Crime and Policing Act commencement leaves DAPO amendment partly withheld
The fifth commencement SI stages new offences, orders and redress across seven weeks while excluding one DAPO amendment from civil and family proceedings.
1Summary
The Crime and Policing Act 2026 (Commencement No. 5) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/1158 (C. 99), made on 03 November 2026, is a staged commencement statutory instrument under the Crime and Policing Act 2026. It brings section 75 into force on 24 November 2026; domestic abuse protection-order amendments on 25 November; stalking protection-order amendments on 26 November; IP-address and domain-name suspension powers on 30 November; guidance provisions on 07 December; and disregards and pardons for specified childhood convictions or cautions on 15 January 2027. The legal effect is confined to commencement. The explanatory note describes the policy, but does not alter the statutory tests, procedural safeguards or effects contained in the Act and its amended legislation.
2What changes
- 1. From 24 November 2026, section 75 extends the Serious Crime Act 2015 offence concerning possession of advice or guidance about sexually abusing children to advice or guidance about creating child sexual abuse images. The explanatory note calls this material paedophile manuals; that label is not the statutory test.
- 2. From 25 November 2026, section 142 amends domestic abuse protection orders. New provisions allow an order to require an assessment and then participation in a programme if the assessment supports it; other amendments remove existing requirements concerning positive requirements and permit magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court to vary orders of their own motion.
- 3. Regulation 3 withholds section 142(2) from civil proceedings under section 31 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and family proceedings within that Act. On the face of the SI, the assessment-and-programme amendment is therefore unavailable through those routes, although the remainder of section 142 commences. Analysis: neither the Regulations nor the explanatory note gives a reason, end date or transitional provision for that split commencement.
- 4. From 26 November 2026, sections 128 and 129 expand stalking protection-order routes, including orders following acquittal or certain equivalent outcomes and orders on conviction. From 30 November 2026, section 170 and Schedule 18 permit judicial IP-address and domain-name suspension orders. The Act, rather than this SI, supplies the thresholds, notice rules, non-disclosure provisions and the right of an affected person to seek variation or discharge.
- 5. From 07 December 2026, statutory guidance provisions concerning stalking and honour-based abuse commence. From 15 January 2027, sections 116 and 117 provide automatic disregards, deletion duties for relevant official records, and automatic pardons for convictions or cautions for loitering or soliciting where the person was under 18 at the time of the offence. A pardon does not itself remove a conviction, caution or sentence; the disregard provisions carry the records consequences.
3Who is affected
Police, prosecutors, courts, IP-address providers, domain registries and registrars are in scope as the relevant provisions commence. People subject to stalking, domestic-abuse or online suspension orders may face restrictions, including orders made without notice in the circumstances provided by Schedule 18; affected persons may apply to vary or discharge a suspension order. People convicted or cautioned under section 1 of the Street Offences Act 1959 while under 18 benefit from the January redress provisions.
The immediate compliance gap concerns parties in civil and family proceedings involving domestic abuse protection orders. Section 142(2) does not commence for those proceedings, while the SI supplies no transitional arrangement or stated review point. The explanatory note also says that no separate impact assessment was produced because assessments were prepared for the Act. That does not provide an implementation assessment for the staggered dates, or evidence of operational readiness across police, courts, providers and support services.
4Key dates
- 03 November 2026: SI 2026/1158 made by the Home Office Minister of State.
- 24 November 2026: Section 75 on advice or guidance about creating child sexual abuse images commences.
- 25 November 2026: Section 142 on domestic abuse protection orders commences, subject to the civil and family proceedings exclusion for section 142(2).
- 26 November 2026: Sections 128 and 129 on stalking protection orders commence.
- 30 November 2026: Section 170 and Schedule 18 on IP-address and domain-name suspension orders commence.
- 07 December 2026: Sections 131, 143 and 144 on stalking and honour-based-abuse guidance commence.
- 15 January 2027: Sections 116 and 117 on disregards and pardons for specified under-18 convictions and cautions commence.