Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

restraint order definition

What does restraint order mean? In practice, a restraint order freezes a suspect’s or defendant’s realisable property to preserve assets for potential confiscation, compensation or forfeiture, by prohibiting any dealing with the property. It commonly applies to all realisable assets (including those held via third parties or abroad), subject to limited allowances for reasonable living and legal expenses. In England & Wales and Northern Ireland, restraint orders are statutory under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA). They are usually obtained by prosecutors or investigators from the criminal courts, often without notice, pre‑ or post‑charge, where an investigation has begun and there are reasonable grounds to...

POCA 2002 restraint orders (England and Wales): statutory steer, conditions, applications and variations, detention and disclosure, third‑party interests, living/business/legal expenses, appeals and costs

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Practice notes

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What is a restraint order?

A restraint order is a preventive step taken to back up any Confiscation order that might be, or has already been, imposed. It is a statutory device, set out in section 40 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA 2002). Under POCA 2002, s 40 (which provides for Restraint orders), an investigator or prosecutor is afforded the pre-emptive power to restrict a person's assets where that person is suspected of, or being investigated for, an acquisitive offence, and even before any arrest on the alleged offence. A restraint order made pursuant to POCA 2002 also operates to freeze both identified and yet-to-be identified property so as to preserve assets regarded as necessary to satisfy a confiscation order following prosecution and conviction (see below: Legislative steer under POCA 2002, s 69). The order expressly bars any specified person from dealing with the property in question, including Third parties who hold property in which a suspect or defendant is thought to have an interest...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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