Third defeat in row for government on 'busybody' fines

There's a reason why you are 25 times more likely to be fined if your council employs a private enforcement company.

Last night peers inflicted the third defeat in a row on the government, as they supported the latest in a series of amendments to stop the corrupt habit of private companies issuing penalties on commission.

Shockingly, Labour was the only party who opposed the amendments, inexplicably defending an enforcement industry that is paid per fine - and punishes people for everyday actions in order to meet its targets.

The government has been forced to concede that it will introduce Statutory Guidance on the issue in the next 6 months, which will prohibit payment per fine. We will be fighting to ensure that this guidance is strong and that it has teeth.

This comes as our most recent report revealed that penalties for ‘busybody’ penalties are at an all-time high, with over 25,000 fines issued in 2025 for actions such as feeding the birds, standing in groups, begging, loitering, or busking.

Most of these penalties were issued by councils employing private contractors. Boston (which employs Kingdom LA Support) issued 37 penalties to people for feeding the birds, while North Somerset (which employs Kingdom) issued 7 penalties to people for swimming. Bedford (which employs District Enforcement) issued 619 penalties to people for cycling in the town centre and 4 to people for skateboarding.

Greenwich (which also employs Kingdom) issued 98 penalties for ‘abusive language’, 7 penalties to people for loitering near a cash machine, two for ‘obscene gestures’, three for amplification, and 316 for ‘driving or riding’.

Overall, the 31 councils employing a private company issued 19,214 FPNs, including 10,517 in Hillingdon (which employed the company APCOA) and 3,143 in Harrow (which employed Kingdom Security). The 251 councils not employing a private company together issued 6,152 FPNs.

This means that people were on average 25 times more likely to be fined if their council employed a private company than if their council did not. This is not proportionate or consistent enforcement.

We also had a major victory last week with new Defra guidance, which bans ‘pay per fine’ arrangements with the following line:

Where external contractors are used, private firms should not be able to receive greater revenue or profits just from increasing the volume of penalties.

Thanks to pressure in the Lords, the Home Office has committed to include this same line in its guidance covering ‘anti-social behaviour’ offences.

When this happens, hopefully this will cover the issue across the board. Fining for profit will be banned in the UK. Payment per fine contracts should be illegal, and any fines issued under them should be declared invalid.

These gains have been long and hard coming, and are the result of many years of work. Now we need to make sure they are enforced, to save innocent members of the public for being unfairly fined for anodyne actions while going about their everyday business.

Thanks for your support over the years. We couldn’t have done it without you. If you would like to support this campaign for the period ahead, you can do so here.

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See our report, and media below….