Legal Update - In Force 1 April 2026
From 1 April 2026, the Protection from Sex-based Harassment in Public Act 2023 criminalises the intentional causing of harassment, alarm or distress to a person in public, where the behaviour is done because of that person’s sex or presumed sex. Note that the offending behaviour does not have to be sexual.
New section 4B is inserted into the Public Order Act 1986 and creates two new either-way offences:
- PU86159 - Use threatening / abusive / insulting words / behaviour to cause harassment / alarm / distress based on person's sex.
- PU86160 - Display any writing / sign / visible representation with intent to cause harassment / alarm or distress based on sex.
Although it appears from the Protection from Sex-based Harassment in Public Act 2023 that the intention behind the new offences being created was to specifically target offending relating to sex-based harassment in public spaces, the new offences can be committed in a public or a private place. This is because the commission of the section 4B offence relies on an offence contrary to section 4A of the Public Order Act 1986 first being committed, but with an added requirement that the criminal behaviour was done because of the person’s sex or presumed sex. As the section 4A offences can be committed in a public or private place, so can the new section 4B offences.
Further, this connection to section 4A of the Public Order Act 1986 means that the defences available in section 4A, will also be available in relation to the new offences under section 4B. Therefore, the new offences will not be committed where both parties are inside a dwelling (either the same one, or different dwellings) as per section 4A(2). Also, it is a defence for the accused to prove that they were inside a dwelling and had no reason to believe that the words or behaviour used, or the writing, sign or other visible representation displayed, would be heard or seen by a person outside that or any other dwelling (section 4A(3)(a)), or additionally, that their conduct was reasonable (section 4A(3)(b)).
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