# Crime and Policing Act 2026, Section 135: Encouraging or assisting serious self-harm

Extent: E+W+N.I.
Status: prospective

(1) A person (D) commits an offence if—
(a) D does an act capable of encouraging or assisting the serious self-harm of another person, and
(b) the act is intended to encourage or assist the serious self-harm of another person.
(2) The other person mentioned in subsection (1)(a) or (b) need not be a specific person (or class of persons) known to or identified by D.
(3) An offence under this section may be committed whether or not serious self-harm of a person occurs.
(4) For the purposes of this section—
“act” includes any conduct except conduct consisting only of one or more omissions (and a reference to the doing of an act is to be read accordingly);
“encouraging”: a reference to encouraging the serious self-harm of a person includes doing so by putting pressure on a person to seriously self-harm (whether by threatening them or otherwise);
“serious self-harm” of a person occurs where their conduct results in self-harm to them that is grievous bodily harm (within the meaning of the Offences against the Person Act 1861).
(5) A person who commits an offence under this section is liable—
(a) on summary conviction in England and Wales, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding the general limit in a magistrates’ court or a fine (or both);
(b) on summary conviction in Northern Ireland, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum (or both);
(c) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or a fine (or both).

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/20/section/135 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/crime-and-policing-act-2026/section-135
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.