‘Fining for profit’ is rampant in the UK. The vast majority of fines for litter and ASB offences are now given out by private companies, who are paid per fine.
The company isn’t paid by the council – and they put up the staff, cars, cameras, administrative systems. They have to make back their costs through the fines they issue; normally, the deal is that they get 85% of fines income.
The company has to issue a certain number of fines to meet their costs, and then some extra fines in order to make a profit. We have heard that the rough target is that each officer has to issue five fines a day as a basic level.
This corrupt setup leads to absurd fines and injustice, such as people fined for pouring coffee down a drain, or for dropping something by accident.
Sometimes the officers are so desperate for fines that they just accuse someone of doing something they didn’t do. Several non-smokers have been fined for cigarette butts, including one man who was hundreds of miles away at the time.
Still worse, these private companies are also increasingly taking over the ‘appeals’ process for penalties, and even prepare court documents for prosecutions. Appeals become a joke – there is either no means of contacting the company, or the phone call is an exercise in trying to scare you into paying.
Enforcement should be carried out impartially, in the public interest, and punishing significant offences. ‘Fines farming’ belongs in the Middle Ages; it has no place in a modern democracy.
Police officers aren’t paid per arrest – and companies shouldn’t be paid per fine.
What needs to happen
Defra seems to have finally taken on board that this needs to change. In the Pride in Place Strategy, it says it will bring through statutory guidance on littering, to ensure that authorities use their powers ‘consistently and appropriately’.
Current non-statutory guidance already bans fining for profit, stating clearly that:
private firms should not be able to receive greater revenue or profits just from increasing the volume of penalties, since this runs contrary to the overall aim of reducing the number of offences committed.
But this guidance is entirely ignored. If Defra makes this guidance statutory, it will have proper legal force. Any penalties issued under a ‘pay per fine’ contract will be invalid. Any ‘pay per fine’ contract will become illegal.
The Home Office has also pledged to introduce checks on corrupt enforcement. In a debate on the Crime and Policing Bill, the government minister stated:
There will be statutory guidance, updated very shortly, to emphasise the importance of using these new (penalty) limits proportionately, including a recommendation that local authorities include wording on this in any service level agreement with the contractors.
We will be pressuring Defra and the Home Office to finish the job, and end fining for profit in the UK, once and for all.
- Read on: See our Campaign Against Fining for Profit