Legislation – Sentencing Act 2026

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Introduction

Part 1
Sentencing

1 Presumption of suspended sentence order for sentences of 12 months or less

2 Custodial sentences that may be suspended

3 Income reduction orders

4 Purposes of sentencing

5 Date to which passing of sentence may be deferred

6 Finding of domestic abuse

7 Special custodial sentence for certain offenders of particular concern: England and Wales

8 Sentence with fixed licence period: Scotland

9 Sentence with fixed licence period: Northern Ireland

10 Corresponding provision under service law

11 Whole life order: murder of police, prison or probation officer

12 Removal of requirement to specify maximum number of days

13 Rehabilitation activity requirement renamed probation requirement

14 Driving prohibition requirement

15 Public event attendance prohibition requirement

16 Drinking establishment entry prohibition requirement

17 Restriction zone requirement

18 Power to add or alter requirements

19 Sentencing Council business plan

20 Sentencing guidelines

21 Annual report relating to prison capacity

22 Provision of transcripts of sentencing remarks to victims

Part 2
Management of offenders after sentencing

23 Release

24 Release: consequential amendments relating to driving disqualification

25 Release on licence of certain violent or sexual offenders: service offences

26 Limitation of provisions about home detention curfew

27 Licence conditions

28 Licence conditions: offenders sentenced under repealed armed forces legislation

29 Power to make provision about recall to prison

30 Further release after recall: introductory

31 Further release after recall: relevant young offenders suitable for automatic release

32 Further release after recall: other offenders eligible for automatic release

33 Further release after recall: supplementary

34 Repeal of provisions relating to supervision after end of sentence

35 Early removal of prisoners liable to removal from United Kingdom

36 Removal of maximum period for unpaid work requirement

37 Number of hours of work required by unpaid work requirement

38 Termination of community order

39 Termination of supervision period of suspended sentence order

40 Rules about the proceedings of the Parole Board

41 Application of provisions about release etc to certain repatriated prisoners

42 Imprisonment or detention for public protection: termination of licences

43 Powers of High Court on referral

Part 3
Bail

44 Amendments to Bail Act 1976

Part 4
Foreign criminals

45 Deportation of foreign criminals

Part 5
General

46 Power to make consequential provision

47 Power to state effect in Sentencing Act 2020 of commencement of amendments made by this Act

48 Extent

49 Commencement

50 Short title

SCHEDULES

Schedule 1 Presumption of suspended sentence order: consequential provision

Schedule 2 Sentence with fixed licence period in Scotland or Northern Ireland: consequential provision

Schedule 3 Corresponding provision about sentencing under service law: sentences for offenders of particular concern

Schedule 4 Offences where offender not eligible for automatic release under section 255BA after recall

Schedule 5 Repeal of provisions relating to supervision after end of sentence: consequential provision

Part 2Management of offenders after sentencing

Release

23Release

(1)

The Criminal Justice Act 2003 is amended in accordance with subsections (2) to (9).

(2)

In section 243A (duty to release certain prisoners serving less than 12 months)—

(a)

in subsection (1)(b), for sub-paragraph (i) (but not the “and” at the end of that sub-paragraph) substitute—

“(i)

is serving a sentence under section 250 of the Sentencing Code which is for a term of more than 1 day but less than 12 months,”;

(b)

in subsection (1A), for paragraph (a) (but not the “and” at the end of that paragraph) substitute—

“(a)

the prisoner is serving a sentence under section 250 of the Sentencing Code which is for a term of more than 1 day but less than 12 months,”;

(c)

in subsection (3), for paragraph (a) (but not the “and” at the end of that paragraph) substitute—

“(a)

in relation to a person serving one sentence imposed under section 250 of the Sentencing Code, one half of the sentence,

(aa)

in relation to a person serving one sentence of any other kind, one-third of the sentence,”;

(d)

in subsection (4), omit paragraph (b) (and the “and” before it).

(3)

In section 244(3) (requisite custodial period for prisoners not subject to special provision for release), for paragraph (a) substitute—

“(a)

in relation to a prisoner serving one sentence imposed under section 91 of the PCC(S)A 2000 or section 250 of the Sentencing Code, one-half of the sentence,

(aa)

in relation to a prisoner serving one sentence of any other kind, one-third of the sentence,”.

(4)

In section 244ZA(8) (requisite custodial period for certain violent or sexual offenders), for paragraph (a) (but not the “and” at the end of that paragraph) substitute—

“(a)

in relation to a prisoner serving one sentence within subsection (4) or (5), one-half of the prisoner’s sentence,

(aa)

in relation to a prisoner serving one sentence within subsection (6), two-thirds of the prisoner’s sentence,”.

(5)

In section 246(6) (power to release prisoners on licence before being required to do so: interpretation), in the definition of “the requisite custodial period”, after “paragraph (a)”, in both places it occurs, insert “, (aa)”.

(6)

In section 256B(1A)(a) (supervision after release of certain young offenders serving less than 12 months) omit “or 262”.

(7)

In section 264 (consecutive terms)—

(a)

in subsection (2F)(a)(i), after “243A(1)” insert “or (1A)”;

(b)

in subsection (6)—

(i)

for paragraph (cb) (but not the “and” at the end of that paragraph) substitute—

“(cb)

in relation to a sentence in respect of which section 244ZA applies to the offender by virtue of subsection (4) or (5) of that section, one-half of the sentence,

(cc)

in relation to a sentence in respect of which section 244ZA applies to the offender by virtue of subsection (6) of that section, two-thirds of the sentence,

(cd)

in relation to any sentence imposed under section 91 of the PCC(S)A 2000, or in relation to any other sentence imposed under section 250 of the Sentencing Code, one-half of the sentence,”;

(ii)

in paragraph (d), for “one-half” substitute “one-third”.

(8)

In section 264B (consecutive terms: supplementary)—

(a)

in subsection (1)(b), omit “of imprisonment”;

(b)

in subsection (1)(c)—

(i)

omit “of imprisonment”;

(ii)

after “imposed”, in the first place it occurs, insert “under section 250 of the Sentencing Code”;

(iii)

after “imposed”, in the second place it occurs, insert “(whether or not under section 250 of the Code)”;

(c)

in subsection (2)(a), after “the”, in the first place it occurs, insert “minimum”;

(d)

in subsection (3), for “custodial period” substitute “minimum custodial period”.

(9)

In section 267 (alteration by order of relevant proportion of sentence)—

(a)

after “section 243A(3)(a)” insert “or (aa);

(b)

after “244(3)(a)” insert “or (aa), section 244ZA(8)(a) or (aa)”;

(c)

for “264(6)(d)” substitute “264(6)(cb), (cc), (cd) or (d)”.

(10)

The Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Requisite and Minimum Custodial Periods) Order 2024 (S.I. 2024/844) is revoked.

(11)

In consequence of the amendments made by this section—

(a)

in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, in Schedule 14, omit paragraph 6(3)(b);

(b)

in the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014, in Schedule 3, omit paragraph 18;

(c)

in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, omit section 130(6);

(d)

in the Home Detention Curfew and Requisite and Minimum Custodial Periods (Amendment) Order 2024 (S.I. 2024/1331) omit articles 3 and 4.

(12)

The amendments made by this section, as well as applying in relation to a sentence of imprisonment or detention imposed on or after the day on which those amendments come into force, apply in relation to a sentence of imprisonment or detention imposed before that day if, immediately before that day, the person serving the sentence—

(a)

is in custody or detention pursuant to the sentence, or

(b)

is on licence subject to a curfew condition within the meaning of section 253 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

(13)

But subsection (12) does not have the effect that the amendments made by this section apply in relation to a sentence imposed before the day on which those amendments come into force if subsection (14) or (15) applies to the sentence.

(14)

This subsection applies to a sentence if—

(a)

it is a sentence for an offence listed in Part 3 of Schedule 13 to the Sentencing Code (as inserted by section 7(6) of this Act), and

(b)

the sentence was not imposed under section 91 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, section 209 of the Armed Forces Act 2006 or section 250 of the Sentencing Code.

(15)

This subsection applies to a sentence if—

(a)

section 244 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 applies in relation to the sentence,

(b)

the sentence was imposed in respect of an offence for which a sentence of life imprisonment could have been imposed (in the case of an offender aged 21 or over) on the day on which this section comes into force, and

(c)

the sentence would, on the date on which this section comes into force, fall within subsection (4) or (5) of section 244ZA of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 if that section were read subject to the following modifications (so far as necessary to enable the subsection in question to apply)—

(i)

subsections (4)(c) and (5)(c) (date of sentence) were omitted;

(ii)

subsections (4)(d)(ii) and (7)(b)(ii) (availability of life sentence at date of imposition of sentence) were omitted;

(iii)

subsection (5)(a) also referred to a sentence under section 96 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000.

(16)

If section 26 (limitation of provisions about home detention curfew) comes into force before or at the same time as this section, this section is to be read as if subsection (5) were omitted.