By Matt Elkins, Solicitor Advocate and Director of Legisia Legal Services – published in the Criminal Law Review and author of the Westlaw UK Insight on Police Cautions.
Last updated: July 2026

What is ABH? ABH Meaning at a Glance

ABH stands for assault occasioning actual bodily harm – an offence under section 47 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. It is committed where an assault or battery causes injury that is more than merely transient or trifling: bruising, scratches, swelling, minor cuts, a chipped tooth – and it can include recognised psychiatric harm. It sits between common assault and GBH in seriousness.

Assault occasioning actual bodily harm, commonly known as ABH, is a more serious form of assault, one step higher than common assault and battery, but less serious than GBH and wounding. For information about common assault and battery, please see our Fact Sheet on the topic: Common Assault and Battery: What is a common assault and battery charge?

ABH was made an offence a long time ago, in 1861, under Section 47 of the Offences Against the Person Act. The section in its current form states as follows:

If you are prosecuted and convicted before a court, the maximum sentence you can receive for ABH is 5 years imprisonment. There is also a racially or religiously aggravated form of ABH, that carries a higher maximum sentence of 7 years imprisonment. If the offence is committed against an emergency worker, such as a police officer or ambulance worker, then the Court is required to treat this as an “aggravating factor” and the sentence will be increased. Similarly, if an offence is committed against a person “providing a public service”, again the offence will be aggravated.

Although it is possible to receive a lengthy prison sentence for ABH, it is in fact possible to receive a police caution for ABH. If the injury caused is a bit more serious than battery, but not very serious, then the police may consider a police caution. For details on what facts might lead to a battery charge, rather than ABH, please see here: What is the difference between battery and ABH.

Yes, you can receive a police caution for ABH. Generally, to receive a caution for ABH, rather than being charged and prosecuted at court, the injuries that have been caused will have to be low level, such as minor cutting and/or some bruising, but not excessive bruising.

We have seen cautions being issued for broken or knocked out teeth, but this is very rare – where permanent injuries are caused, or broken bones or serious bruising is inflicted, an ABH or even GBH/wounding charge and prosecution will likely be preferred by the police and CPS, over a caution.

In order for the police to issue a caution for ABH, you must first admit to the allegation, which will mean you will need to accept that you either intentionally or recklessly caused the complainant to sustain unlawful personal violence, and that the assault resulted in actual bodily harm.

The dividing line between ABH and GBH is not always clear, but GBH and wounding injuries are of the most serious nature, whereas ABH injuries will fall between the most serious injuries, and more minor injuries classified as a battery.

ABH injuries can include more serious cuts and bruising, but less than shattered bones, severe internal injuries, and deep penetrating wounds. “Bodily harm” includes any hurt or injury calculated to interfere with the health or comfort of the complainant. Actual injury does not need to be permanent, but must be more than merely “transient or trifling”. It can include a momentary loss of consciousness, but placing someone in a coma, would more likely result in a wounding/GBH charge. ABH can include psychiatric injury, but this must be proven by an expert and excludes simple distress/anguish.

ABH can also be charged were someone creates a set of circumstances knowing that an injury is likely to result – in a notable case, DPP v Santa-Bermudez, the Court found a defendant guilty were a police officer, having been told by a defendant that there was nothing sharp in his pocket, then went on to prick her finger on a needle whilst conducting a search of the defendant’s pockets.

Where something can be reasonably foreseen as the natural consequences of a defendant’s actions, they will be held liable for them. For example, in the case of R v Roberts, the accused had made unwanted sexual advances to the complainant when they were travelling in his car. He told her about his sexual exploits and of how he had used force on women in the past. He then attempted to remove her clothing and the complainant, being terrified, jumped from the moving car resulting in ABH injuries being caused.

As you can receive a lengthy prison sentence for ABH, it is a serious offence. Also, if you receive a caution or conviction for ABH, you will find it very difficult to enter or remain in any form of trusted and regulated profession. Your ABH caution or conviction will be permanently disclosable on an enhanced and standard DBS certificate.

If the police and CPS decide that your case is too serious for a police caution, then you will be charged and brought before a court.

If you are found guilty, the court will then use their sentencing guidelines to determine whether your case is: High Culpability, Medium Culpability or Low Culpability.

A High Culpability case is where there is:

• Significant degree of planning or premeditation
• Victim obviously vulnerable due to age, personal characteristics or circumstances
• Use of a highly dangerous weapon or weapon equivalent
• Strangulation/suffocation/asphyxiation
• Leading role in group activity
• Prolonged/persistent assault

A Low Culpability case is where there is:

• No weapon used
• Excessive self defence
• Impulsive/spontaneous and short-lived assault
• Mental disorder or learning disability, where linked to the commission of the offence

After the Court has determined the level of culpability, the court will then need to determine the level of harm caused. These are again placed into three categories:

• Category 1

Serious physical injury or serious psychological harm and/or substantial impact upon victim

• Category 2

Harm falling between categories 1 and 3

• Category 3

Some level of physical injury or psychological harm with limited impact upon victim

The court will then need to determine a starting point sentence based on the level of harm and culpability, which are set out in the guidelines, and then specify the sentence up or down from that point, within that particular range. So, for cases where the harm is at a category 3 level, and the culpability is low, the starting point sentence is a medium level community order with a range of sentences from a band B fine to 26 weeks’ imprisonment. For a high culpability case, where the harm is in category 1, then the starting point sentence is 2 years 6 months’ imprisonment, with a range of 1 year 6 months’ – 4 years’ imprisonment.

Factors that might increase the seriousness of an ABH case are:

• Previous relevant convictions
• Committing the offence whilst on bail
• Assault based on hostility due to the victims disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity
• Deliberate spitting or coughing
• Offence committed against those working in the public sector or providing a service to the public or against a person coming to the assistance of an emergency worker
• Offence committed in prison (where not taken into account as a statutory aggravating factor)
• Offence committed in a domestic context
• History of violence or abuse towards victim by offender
• Presence of children
• Gratuitous degradation of victim
• Abuse of power and/or position of trust
• Any steps taken to prevent the victim reporting an incident, obtaining assistance and/or from assisting or supporting the prosecution
• Commission of offence whilst under the influence of alcohol/drugs
• Offence committed whilst on licence or subject to post sentence supervision
• Failure to comply with current court orders

Factors that might reduce the seriousness are:

• No previous convictions or no relevant/recent convictions
• Remorse
• Good character and/or exemplary conduct
• Significant degree of provocation
• History of significant violence or abuse towards the offender by the victim
• Age and/or lack of maturity
• Mental disorder or learning disability, where not linked to the commission of the offence
• Sole or primary carer for dependent relative(s)
• Determination and/or demonstration of steps taken to address addiction or offending behaviour
• Serious medical conditions requiring urgent, intensive or long-term treatment

ABH is a specified offence for the purposes of the Sentencing Act 2020, Schedule 18 – this means that for regulated roles where an enhanced or standard DBS check is required a caution or conviction for ABH will be permanently disclosable. If you have received a caution for ABH it may be possible to have this caution deleted from the PNC, depending on the circumstances.

If your caution or conviction is not deleted or overturned, it will remain on the PNC until you reach 100 years of age.

Yes, ABH will come up on a DBS check, but it will depend on the level of check, and what your sentence was. For standard and enhanced DBS checks any caution or conviction for ABH will show up indefinitely.

If you do not work in a regulated sector, and you only need a basic DBS certificate, your record will show up according to the basic DBS check disclosure rules.

The typical defence to an ABH charge will be self-defence. For details about defences to assault generally, including consent, child chastisement, and assaulting a trespasser, see here: General Defences to Assault.

What does ABH stand for?

ABH stands for “assault occasioning actual bodily harm” – an offence under section 47 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. Despite the name, no separate “assault” and “harm” charges are needed: it is a single offence covering an assault or battery that causes injury.

What is the sentence for ABH?

The maximum sentence is 5 years’ imprisonment (7 years if racially or religiously aggravated). In practice, sentences range from a community order for less serious cases to custody for the most serious – the Sentencing Council’s assault guideline sets the range by reference to culpability and harm. Many first-time, lower-harm cases are dealt with out of court altogether, including by caution.

What happens for a first ABH offence?

There is no automatic outcome. Depending on the injury, the circumstances and any admissions, a first offence can result in no further action, a community resolution, a police caution, or prosecution. If you are offered a caution for ABH, take advice before accepting – it creates a record that is never filtered from Standard or Enhanced DBS checks.

How long does ABH stay on your record?

A caution or conviction for ABH is recorded on the Police National Computer until your 100th birthday unless deleted. Because ABH is a specified offence, it is never filtered from Standard or Enhanced DBS certificates – it will continue to be disclosed no matter how long ago it happened. The only way to remove an ABH caution from your record is deletion through the Record Deletion Process.

Is ABH worse than common assault?

Yes. Common assault (maximum 6 months) covers violence or the fear of violence with no or only trifling injury; ABH requires actual injury and carries up to 5 years. The next step up is GBH – really serious harm – under sections 20 and 18.

Can an ABH caution be removed?

Yes. We have successfully deleted ABH cautions from the PNC through the Record Deletion Process – see our guide to Removing a Police Caution for Assault or ABH and our police caution removal page. Because an ABH caution is never filtered from DBS checks, deletion is often the only route to a clear certificate.

If you have been issued with a police caution for ABH, common assault, battery, or any other offence, we can help you.

We have had hundreds of cautions removed over the years, including for ABH.

We will be able to provide you with expert representation, at an affordable fixed fee.

If you would like an initial conversation with our friendly and approachable office manager Myriam, then please get in touch.

When is a police caution spent is a question you may ask if you are applying for a new job. The short answer to this question is that a caution is spent immediately.

This means that your caution will be spent as soon as you receive it, and will not be revealed on a basic DBS certificate.

The only exception to this rule is if you received a conditional caution. If you received a conditional caution it will become spent as soon as the conditions expire, up to a maximum of three months.

All will be well for your job application, if all you need is a Basic DBS certificate. The issue for you to determine will be what type of certificate do you actually need?

If you hope to work in a regulated role, you will need either a standard or an enhanced DBS certificate.

If you work in a regulated role in finance, accounting, or the law you will need a standard DBS certificate.

If you work with children or vulnerable adults, then you will need an enhanced DBS certificate.

If you need either an enhanced or standard DBS certificate, the issue for you will not be “when is a caution spent” but “when does a police caution become protected”.

Please see here, for information about when a police caution will become protected.

Some cautions will never become protected, and even when a caution becomes protected, it will be held on the Police National Computer (PNC) until you reach 100 years of age.

Along with causing employment difficulties, a police caution can also cause significant issues with respect to immigration.

For details on how a caution will impact overseas immigration, please see our article here: What is a Police Certificate?

If you have a police caution, and it is causing you issues, then please get in touch to discuss your case.

We are the leading practice specialising in police record deletion and DBS appeals.

We have had hundreds of successful cases, having police cautions and other records deleted with police forces across England and Wales.

Due to our extensive experience, we will be able to advise from the outset whether you have a good chance of success or not.

In all cases we offer reasonable fixed fees. Please get in touch today to arrange an initial consultation.

If you have received a police caution you may be wondering: what is a protected caution?

The best way to explain the difference between when a criminal record becomes “spent”, and when it becomes “protected”, is to look at the different types of background check.

There are three types of DBS certificate, basic, standard, and enhanced.

All employers can ask for a Basic DBS check. It is in relation to a Basic DBS check that it matters whether your record is “spent” or “unspent” according to the Rehabilitation of Criminal Offenders Act 1974.

All cautions are immediately “spent” for the purposes of a basic DBS check as soon as they are issued, no matter the type of offence, or when the caution was issued.

The only exception to this is in relation to a conditional caution. For a conditional caution it will become spent as soon as the conditions expire, up to a maximum of three months.

If your employer is asking you to apply for a standard or enhanced DBS certificate, this means they are allowed to ask an “exempted question”. This basically means that they are allowed to ask you about spent criminal records, but only to the extent that they are not “protected”.

The typical question you will be asked is the following:

An adult caution will become “protected” if it was issued six or more years ago, unless it is for an offence that is on the specified offences list.

All youth cautions (both simple and conditional) will be protected immediately.

If an adult caution is for an offence that appears on the specified offences list, your caution will be indefinitely disclosable on both a standard and an enhanced DBS certificate. Typical examples of specified offences cautions are ABH, affray, child cruelty/neglect, possession of indecent images of children or sexual assault.

For further details on when a caution will be disclosed, you can use our: police caution calculator.

Once a caution is protected the police will still retain it on the Police National Computer (PNC) until you reach 100 years of age.

For youth cautions they will not be automatically disclosable on any level of DBS certificate, but may be revealed as “relevant information” on an enhanced DBS certificate.

For adult cautions, after six years, a caution will be “protected” and will not be revealed on a standard DBS check, but might continue to be revealed on an enhanced DBS check as “relevant information”.

In order for the police to reveal a protected caution, they would have to justify that it was necessary, reasonable, and proportionate to disclose the information. If you are arrested a second time, or receive a second caution, then it will make it much more likely that a protected caution will be revealed on an enhanced DBS certificate.

A protected caution can also continue to cause problems with respect to visas and citizenship overseas. A caution will be revealed directly on an ACRO Police Certificate for either 5  or 10 years depending on the offence. Once the time period has elapsed, the caution will become “stepped down”. Once it is stepped down it will be indirectly revealed via a “no live trace” disclosure.

For anyone who has never been cautioned or convicted, their Police Certificate will simply state “no trace”. If you provide a “no live trace” certificate to a foreign embassy, most often they will then enquire into the details of your criminal record. Certain countries, notably the United States and China, may block a Visa or citizenship application based on a police caution, depending on the offence, and when the caution was issued.

So if you have now answered the question, what is a protected caution, and you realise your caution is not protected, then please get in touch.

We have years of experience in applying for the removal of police records, including hundreds of successful police caution removal cases.

We understand the significant impact a low-level criminal allegation can have on someone’s career, and we deal with every case sensitively and compassionately.

We charge reasonable fixed fees for our services. Please contact us to arrange a fixed fee initial consultation where we will be able to provide you an honest and frank opinion on your prospects of successfully having your police caution removed.

We are often asked; can a caution be removed after 5 years? The reason for this question stems back to previous disclosure rules that now only generally apply to ACRO Police Certificates. We still hear of police offices telling arrestees that their caution will be “removed” after 5 years, even though the rules changed many years ago. The reason for the faulty advice may be due to a lack of training, or it could be related to an officer’s desire to ensure compliance from a suspect. An officer may tell a suspect that they shouldn’t worry about accepting a caution as it will be removed after a relatively short period of time.

The reality is that cautions are not “removed” after 5 years.

The question you then to ask is what do you mean by “removed”, also from where are the records removed, and in relation to what purpose?

The 5 year rule was originally set out in the Association of Chief Officers of Police (ACPO)’s General Rules for Criminal Record Weeding on Police Computer Systems and Code of Practice on Data Protection issued in 1995. These rules meant that certain cautions and convictions would be deleted from police systems after a period of time. For a caution, generally they would be deleted after 5 years.

In 2004 the Bichard Report came out which made recommendations about the creation, review, retention, deletion and information sharing of such information.  In 2006, ACPO issued new guidelines for the retention of records on the Police National Computer (PNC) which replaced the 1995 guidelines; this provided for the retention of records until the subject reached 100 years of age, but with a process known as “stepping down” under which types of records would, after a given period, only be disclosed for police purposes or for enhanced disclosure.  Cautions were stepped down after 5 or 10 years depending on the severity of the offence.

In 2009 there was a court ruling, commonly referred to as the “Five Constables Case” that clarified whether records should be deleted from the PNC. The court decided that there needed to be a “complete record” of all arrests, cautions and convictions held on the PNC, and so that although records may not be disclosed after certain periods of time, they would not be deleted from the PNC until a person reached 100 years of age.

Therefore, in respect to the question; can a caution be removed after 5 years, strictly speaking the answer is no. The caution will be retained on the PNC until the data subject reaches 100 years, unless the caution is deleted from the PNC.

The 5 year retention rule does still apply for ACRO Police Certificates for certain cautions. Cautions for more minor offences, such as low level assaults, will become “stepped down” after 5 years, but this does not mean the caution will be “removed” from the PNC. What will happen after 5 years is that the caution will no longer be directly revealed on the Police Certificate, but the Certificate will instead state “no live trace”. If you have never had a caution or conviction, your certificate will simply state “no trace”. A no live trace record can cause difficulties when it comes to immigration as many countries will enquire why a certificate says “no live trace” as opposed to “no trace” – the US and China being notable examples.

If your caution is for a possession of a class A drug then the step down period if 10 years, instead of 5.

The current situation in relation to adult police cautions and background checks is generally that they will not show on a basic DBS check (unless it is a conditional caution, and only for up to 3 months).

On a standard and enhanced DBS certificate a police caution will show for 6 years, and then become protected. If the caution is for an offence that is on the specified offences list (such as child cruelty/neglect, ABH, affray, sexual assault, possession of indecent images) then the caution will be permanently disclosable on a standard and enhanced check. On an enhanced check the police can still disclose information related to a protected caution after the 6 year period if they feel it is relevant to do so. For more details on when a police caution will be revealed, please see our police caution calculator.

The opinion that a police caution is removed after 5 years is a remnant from previous rules, rules that are still being repeated by some police officers. In truth a caution is retained until someone reaches 100 years of age (unless the caution is deleted) and will be subject to different disclosure rules depending on the check that is being done, and the type of offence the caution was given for.

Our client was issued a police caution for theft. The allegation was a very low level incident of “theft by finding” during a University night out with friends.

The client and his friends had taken an item of property they had thought was discarded. The client had seen the item lying in what appeared to be some rubbish, and had not dishonestly taken it.

The incident was however reported by the police, and the client and his friends were investigated. They were all accused of theft, and due to a fear of being taken to court, the client, and his friends, accepted police cautions.

The client felt he had  denied the allegation, but just agreed to the police caution to escape from the police. He was told the police caution would have no impact on his future.

The client came to learn after the caution was issued that it would cause him serious issues when applying for a Green Card to the Untied States. A caution for theft is considered a conviction for “moral turpitude” and was advised by US attorneys to challenge the police caution.

The caution would be indirectly indefinitely disclosed on an ACRO Police Certificate as a “no live trace” disclosure. A “no live trace” disclosure will tell a foreign nation that the person has a criminal record, and will, for countries such as the USA, China, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Singapore, precipitate a request for further details about that person’s background.

We obtained the records from the police and were quickly able to prepare a deletion application. We argued that the police caution had been unfairly issued, and that the caution ought to be expunged from the PNC.

The police responded by completely deleting the client’s record from the PNC, and also deleting his DNA and fingerprints.

We have extensive experience in applying for the deletion of police cautions in relation to many different police forces.

Along with applying for the deletion of police cautions, we are also able to assist with the deletion of PNC arrest records, community resolutions, harassment PINs, Penalty Notices for Disorder (PNDs), biometric data (including custody images) and local police records held on the Police National Database (PND).

We can also assist with challenging DBS disclosures on both standard and enhanced DBS certificates. Our lawyers also have extensive experience in challenging DBS barring decisions; both appealing existing barrings, or resisting a new barring application.

We are also able to help if you are being investigated by a regulator including the General Medical Council (GMC), the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC), the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the General Optical Council (GOC), the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT), the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the General Dental Council (GDC), the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC), Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), and the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA).

In most cases we offer fixed fees, unfortunately we do not offer legal aid.

Please get in touch to arrange an initial consultation

We have recently had a possession of cocaine caution deleted for our client. The client wanted to change profession into a regulated sector and was concerned the caution would cause him some issues in securing a job.

A cocaine caution will be retained on the PNC until a data subject is 100 years of age, it will be disclosed on a standard and enhanced DBS certificate for 6 years (and possibly longer on an DBS enhanced check) and will indefinitely be disclosed on an ACRO Police Certificate via a “No Live Trace” disclosure.

After receiving our client’s instruction, we promptly prepared an application to the police, and successfully persuaded them to remove the client’s caution.

Now that the caution is deleted the client is now clear from the PNC and his DBS Certificate and also his ACRO Police Certificate are clear.