Victory on ‘busybody’ fines in the House of Lords

Josie Appleton, director of the Campaign for Freedom in Everyday Life, welcomes an amendment that would outlaw private firms from issuing fines for profit. PLUS: Claire Fox speech on respect orders.

The Crimes and Policing Bill is in its very final stages in Parliament. There is not much to celebrate for those interested in freedom and civil liberties, as it contains a swathe of measures that will curtail protest and free speech. So it is refreshing to report some good news – one amendment against the use and abuse of on-the-spot fines for alleged anti-social behaviour passed, to the surprise of the government.

So, it’s a pleasure to hear from Josie Appleton, director of the Campaign for Freedom in Everyday Life why this issue and victory matters. Labour ministers will want to push back, and use parliamentary ‘ping pong’ to drop the amendment, but may be dissuaded if lobbied. Josie explains below how you can help. We’ve also included my speech in the Lords on 25 February about the issue.

Claire

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Council ‘busybody’ powers like public spaces protection orders (PSPOs) and community protection notices (CPNs) have led to new bans on everyday activities such as feeding the birds, standing in groups or having a messy garden. These offences can be punished by on-the-spot fines.

Penalties are currently issued at a rate of over 20,000 a year. Around 75 per cent of PSPO penalties are issued by private enforcement companies who are paid per fine.

Generally, the companies receive around 80-90 per cent of penalty income, which means that they have a direct incentive to issue as many fines as possible. (They need to issue a certain number of fines merely to cover costs, and more to make a profit.)

Now peers have passed an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill to ban fining for profit.

The amendment states that companies ‘must not receive, directly or indirectly, any financial benefit that is contingent upon the (a) issuing of a fixed penalty notice, or (b) the number or value of fixed penalty notices issued’.

This would mean that ‘payment per fine’ contracts – under which over 14,000 ‘busybody’ penalties are issued each year – would be declared invalid.

Those fined under these corrupt arrangements include:

• In 2023, Hillingdon Council issued most of its PSPO penalties for the offence of ‘idling’ (leaving a car engine running for more than two minutes). The 2,335 people punished included a man waiting to pick up his wife from the doctor’s and another man trying to keep cool on a hot day.

• Large numbers of fines are also issued to cyclists, including an 82-year-old many, Barrie Enderby, cycling through Grimsby town centre.

In one six-month period, 1,472 penalties were issued to people cycling in Grimsby, while in Colchester a cyclist was fined for locking his bike to a bike rack. Others fined included busker David Fisher for playing outside a Bruce Springsteen concert.

The Crime and Policing Bill will dramatically increase penalties for PSPO and CPN offences from £100 to £500 (Clause 4). Lord Clement Jones’ amendment to Clause 4 would prevent private enforcement from profiting from the price hike.

Introducing the amendment, Lord Tim Clement Jones said:

Environmental and ASB enforcement is increasingly seen as a business. Local authorities are entering into contracts with private companies, boasting of ‘zero financial risk’ while sharing the ‘surplus revenue’ generated by fines. This creates a direct perverse financial incentive to issue as many tickets as possible for innocuous actions.

Supporting the amendment, independent peer Baroness Claire Fox said:

There are concerns that antisocial behaviour orders have been corrupted for income generation and commercial purposes. Such scam-like behaviour of taking fines for profit discredits and trivialises a serious approach to tackling anti-social behaviour.

The amendment passed with Liberal Democrat and Conservative support, 205 votes to 188.

We are calling on the government to preserve and support the amendment when the bill returns to the Commons.

It was strange to see Labour peers alone in voting against a change that would protect ordinary people from being unfairly slapped with fines by profiteering private companies, especially when these companies have wreaked such havoc in traditional Labour areas.

It is also strange to see Home Office ministers opposing a measure that has been promoted by Defra, which is currently passing statutory guidance to ban incentivised enforcement for environmental offences.

We are urging the Home Office to think again.

Write to your MP

The Campaign for Freedom in Everyday Life is asking everyone to write to their local MP asking that they support the Lords amendment when the Crime and Policing Bill returns to the Commons. The Campaign has produced a model letter to help you do that, which you can view here.

Josie Appleton is the director of the Campaign for Freedom in Everyday Life, the new name for the Manifesto Club.

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Claire Fox speech on respect orders

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