Serving Respect Orders: New Civil Behaviour Order Taking Effect in October 2026

Serving Respect Orders: New Civil Behaviour Order Taking Effect in October 2026

Respect Orders, a new civil order aimed at persistent adult anti-social behaviour, take effect across England and Wales from 26 October 2026, with the supporting court rules coming into force on 1 October 2026. For any legal team that applies for one, a practical question follows close behind: how the order and the application behind it are served on a respondent who may have every reason to avoid being found. Breach of one of these orders is a criminal offence, so the court will expect clear evidence that service was carried out properly.

What the Respect Orders regime introduces

The new order was created by the Crime and Policing Act 2026. It can be made against an individual aged 18 or over where the court is satisfied that the person has engaged in, or threatens to engage in, anti-social behaviour that causes harassment, alarm or distress, and where the court considers it just and convenient to make the order. Applications may be brought by local authorities, police forces, registered providers of social housing and other eligible bodies. Respect Orders sit within the wider framework for tackling anti-social behaviour, but the sharpest change for practitioners is the consequence of a breach, which is a criminal offence carrying powers of arrest.

The court rules behind Respect Orders

The procedure is set by the Civil Procedure (Amendment No. 2) Rules 2026, which amend Part 65, Practice Direction 65 and Practice Direction 2B. Those rules come into force on 1 October 2026, and the provisions dealing with the order itself take effect on 26 October 2026. Two new court forms accompany the change: a claim form in the shape of an application notice, and a model order. An applicant body will therefore start the process with a defined form, but the order only bites once the respondent has been brought properly within the reach of the court, which returns the focus to service.

Serving a Respect Order on the respondent

An application of this kind must be brought to the respondent’s attention through valid service. Where an order carries criminal consequences on breach, courts place real weight on service being effected correctly and, in many cases, personally, so that there can be no later argument that the respondent never knew of the proceedings. That is simple enough when the address is settled and current. It is considerably harder when it is not. Persistent anti-social behaviour is often tied up with transient or disputed living arrangements, so applicant bodies regularly face respondents who are hard to locate or who deliberately avoid being served. A professional process server traces the respondent, effects personal service where that is required, and produces a certificate or affidavit of service recording exactly how, when and where service happened. If personal service proves impossible, the court may be asked to allow an alternative method under CPR 6.15, though that application in turn rests on evidence of the attempts already made.

How applicant bodies can prepare

The lesson for legal teams is to build service into the timetable from the outset rather than treating it as an afterthought. Confirm early whether the address held for the respondent is reliable, and instruct a tracing and process serving provider before the hearing rather than after a first attempt has failed. Keeping a clean, contemporaneous record of service also serves the criminal court that would deal with any later breach, where the strength of that evidence can matter a great deal.

If you are preparing a Respect Order application and need a respondent located and personally served with a court-ready record of service, fill in the form below to get in touch with the Tremark team.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can apply for Respect Orders?

Applications may be made by local authorities, police forces, registered providers of social housing and other eligible bodies, acting against an adult whose conduct meets the statutory test.

When do the new rules take effect?

The procedural rules under Part 65 come into force on 1 October 2026, and the order itself becomes available across England and Wales on 26 October 2026.

Why does personal service matter for this order?

Because breach is a criminal offence, the court needs to be satisfied that the respondent knew of the order, which makes proof of proper service, ideally personal service, important from the start.