Crime and Policing Act 2026 (introduced as the Crime and Policing Bill 2025)

• • The Crime and Policing Act 2026 is a wide-ranging Home Office law covering antisocial behaviour, shoplifting and retail crime, knife crime and weapon sales, violence against women and girls, police powers and vetting, and changes to the criminal confiscation regime under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
• • It received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026 after passing through the Commons from February 2025 and the Lords from June 2025. Since then the Home Office has published factsheets and circulars — including on criminal confiscation and a new offence of climbing on memorials — as sections are brought into force.
• • Who is affected: police forces and the courts, retailers and their staff, people subject to antisocial behaviour powers, and anyone prosecuted under the new or amended offences.

It expands police powers and creates new offences, so the balance between enforcement capacity and individual rights shifts with each commencement.

Next: Further Home Office circulars and commencement regulations bringing remaining provisions into force, with guidance published in the GOV.UK collection as each is switched on.

• • A bill is not law. Until it has royal assent or its equivalent, nothing in it applies to anyone.
• • An act may not take effect immediately. Most acts commence in stages, often over years.
• • Secondary regulations usually decide the real-world impact — dates, thresholds, exemptions and enforcement.

1. Issue

   Completed

   Public concern about antisocial behaviour, retail crime, knife crime and confidence in policing.

   No legal effect; the agenda-setting stage.

2. Policy proposal

   Completed

   The Safer Streets Mission set out the government's stated aims before drafting.

   Policy commitments made here shaped the Bill's scope.

3. Bill introduction

   Completed

   Introduced in the Commons on 25 February 2025, with impact assessments published alongside.

   A Bill is a proposal; nothing in it applies yet.

4. Commons stages

   Completed

   Second reading 10 March 2025; public bill committee from 27 March to 13 May 2025; report and third reading 17-18 June 2025.

   Committee sittings are where clause-by-clause changes were made.

5. Lords stages

   Completed

   Introduced in the Lords 19 June 2025; second reading 16 October 2025; committee from 10 November 2025; report and third reading thereafter.

   Lords scrutiny produced significant amendments to police powers and offences.

6. Amendments between Houses

   Completed

   Both Houses considered each other's amendments until the final text was agreed.

   The final wording determines the reach of each new offence.

7. Divisions (votes)

   Completed

   Recorded divisions at each contested stage, listed in the Hansard references in the explanatory notes.

   Division records show how each member acted.

8. Royal Assent

   Completed

   Royal Assent on 29 April 2026. The Bill became the Crime and Policing Act 2026 (c. 20).

   Assent alone did not bring the offences into force.

9. Act of Parliament

   Completed

   Published on legislation.gov.uk with explanatory notes, Hansard references and a progress-of-bill table.

   The enacted text is the legal baseline for everything that follows.

10. Regulations & secondary legislation

    Happening now

    Commencement regulations and Home Office circulars (including circulars 004 to 010 of 2026) bring provisions into force and explain them to forces.

    Circulars shape how police actually use the powers day to day.

11. Implementation & review

    Happening now

    Guidance on the criminal confiscation regime and the memorial-climbing offence has been published; further guidance follows as sections commence.

    Training, capacity and charging practice decide the real-world effect.