Serious Disruption Prevention Order
A civil order introduced by the Public Order Act 2023 that may be imposed on individuals who have been convicted of protest-related offences or have contributed to serious disruption on at least two occasions. The order can impose conditions such as reporting requirements, geographical restrictions, and prohibitions on attending certain types of protest. Breach is a criminal offence.
Independent editorial summary — not the official statute text. Read the official version on legislation.gov.uk.
Part 2 of the Public Order Act 2023 created a new civil order aimed specifically at repeat protest-related offending. Under section 20, where a person aged 18 or over is convicted of an offence committed on or after the section's commencement, the prosecution may apply for a serious disruption prevention order to be made in respect of that person, and the court dealing with them for that offence may then make the order.
The order is not available on a single conviction alone — it depends on a pattern of relevant conduct: the court must also be satisfied that the person's conduct on the occasion of the current offence, taken with earlier protest-related offending or disruption within a five-year 'relevant period', justifies the order, and that conduct must not already have been taken into account when making any previous order against the same person.
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Official sources
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