Section 24A: Arrest for failure to comply

Criminal Justice Act 2003 · 2003 c. 44View on legislation.gov.uk

Part 3: Conditional cautions

If a constable has reasonable grounds for believing that the offender has failed, without reasonable excuse, to comply with any of the conditions attached to the conditional caution, he may arrest him without warrant.

A person arrested under this section must be—

charged with the offence in question,
released without charge and on bail if—
the release is to enable a decision to be made as to whether the person should be charged with the offence, and
the pre-conditions for bail are satisfied, or
released without charge and without bail (with or without any variation in the conditions attached to the caution) if paragraph (b) does not apply.

Subsection (2) also applies in the case of—

a person who, having been released on bail under subsection (2)(b), returns to a police station to answer bail or is otherwise in police detention at a police station;
a person who, having been released on bail under section 30A of the 1984 Act (bail elsewhere than at police station) as applied by section 24B below, attends at a police station to answer bail or is otherwise in police detention at a police station;
a person who is arrested under section 30D or 46A of the 1984 Act (power of arrest for failure to answer to police bail) as applied by section 24B below.

Where a person is released under subsection (2)(b), the custody officer must inform him that he is being released to enable a decision to be made as to whether he should be charged with the offence in question.

The power under subsection (5)(a) includes power to keep the person in police detention if it is necessary to do so for the purpose of investigating whether he has failed, without reasonable excuse, to comply with any of the conditions attached to the conditional caution.

Subsection (2) must be complied with as soon as practicable after the person arrested arrives at the police station or, in the case of a person arrested at the police station, as soon as practicable after the arrest.

Subsection (2) does not require a person who—

falls within subsection (3)(a) or (b), and
is in police detention in relation to a matter other than the conditional caution,

to be released if he is liable to be kept in detention in relation to that other matter.

In subsection (2) the reference to the pre-conditions for bail is to be read in accordance with section 50A of the 1984 Act.

In this Part—

  • "the 1984 Act" means the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984;

  • "police detention" has the same meaning as in the 1984 Act (see section 118(2) of that Act).

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This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.