PARENTS could be charged up to £5,000 to compensate for distress caused by the behaviour of their unruly children or to make good damage caused by them.

Neighbours or shopkeepers will be able to seek compensation from parents or guardians of young people who cause them harassment, alarm or distress.

It will also cover loss or damage to property.

The new power, which took effect yesterday, applies to children under 10 who are too young to prosecute, so courts have been unable to make compensation orders against them. It is being introduced experimentally in ten cities and counties. After a year the Government will assess its effectiveness and decide whether to extend it.

Parental compensation orders (PCOs) are intended to punish parents for the unruly behaviour of their children and force them to take complaints seriously. Tony McNulty, the Home Office Minister, said: “A PCO is designed to be used as part of a wider strategy to increase the parents’ skills and improve their child’s behaviour [and] to address risk factors and underlying problems experienced by the child and family.”

Compensation would be awarded by a magistrates’ court at the request of a local authority, rather than in response to an application from an alleged victim. A court would first have to establish that the child had caused loss or damage to property by committing an act that, if they were aged 10 or older, would have been a criminal offence.

Alternatively, magistrates would have to decide that the child had acted in a manner that caused or was likely to cause harrassment, alarm or distress to people other than members of their family, and that a compensation order might prevent a repetition.

TEN TRIAL AREAS

Gateshead

Hampshire

Hertfordshire

Leicester

Nottinghamshire

Southwark, South London

South Tyneside

Worcestershire

Wandsworth, SW London

York

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