THE government is to extend the power to issue on-the-spot fines to “authority” figures other than the police. They could include teachers, council workers and even RSPCA inspectors, who would be given the same right as police officers to mete out summary justice for offences expected to include vandalism, antisocial behaviour and theft.

The proposal, detailed in a bill debated last week in the Lords, is designed to free up police officers and the courts to concentrate on more serious offences. Ministers are also proposing that a wider range of offences should be dealt with by fixed-penalty notices including thefts up to a value of £100, threatening behaviour, possession of some drugs and drunkenness.

This weekend, however, the Tories, Liberal Democrats and civil liberties campaigners said the plan threatened to take justice away from the professionals and into the hands of “wholly inappropriate groups of people”. Opponents said that without a police officer’s authority, it could lead to confrontations, increase the risk of inconsistent punishments and stop offenders facing their victims in court.

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, one of the biggest teaching unions, said the government had formally raised the proposal with her union when drafting the bill earlier this year.

She warned it might increase conflict with parents and might be unenforceable if pupils refused to pay. “It’s putting a lot of responsibility on schools to be quasi-police,” she said.

The proposal is contained in clause 15 of the Police and Justice Bill. It enables John Reid, the home secretary, to give any “persons” the power to hand out fixed-penalty notices of £80 or £100. Reid would be able to do this whenever he deemed it “necessary” and without primary legislation in parliament.

At the moment notices are handed out by police officers and, to a lesser extent, community support officers and neighbourhood wardens. The Home Office is preparing a much longer list of the types of people who would then be “accredited” by their local chief constable to issue the notices.

The Home Office said the new bill “would also allow for the accreditation of other groups — but not before their addition has been debated by parliament”. It added it “currently” had no plans to extend the provision beyond empowering trading standards officers to issue fixed notices to retailers caught selling alcohol to under-18s.

However, Home Office sources say the list could include teachers who need to deal with unruly pupils, housing officials who need to punish troublesome tenants and RSPCA inspectors.

Offenders who denied guilt after being served with notices would have to be tried in court, while those who failed to pay would face a court fine or imprisonment.

Fixed-penalty notices do not count as a criminal record but police forces would keep a register of those issued with them.

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