People who carry out conversion practices could be jailed for up to five years and hit with unlimited fines under landmark plans laid before Parliament on Thursday. The draft Conversion Practices Bill creates a legal definition of such practices as conduct which “aims to change someone’s sexual orientation or transgender identity through abusive acts that seriously harm the victim”. It applies to England and Wales.
The Cabinet Office said the Bill will ensure LGBT+ people are “protected from physical and psychological abuse to change who they are”. Minister for Equalities Olivia Bailey said: “Conversion practices are driven by the false belief that being LGBT+ is shameful and can be forcibly changed. Legal loopholes have left LGBT+ people vulnerable to these harmful acts, which is why we must legislate.”
“Conversion practices could face up to five years in jail under a new draft bill laid before Parliament.”
The plans create two new criminal offences: one for carrying out conversion practices “which cause serious harm, alarm or distress”, and another for encouraging or assisting such practices outside England and Wales. Courts will also be able to issue Conversion Practice Protection Orders to “pre-emptively protect those deemed to be at risk of abuse”.
The government argues existing domestic abuse or coercive control laws do not address “the unique nature of abusive conversion practices”. The move follows years of delay: the promise to ban conversion therapy was first made in 2018 but suffered several U-turns after protests.
It remains difficult to know how widespread the practices are. About 5% of the 108,000 people who responded to the government’s 2018 UK-wide LGBT Survey said they had been offered some form of conversion therapy, while 2% had undergone it. However, the survey did not define conversion therapy or ask when or where it happened.
Galop, an anti-LGBT abuse charity, released new figures showing it identified more than 300 calls about conversion practices between 2022 and 2025. Analysing a sample of 195 calls, researchers found examples of physical and sexual violence, attempted forced marriages, and people being forcibly taken abroad to undergo conversion practices. The majority of cases (132) were reported as ongoing or recent, and more than half (123) were reported as being initiated by someone close to the victim.
Some groups have raised concerns that such laws could criminalise exploratory conversations around gender identity or sexual orientation. The government says it will legislate because existing laws do not cover the specific abuse involved.