The Crime and Policing Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 25 February 2025 as part of the government’s Safer Streets Mission. This bill strengthens existing laws to combat crime, improve public safety and rebuild confidence in policing.
Some of the measures build on the Criminal Justice Bill (2023/24), addressing key issues such as serious violence, antisocial behaviour, retail crime and protecting vulnerable people.
The bill aims to:
- Tackle violence including serious crime, child sexual abuse and violence against women and girls.
- Protect communities and businesses by cracking down on shoplifting, antisocial behaviour and retail crime.
- Rebuild public confidence in policing and the wider criminal justice system.
- Equip the police with the powers they need to act against crime, antisocial behaviour and terrorism.
What This Means for Westminster Businesses
Tougher measures on antisocial behaviour
Police will have greater authority to seize vehicles linked to antisocial behaviour, such as off-road bikes and dangerous e-scooters, without needing to issue a prior warning. To address public disorder, the bill introduces new public order laws, including a ban on face coverings at protests when used to conceal identities.
Additionally, the bill grants ministers the power to issue statutory guidance to councils in England on enforcing fly-tipping regulations.
Cracking down on theft and stolen goods
The bill introduces Respect Orders, giving police the power to ban persistent offenders from town centres. Those who breach these orders could face immediate arrest, fines, or even prison sentences.
To tackle mobile phone theft, police will be allowed to enter premises without a warrant in cases where GPS tracking shows the presence of stolen goods. This is a significant move, given the rise in phone snatches.
Protecting retail workers
A new specific offence has been introduced for assaulting a retail worker. The bill also removes the previous legislation that downgraded police responses to “low-value” shop theft (under £200), ensuring retail crime is taken seriously.
Additionally, Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs) will be issued to offenders unless there are exceptional circumstances. This means repeat offenders could face stricter restrictions, preventing them from returning to retail areas.
Strengthening protection for children and vulnerable adults
To combat child sexual exploitation, new offences have been introduced, including:
- Mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse by adults working in relevant activities.
- New offences for child criminal exploitation and cuckooing (where criminals take over a vulnerable person’s home).
- Introducing new offences related to the taking of intimate images without consent.
- Banning AI-models optimised to produce child sexual abuse material.
- Making grooming behaviour a statutory aggravating factor.
Tackling violence against women and girls
The bill introduces a standalone offence for spiking and grants victims of stalking the right to know the identity of their perpetrator. It also tightens sex offender monitoring by restricting name changes that could allow offenders to avoid detection.
Summary of Key Measures
The bill introduces a comprehensive set of measures aimed at tackling crime, improving public safety and strengthening law enforcement powers. Key provisions include:
Giving the police and others stronger powers to tackle antisocial behaviour but introducing respect orders, remove the need for police to issue a warning before seizing vehicles being used antisocially, and strengthening the use of existing antisocial behaviour powers. The bill also gives ministers the power to issue statutory guidance to councils in England on the enforcement of fly-tipping.
Enhancing the ability of law enforcement agencies to clamp down on knife crime including: creating a power to seize, retain and destroy bladed articles found on private property; increasing the maximum penalty for sale of dangerous weapons to under 18s; and creating a new criminal offence of possessing a bladed article with the intent to cause harm.
Introducing a new offence of assaulting a retail worker. Additionally, the bill repeals section 176 of the Anti-social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014, which downgraded the police response to so called “low-value shop theft”.
Introducing a new offence of child criminal exploitation, alongside a civil preventative order designed to stop the abhorrent exploitation of children by criminals. Additionally, the bill makes ‘cuckooing’ a specific offence, protecting the most vulnerable people whose homes are used by others to commit criminal activity, whilst also creating new offences of exposure and child abduction.
Address the rise in AI-generated images of child sexual abuse by banning AI-models optimised to produce child sexual abuse material, and extend existing law criminalising ‘paedophile manuals’ to include material instructing how to use AI to generate child sexual abuse material. It also criminalises moderators and administrators of websites that host child sexual abuse material, and grants Border Force officers the power to search the digital devices of individuals arriving in the UK for child sexual abuse material.
Introducing a new duty in England for adults working in relevant activities to report instances of child sexual abuse. It also introduces a new statutory aggravating factor covering grooming behaviour, and ensures that individuals working in supervised roles will be subject to enhanced checks by the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Create new offences criminalising the taking of intimate images, whilst creating a new standalone spiking offence. The bill also gives victims of stalking the right to know the identity of their perpetrator, alongside strengthening stalking protection orders whilst issuing guidance to agencies on combatting stalking.
Reform the ability of the police to manage registered sex offenders, including restricting their ability to change their name where there is a risk of sexual harm. It will also give probation officers the power to polygraph test more serious offenders who have committed sexual or terrorism motivated crimes.
Banning electronic devices used in vehicle theft and reforming the identification doctrine to strengthen the ability to apply corporate criminal liability to the makeup of modern corporations, particularly large complex structures.
Strengthening the tools available to law enforcement agencies to tackle fraud and economic crime, including prohibiting possession and supply of ‘SIM farms’ with no legitimate purpose; reform of the confiscation powers used to strip convicted criminals of their proceeds of crime; and introducing cost protections for law enforcement agencies to protect them from the risk of adverse costs when investigating kleptocrats and high-net worth individuals and corporations.
Banning the deliberate use of face coverings to conceal a person’s identity during a protest, and bans the possession of fireworks, flares and other pyrotechnics at protests. The bill also criminalises the climbing of specified war memorials, making it clear that such disrespectful behaviour is unacceptable.
Create a new targeted power for the police to enter premises to search for and seize electronically tracked stolen goods, ranging from mobile phones to stolen vehicles and agricultural machinery, and expansion of the lawful purposes by which law enforcement agencies can access the DVLA driver licence records.
Expanding police powers to drug test more suspects on arrest, helping direct more drug users into treatment and away from drugs.
Reform the Independent Officer of Police Conduct’s investigative processes and give chief officers of police the right to appeal the result of misconduct boards to the Police Appeals Tribunal.
Implement recommendations of the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, such as introducing youth diversion orders to divert young people away from terrorism-related activity.
For full details, visit the Crime and Policing Bill 2025 webpage.
