What is the Crime and Policing Bill?
The Crime and Policing Bill 2025 is a piece of proposed legislation that was introduced in the House of Commons in February 2025. Its purpose is to update and expand the law in relation to criminal justice, law enforcement and public safety.
As of July 2025, the Bill has progressed through the House of Commons to the House of Lords, meaning that MPs are still debating the particulars of the proposed legislation and can suggest amendments or new clauses to be added.
As part of this Bill, 6 new offences are proposed to be introduced, which are due to tackle issues concerning child sexual abuse material, child criminal exploitation and spiking. Much of what is being proposed will address perceived gaps in current legislature caused by the evolution of language and technology in recent years, which aren’t necessarily captured by current offences.
If the Bill is passed, the following offences will be criminalised under UK law.
1. Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM)
Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) refers to any form of media that depicts the sexual exploitation or sexual abuse of children. This can include images, videos or even live streams.
We already have legislation in place that criminalises images of real sexual abuse of children and indecent images of children but this new bill goes further. It proposes that there be a new criminal offence that criminalises AI (artificial intelligence) models that have been optimised to create CSAM. These optimised models produce hyper-realistic CSAM that often contains the likeness of real children. Currently, these models are not illegal in the UK.
The existing law criminalising ‘paedophile manuals’ (materials that provide guidance on how to abuse children and/or avoid detection when doing so) will also be updated to cover AI CSAM, to reflect the evolving nature of online child sexual abuse.
2. Obstructing an Individual from Reporting Child Sexual Abuse
A legal requirement is to be established for anyone in regulated activity related to children in England to report to the police if they are made aware of a child being sexually abused. This will impose greater obligations on authorities and those in what will be defined by regulated activity with the aim of trying to ensure that cases of child abuse are not overlooked.
As a result, a new offence is to be created which will criminalise obstructing an individual from making a report under this duty. This proposed offence is a vital step in addressing the long-term under-reporting and denial of child sexual abuse, as revealed by the Independent Inquiry of Child Sexual Abuse.
Anyone, not just mandated reporters, who prevents or seeks to obstruct an individual from making a report under duty could face a prison sentence of up to 7 years.
3. Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE)
Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) is where children and young people (under the age of 18) are manipulated and coerced into committing criminal activity. An example of this is County Lines, where urban gangs exploit young people into moving drugs from larger cities into other markets using dedicated mobile phone lines.
This proposal would make it an offence for an adult to use a child to commit any criminal activity. This offence aims to target the power imbalance that is unduly exercised by any adult who uses a child to commit crime. This new offence will carry a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment, a fine, or both.
4. ‘Cuckooing’
Cuckooing is the act of taking over the home of another person to use it for criminal activity. This includes the type of criminal activity that is typically used to facilitate drug offences, sexual offences and offensive weapons offences.
This bill will provide a power for the Secretary of State to amend the list of specified offences to ‘future-proof’ this new offence against exploitative criminals who might adapt cuckooing to other crime types.
The offence will carry a maximum penalty on indictment of 5 years’ imprisonment, a fine or both.
5. Coerced Internal Concealment
Coerced internal concealment refers to the act of concealing an item inside a person’s body or intentionally causing and/or coercing someone (adult or child) to conceal an item within their body for a criminal reason.
Where the victim is a child, it will be an offence for the perpetrator to intentionally cause a child to conceal a specified item inside a child’s body, regardless of whether that is done by the act of the perpetrator, child or someone else.
When the victim is an adult, it is an offence if the perpetrator compels, coerces, deceives, or uses controlling or manipulative behaviour to cause the adult to conceal a specified item inside their body—regardless of whether the act of concealment is carried out by the perpetrator, the adult, or another person.
6. Spiking
A new ‘administering a harmful substance’ offence is to be created, using modern language to cover incidents of ‘spiking’. This will expand the legislation from the 1861 act that referred to the administration of a noxious substance. This proposal comes from a reported surge in reports of drink-spiking incidents, as well as the emergence of a new practice known as ‘needle spiking’.
This offence is also set to cover non-spiking incidents, for example where a person is sprayed with pepper spray or where urine or faeces is thrown at a prison officer.
What Happens Next?
In due course we will see which, if any or all, of the above offences are enacted and come to be in force. Those that do will be applied through the Criminal Justice System and those that are accused of them will need expert legal advice. As leading firm at the forefront of these developments we will ensure that our expertise can be brought to the fore.
As with any criminal offence, it is essential that you seek specialist legal advice from a criminal solicitor who can give you advice and guidance. By doing so, you will be in a better position to protect your future and to secure the best possible outcome. If you are in need of legal guidance, contact our specialist team on 0333 577 0522 or visit our enquiries page.
