill)

For further information on the Bill, please contact Victoria Smith.