Background: Respect Orders became available across England and Wales on 26 October 2026, inserted into the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 by the Crime and Policing Act 2026. They are civil orders against adults whose conduct has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress, sought by councils, police and other relevant authorities. They largely replace the adult anti-social behaviour injunction. Breaching one is a criminal offence; breach of the old injunction was usually treated as contempt of court.
Britain has a long and faintly comic history of naming its anti-social behaviour powers. There was the ASBO, which some teenagers collected like Scout badges. Then the injunction, the criminal behaviour order and the community protection notice. From 26 October we have the Respect Order, a name that sounds like something a deputy head would pin to the staffroom noticeboard.
Behind the name is a genuine change. So what is a Respect Order? It is a court order, made in civil proceedings, against an adult whose behaviour has caused or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress. It can ban specific conduct, such as going to a particular street, and it can require someone to do something, such as attend a course. Councils, the police and certain housing providers can apply.
So far, so familiar. The difference lies in what happens when someone ignores it.Breach the old adult injunction and you faced contempt of court. Breach a Respect Order and you have committed a crime.
That means arrest, charge and sentence, which can include prison. It is a hybrid: a civil process, with civil procedure, to obtain the order, followed by criminal consequences if it is broken. Lawyers have argued about hybrids like this since the ASBO, and the argument has not gone away.
The court rules have been rewritten to make it work. The Civil Procedure Rules now contain a new section of Part 65 for Respect Order applications, alongside amended practice directions and new forms.
That matters, because an order is only as good as the application behind it. A file full of adjectives (“intimidating”, “constant”, “a nightmare”) will not do. Judges like dates, incidents, witnesses and some sign that the conditions asked for actually fit the behaviour.
For the person on the receiving end, drafting is everything. A vague order is a trap. If a condition is unclear, someone can break it without realising, and the price is no longer a stern word from a civil judge but a criminal record. Defence lawyers will be reading every proposed term for whether it is necessary, proportionate and understandable by someone who is not a lawyer and may not be in great shape.
For councils and housing providers, the new power will be tempting. Neighbours who have put up with months of noise, threats or worse want something with teeth. Revised statutory guidance pushes authorities to build their evidence carefully and assess risk before reaching for the form. Private landlords, it is worth knowing, cannot apply directly.
Then there is the cost. Applications take staff time. Monitoring compliance takes more. Prosecuting breaches takes police and court time in a system already backed up well into next year. Some of the behaviour these orders target might be fixed more cheaply with support, treatment or a housing move than with a conviction.
The Respect Order may prove its worth. It may also join the long list of powers that sounded tough at the launch and wilted on contact with an overstretched court list. We will find out the first time someone breaches one on a Friday night and the system has to pick up the phone.
Author: Marcelo Williams
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