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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesNo general UK government ban on taking photographs or filming in public places is established by the available official guidance. The Home Office says members of the public and media do not need a permit to photograph or film in public places, and that photographing a public building is not an offence in itself. Police powers and restrictions on particular conduct or sites are separate issues.
What the current general rule says
The Home Office’s revised police stop-and-search code states that “members of the public and media do not need a permit to film or photograph in public places.” It also says that photographing or filming a public building is not an offence in itself, and that police have no power to stop people photographing or filming incidents or police personnel in the ordinary circumstances the code describes.
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The Metropolitan Police’s public advice gives a similar account: the public and media do not need a permit to photograph or film in public places, and police have no power to stop them filming incidents or police personnel. These statements concern public photography generally; they do not make every location accessible or every use of an image lawful.
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Not simply because you are recording officers or an incident in a public place, according to the Home Office code. But the code also sets out limited counter-terrorism powers, which may be used when their statutory conditions are met.
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The Metropolitan Police explains that the former section 44 Terrorism Act 2000 power no longer exists. It describes section 43 as allowing a stop and search where an officer reasonably suspects that a person is a terrorist. The Home Office code says a section 47A authorisation does not itself prohibit photography. These are defined powers, not a general authority to ban filming.
When a restriction may concern conduct or image use
Some legal limits address what a person does, what an image depicts, or how it is used—not the act of taking ordinary photographs in public as a whole.
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- Harassment or public-order conduct: A Home Office answer to Parliament in June 2023 said there were no provisions prohibiting photography or filming in public places, including police officers and buildings, unless conduct represented a genuine security risk or a risk of staff personal information being misused. It noted that Public Order Act and Protection from Harassment Act offences depend on the circumstances. This is contextual support from a dated answer, not a substitute for the current police code.
- Intimate images: A March 2026 parliamentary answer about covert filming discussed offences involving taking intimate images without consent or reasonable belief in consent, including some images taken up clothing in public. That is a privacy and sexual-image issue, not evidence of a broad ban on street photography. The answer also referred to the Crime and Policing Bill at that time; it does not establish that bill provisions are now in force.
- Prohibited places: In a 2024 answer about the National Security Act 2023, the Home Office said a recognised journalist photographing from outside a prohibited place would not commit an offence where they lacked a purpose prejudicial to UK safety or interests and nothing indicated that photography was prohibited, such as signage or another distinguishing marker. This is a narrow site-specific context, not a rule for public spaces generally.
Does Martyn’s Law ban photography?
No general photography ban is set out in the Home Office’s statutory guidance for the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, commonly called Martyn’s Law. The law concerns protective security and preparedness at certain premises and events. The guidance, updated in August 2026, says the Act applies across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; at that point, substantive requirements were still to be commenced. It describes procedures and, for enhanced-tier premises and qualifying events, additional reasonably practicable protective measures—not a general restriction on public photography.
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What about the leaflet saying “Do not photograph or film people in public”?
A parliamentary question dated 14 September 2026 asked whether the Home Office planned to withdraw a leaflet with that title. The indexed parliamentary record said a response was awaited. Its current status—whether it has been withdrawn, corrected or retained—and its full current wording are not established here. The unanswered question does not itself prove that the government has introduced a ban or changed the general rule.
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Government surveillance cameras are a different issue
The Home Office’s local-authority guide to surveillance camera systems concerns public bodies monitoring public spaces and their duties under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and the surveillance camera code. It is about government or local-authority camera use, not members of the public taking photographs.
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