The UK government has announced plans to end contracts that allow private enforcement firms to profit from issuing fixed penalty notices for littering and anti-social behaviour in England. Under new statutory guidance, councils will be required to stop arrangements where private companies receive between 50% and 100% of each fine they serve.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said it would implement statutory guidance banning 'fining for profit' to help local authorities exercise their powers consistently and appropriately. The move follows long-standing criticism that outsourcing enforcement to private firms leads to excessive fines for minor offences.
Josie Appleton, director of the civil liberties group the Manifesto Club, welcomed the announcement, noting that at least 75% of public spaces protection order penalties come from private companies. She described the current system as 'institutionalised profit from public shame'.
Critics point to cases such as that of Nayan Kisten, who was falsely accused of spitting by private enforcement officers in Tonbridge, Kent. Despite his denial and lack of evidence, he was fined £125 and spent six months getting the penalty cancelled. 'It’s a scary, pressurising experience with the very real threat of a criminal record if you maintain your innocence,' he said.
The government also plans to raise the upper limit for litter fixed penalty notices from £150 to £500 from July. Liberal Democrat peer Tim Clement-Jones warned that increasing fines without curbing profit-linked enforcement risks compounding existing inequities, and criticised the lack of judicial scrutiny in the current system.
