Those who carry out conversion practices could be jailed for up to five years under landmark new plans laid before Parliament on Thursday. The draft Conversion Practices Bill, which criminalises “abusive acts” aiming to change someone’s sexual orientation or transgender identity, was published eight years after it was first promised.
Minister for Equalities Olivia Bailey said the practices were “driven by the false belief that being LGBT+ is shameful and can be forcibly changed”. She added: “Legal loopholes have left LGBT+ people vulnerable to these harmful acts, which is why we must legislate.” The Cabinet Office said the Bill would ensure LGBT+ people are “protected from physical and psychological abuse to change who they are”.
“Those carrying out conversion practices could face up to five years in jail under a new draft bill laid before Parliament.”
The plans – applying to England and Wales – set a legal definition of conversion practices as conduct which “aims to change someone’s sexual orientation or transgender identity through abusive acts that seriously harm the victim”. Two new criminal offences will be created: one for carrying out such practices “which cause serious harm, alarm or distress”, and another for encouraging or assisting them to take place outside England and Wales. Conviction could bring an unlimited fine and up to five years in prison.
Alongside criminal penalties, the Bill introduces civil powers known as Conversion Practice Protection Orders, which the government says will “pre-emptively protect those deemed to be at risk of abuse”. The government argues that existing domestic abuse or coercive control laws do not address “the unique nature of abusive conversion practices”.
It is difficult to know exactly how widespread the practices are. About 5% of the 108,000 people who responded to the government’s UK-wide LGBT Survey in 2018 said they had been offered some form of conversion therapy, while 2% had undergone it. But the survey did not define what it meant by conversion therapy, and did not ask when or where it had happened.
Galop, an anti-LGBT abuse charity that has campaigned for a ban, released new figures showing that between 2022 and 2025 it identified more than 300 calls about conversion practices. Researchers analysed a sample of 195 of those calls and found reported examples of physical and sexual violence, attempts at forced marriages, and people being forcibly taken abroad to undergo conversion practices. The majority of the cases (132) were reported as ongoing or recent, and more than half (123) were reported as being initiated.
The plans have faced a turbulent path. The promise to ban conversion therapy was first made in 2018 but led to protests after several U-turns. Some groups have raised concerns that such laws could criminalise exploratory conversations around gender identity or sexual orientation. The government has not yet addressed how the Bill will distinguish between abusive practices and legitimate conversations, leaving a question that could shape the final legislation.