Civil harassment claims in England and Wales:

Understanding the law

Harassment can have a profound impact on an individual’s personal life, mental wellbeing, and professional reputation. While many people associate harassment with criminal prosecutions, the law in England and Wales also provides victims with the right to pursue civil remedies against those responsible.

A civil harassment claim enables an individual to seek compensation for the harm they have suffered and, importantly, obtain an injunction preventing further harassment. These claims are increasingly used in disputes involving neighbours, former partners, workplace conflicts, online abuse, business competitors and persistent unwanted communications.

This article explains the legal framework governing civil harassment claims, the elements that must be established, the remedies available, and the court process involved.

What is harassment?

Harassment is governed primarily by the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

Originally introduced to tackle stalking, the legislation has developed into one of the principal legal mechanisms for addressing persistent unwanted conduct in a wide range of circumstances.

Unlike many other civil claims, harassment focuses on a pattern of behaviour rather than a single isolated incident. The law recognises that repeated conduct, even where each individual act may appear relatively minor, can collectively amount to unlawful harassment.

The legal test

Section 1 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 prohibits a person from pursuing:

“A course of conduct which amounts to harassment of another and which they know or ought to know amounts to harassment.”

For a successful civil claim, the claimant generally needs to establish four key elements:

1. A course of conduct

A “course of conduct” requires at least two separate incidents directed towards the claimant.

These incidents do not need to be identical or occur over a lengthy period, but they must demonstrate a pattern of behaviour rather than an isolated event.

Examples may include:

• Repeated threatening messages
• Persistent unwanted emails
• Continuous telephone calls
• Repeated attendance at a person’s home
• Following or monitoring an individual
• Repeated online abuse
• Publication of defamatory or abusive material as part of a continuing campaign

The court will assess the overall context rather than examining each incident in isolation.

2. The conduct must amount to harassment

The Act does not provide an exhaustive definition of harassment. Instead, the courts have developed the principles through case law.

Harassment has been described as conduct that is oppressive and unacceptable, rather than merely irritating, unattractive or unreasonable.

The courts recognise that ordinary disagreements, robust exchanges, or occasional unpleasant behaviour will not usually satisfy the statutory threshold.

Each case is highly fact-sensitive. Relevant factors include:

• Frequency
• Duration
• Context
• Purpose
• Effect upon the claimant
• Whether the conduct crossed the boundary into oppressive behaviour

3. The defendant knew or ought to have known

The legislation applies both objectively and subjectively.

A claimant does not necessarily need to prove that the defendant intended to harass them.

Instead, the court asks whether a reasonable person in possession of the same information would have realised that the conduct amounted to harassment.

This objective test prevents defendants from avoiding liability by claiming ignorance where the behaviour was obviously unacceptable.

4. The conduct caused harm

While actual psychiatric injury is not always essential, harassment commonly causes:

• Anxiety
• Distress
• Loss of sleep
• Depression
• Panic attacks
• Damage to relationships
• Loss of confidence
• Financial loss

Medical evidence may strengthen a claim where significant psychological injury is alleged.

Common examples of civil harassment

Civil harassment claims arise in many different contexts.

These include:

Neighbour disputes: Persistent intimidation, abusive behaviour, repeated complaints made maliciously, surveillance or threats between neighbours may amount to harassment where the conduct becomes oppressive.

Former relationships: Following relationship breakdowns, repeated contact, surveillance, unwanted attendance at a person’s home or workplace, and threatening communications may justify civil proceedings.

Workplace harassment: Although many workplace disputes are pursued through employment tribunals, harassment by colleagues, managers or former employees may also give rise to civil claims in appropriate circumstances.

Online harassment: The increasing use of social media has led to a significant rise in harassment claims involving repeated abusive messages, fake social media accounts, persistent online publication, coordinated campaigns, cyberstalking, doxxing, and malicious communications.

Business harassment: Businesses may encounter harassment through sustained campaigns designed to intimidate owners, employees or customers. Examples include repeated threats, abusive communications, interference with business relationships or coordinated online attacks. The claimants would be the individuals being harassed and not the business itself.

Defences

Not every course of conduct constitutes unlawful harassment. There are three primary statutory defences. A defendant may argue that the conduct was:

• Pursued for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime.
• Required or authorised by law.
• Reasonable in the particular circumstances.

Additional and technical defences include:

• Human rights: A defendant may rely on the right to freedom of expression (article 10). The court will conduct a proportionality test balancing freedom of expression against the claimant’s right to be free from harassment.
• Limitation period: A civil claim for harassment must be brought within six years.
• No course of conduct: The behaviour complained of did not occur on at least two separate occasions, or it does not meet the legal threshold for oppressive / unreasonable behaviour required to be deemed harassment.

The court will carefully assess whether the conduct genuinely falls within one of these exceptions.

Available remedies

Injunctions: An injunction may prohibit further harassment. Typical injunctions may prevent a defendant from contacting the claimant, attending specified addresses, publishing material online, communicating through third parties and monitoring or following the claimant. Breaching an injunction can amount to contempt of court, potentially resulting in fines, asset seizure or imprisonment.

Damages: The court may award damages for, anxiety, emotional distress, psychiatric injury, financial losses, medical expenses, and/or loss of earnings. The level of damages depends on the seriousness of the conduct and the consequences suffered.

Costs

As with most civil litigation, the unsuccessful party may be ordered to pay a substantial proportion of the successful party’s legal costs.

Gathering evidence

The success of a harassment claim often depends upon the quality of the available evidence. Useful evidence may include:

• Text messages
• Emails
• Social media posts
• Letters
• Telephone records
• CCTV footage
• Ring doorbell recordings
• Witness statements
• Police reports
• Medical records
• Screenshots
• Diaries recording incidents

It is generally advisable to maintain a chronological schedule documenting every incident together with dates, times and supporting evidence.