- Latest available (Revised)
- Original (As enacted)
There are currently no known outstanding effects for the Public Order Act 2023, Cross Heading: Serious disruption prevention orders made on application.
Revised legislation carried on this site may not be fully up to date. At the current time any known changes or effects made by subsequent legislation have been applied to the text of the legislation you are viewing by the editorial team. Please see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ for details regarding the timescales for which new effects are identified and recorded on this site.
(1)A magistrates’ court may make a serious disruption prevention order in respect of a person (“P”) where—
(a)a person within subsection (7) applies by complaint to the court for a serious disruption prevention order to be made in respect of P,
(b)P is aged 18 or over when the application is made,
(c)the condition in subsection (2) is met, and
(d)the court considers it necessary to make the order for a purpose mentioned in subsection (4).
(2)The condition in this subsection is that the court is satisfied on the balance of probabilities that—
(a)on at least two occasions in the relevant period, P has—
(i)committed a protest-related offence for which P was convicted, or
(ii)committed a protest-related breach of an injunction for which P was found in contempt of court,
(b)P’s conduct in relation to each occasion mentioned in paragraph (a)—
(i)related to a different protest, or
(ii)took place on a different day, and
(c)P’s conduct in relation to each occasion mentioned in paragraph (a) has not been taken into account when making any previous serious disruption prevention order in respect of P.
(3)In subsection (2) “the relevant period” means the period of 5 years ending with the day on which the order is made; but P’s conduct may be taken into account for the purposes of this section only if it took place—
(a)on or after the day on which this section comes into force, and
(b)when P was aged 16 or over.
(4)The purposes are—
(a)to prevent P from committing a protest-related offence or a protest-related breach of an injunction;
(b)to prevent P from carrying out activities related to a protest that result in, or are likely to result in, serious disruption to two or more individuals, or to an organisation, in England and Wales;
(c)to prevent P from causing or contributing to—
(i)the commission by any other person of a protest-related offence or a protest-related breach of an injunction, or
(ii)the carrying out by any other person of activities related to a protest that result in, or are likely to result in, serious disruption to two or more individuals, or to an organisation, in England and Wales;
(d)to protect two or more individuals, or an organisation, in England and Wales from the risk of serious disruption arising from—
(i)a protest-related offence,
(ii)a protest related-breach of an injunction, or
(iii)activities related to a protest.
(5)A serious disruption prevention order under this section is an order which, for a purpose mentioned in subsection (4)—
(a)requires P to do anything described in the order;
(b)prohibits P from doing anything described in the order.
(6)On making a serious disruption prevention order the court must in ordinary language explain to P the effects of the order.
(7)The following persons are within this subsection—
(a)a relevant chief officer of police;
(b)the chief constable of the British Transport Police Force;
(c)the chief constable of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary;
(d)the chief constable of the Ministry of Defence Police.
(8)For the purposes of subsection (7)(a) a chief officer of police is a relevant chief officer of police in relation to an application for a serious disruption prevention order in respect of P if—
(a)P lives in the chief officer’s police area, or
(b)the chief officer believes that P is in, or is intending to come to, the chief officer’s police area.
(9)An application for a serious disruption prevention order made by a chief officer of police for a police area may be made only to a court acting for a local justice area that includes any part of that police area.
(10)Where an offence is found to have been committed over a period of 2 or more days, or at some time during a period of 2 or more days, it must be taken for the purposes of this section to have been committed on the last of those days.
(11)Section 127 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 (time limits) does not apply to a complaint under this section.
Commencement Information
I1S. 21 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 35(5)
I2S. 21 in force at 5.4.2024 by S.I. 2024/472, reg. 2(b)
Latest Available (revised):The latest available updated version of the legislation incorporating changes made by subsequent legislation and applied by our editorial team. Changes we have not yet applied to the text, can be found in the ‘Changes to Legislation’ area.
Original (As Enacted or Made): The original version of the legislation as it stood when it was enacted or made. No changes have been applied to the text.
Geographical Extent: Indicates the geographical area that this provision applies to. For further information see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.
Show Timeline of Changes: See how this legislation has or could change over time. Turning this feature on will show extra navigation options to go to these specific points in time. Return to the latest available version by using the controls above in the What Version box.
Text created by the government department responsible for the subject matter of the Act to explain what the Act sets out to achieve and to make the Act accessible to readers who are not legally qualified. Explanatory Notes were introduced in 1999 and accompany all Public Acts except Appropriation, Consolidated Fund, Finance and Consolidation Acts.
Access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item from this tab. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:
This timeline shows the different points in time where a change occurred. The dates will coincide with the earliest date on which the change (e.g an insertion, a repeal or a substitution) that was applied came into force. The first date in the timeline will usually be the earliest date when the provision came into force. In some cases the first date is 01/02/1991 (or for Northern Ireland legislation 01/01/2006). This date is our basedate. No versions before this date are available. For further information see the Editorial Practice Guide and Glossary under Help.
Use this menu to access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:
Click 'View More' or select 'More Resources' tab for additional information including: