Operational Policing

Penalty Notices for Disorder

This section explains the powers created by the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 for police to issue penalty notices to people aged 16 or over. It also contains links to the police operational guidance and FAQs.

Pilots in four police force areas took place between August 2002 and September 2003.

The pilots were evaluated and two reports produced. These have been summarised in Home Office Research Findings 232 and 257 published in 2004 and are available through the Research, Development and Statistics website (new window).

Rolled out in 2003

The scheme was rolled out progressively during the financial year 2003-4 to all police forces in England and Wales, and was extended to 16 and 17 year olds from 20 January 2004. The scheme was further extended to 10–15 year olds in legislation passed in September 2004. Pilots of penalty notices for disorder for 10-15 year olds are now operating in 6 police force areas.

Creating new offences

The Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 (Amendment) and Police Reform Act 2002 (Modification) Order 2004 was made on 27th September. This Order added 3 new firework offences to the PND scheme with effect from 11 October 2004. Further offences listed in the order came into effect from 1 November 2004.

Penalties for Disorderly Behaviour

The Penalties for Disorderly Behaviour (Amount of penalty) (Amendment No.2) Order 2004 set the penalty amounts for all penalty offences, replacing the 2002 Order.

This order applied the higher tier of £80 for 16 year olds and over (£40 for 10- 15 year olds) to the new firework offences with effect from 11 October 2004.

The amounts for the other offences came into effect from 1 November 2004. The order raised the lower tier to £50 for people aged 16 and over (£30 for 10-15 year olds) and reset the penalty for the offences of being drunk and disorderly and buying alcohol for a person under 18 to the higher tier of £80.

Licensing Act 2003

In addition, The Licensing Act 2003 (Consequential Amendments) Order 2005 amends the list of penalty notice offences with effect from 24 November 2005.  The effect of the amendments is to replace the entries relating to The Licensing Act 1964 which are repealed by the 2003 Act. 

Stated aims

The penalty notice for disorder scheme has been introduced as a response to the need for a speedy and effective alternative means of dealing with low-level, anti-social and nuisance offending, which does not require a court hearing.

The scheme’s stated aims are to:

• offer operational officers a new, effective alternative means of dealing with low-level, anti-social and nuisance offending
• deliver swift, simple and effective justice that carries a deterrent effect
• reduce the amount of time that police officers spend completing paperwork and attending court, while simultaneously reducing the burden on the courts
• increase the amount of time officers spend on the street and dealing with more serious crime and to free the courts to deal with more serious offending

Offences for which a penalty notice may be issued include:

• being drunk and disorderly
• throwing fireworks in the street
• wasting police time

Instant penalties

Officers have the power to issue a penalty notice either on the street or in a police station. The new measures are discretionary and provide an additional option for dealing with a suspect and do not preclude the use of any existing methods of dealing with offenders.

Once a penalty notice has been issued the recipient must either pay the amount shown on the notice or request a court hearing. This must be done within the 21 days of the date of issue.

Payment of the penalty by the recipient discharges their liability to conviction of the offence for which the notice is issued. Payment involves no admission of guilt and removes both the liability to conviction and a record of criminal conviction.

If the recipient requests a court hearing the case is processed in the normal way, which may result in a hearing. If the recipient neither pays nor elects to have a hearing, usual practice will be for the penalty to be registered as a fine at one and a half times the value of the original penalty. This will be enforced as a normal fine by the courts.