Today, Friends, Families and Travellers (FFT) is pleased to announce that the Government’s amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill (CPB) has been accepted, in a major win for Gypsy and Traveller communities. The amendment will see the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act’s (PCSCA) 12-month ban change back to the original (pre-PCSCA) 3 months, once the CPB passes through parliament.
The PCSCA originally gave police a range of extra powers to target camps, including the power to ban Gypsies and Travellers who ‘intend to reside’, from an area for up to 12 months under sections 60C, 61 and 62A of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
The amendment followed a Declaration of Incompatibility in a High Court case brought by Wendy Smith, a Romany woman, as Claimant, with Friends, Families and Travellers (FFT) and Liberty as Interveners.
FFT recently campaigned against the PCSC’s extra police powers as part of its Part 4 No More campaign, which received widespread civil society support and called for the removal of the area ban. In fact, since 2018, FFT has constantly stood against the powers brought in by the PCSC Act 2022, joining hundreds of civil society organisations, as well as being a founding member of the Police Bill Alliance alongside Liberty, Friends of the Earth, Quakers in Britain, and Bond.
Support within parliament has largely been driven by members of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Gypsies, Travellers and Roma, for which FFT acts as Secretariat, with extensive participation in Parliamentary Questions, events and debates on the powers brought in by the PCSC Act 2022.
The government’s amendment will now water down one of the most draconian forms of anti-Traveller legislation in decades, described as a major win for Gypsy and Traveller communities.
FFT’s Chief Executive Officer, Sarah Mann, highlighted the need to maintain momentum:
“This is a crucial win for Gypsy and Traveller families and communities. The 12-month ban introduced under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 gave police disproportionate powers that excluded families from entire areas for long periods of time – simply for the crime of having nowhere else to go.
We are all grateful to Wendy Smith for exemplifying courage and to all the Gypsy and Traveller people who spoke out against these powers, time and time again.
Returning the limit to three months will recognise some of the damage done, but we cannot rest whilst wider reforms are still needed to fully uphold the rights, dignity, and way of life of Gypsy and Traveller communities.”
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About Friends, Families and Travellers (FFT)
Friends, Families and Travellers is a leading national charity that works to end racism and discrimination against Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people and to protect the right to pursue a nomadic way of life.
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Relevant Resources
‘High court declares parts of Police Act 2022 in breach of European Convention on Human Rights’. Friends, Families and Travellers. May 2024. Read.
‘Kicking the can down the road: New report on site provision over the past 60 years’. Friends, Families and Travellers. November 2023. View report.
‘Police Act: What you need to know’. Friends, Families and Travellers. June 2022. View here.
‘FFT Statement on Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill’. Friends, Families and Travellers. April 2022. Read.
‘New research shows huge unmet need for pitches on Traveller sites in England’. Friends, Families and Travellers. January 2021. View here.
