What is changing under the Sentencing Act 2026? And when?

In January 2026, the Sentencing Act received Royal Assent after swift passage through Parliament. This Act represents the culmination of government’s attempts to reduce the demand on the prison population and is based in part on the recommendations of the Independent Sentencing Review.

While there are some welcome changes, particularly around restricting the use of short custodial sentences, and reforms to the Bail Act, this legislation does not deal with sentence inflation, one of the primary drivers of capacity issues.

Changes to short, suspended and deferred sentences may reduce demand with less people receiving immediate custodial sentences, and a reduction in the volume of people serving short sentences. This flagship reform reducing the use of short sentences has now commenced – people who would have received a sentence of 12 months or less should now receive a suspended sentence

Concerns remain, however, around unintended consequences of aspects of this legislation, particularly regarding sentence progression, recall, and the upstream demand these reforms will place on probation services.

Summary of key changes

Key changes included in the legislation include a presumption to suspend custodial sentences of 12 months or less, and longer suspension eligibility periods (this is subject to judge’s discretion and there are some exceptions). The length of time that a sentence can be deferred for will also increase. The Act legislates for changes to the type and nature of community sentences, introducing tighter curfews, restriction bans, and more unpaid work.

The Act amends the ‘no real prospect’ test in the Bail Act 1976 so that fewer exceptions to bail apply where the court considers an immediate custodial sentence unlikely. It also includes a welcome list of factors that the court should take into account in its remand decision-making, namely where the defendant is pregnant, a primary caregiver, or a victim of domestic abuse.

Changes to recall include increasing the length of Fixed Term Recall to 56 days for people on Standard Determinate Sentences (SDS), in most cases replacing standard recall. The Prison Reform Trust’s guide provides further detail.

The Act also introduces a new sentence progression model for people on SDS sentences, comprising one third in custody, one third under intensive community supervision, and one third on licence. For most individuals, release at the third-way point will be automatic, although the government claims that release at this point will be conditional on good behaviour and conduct while in custody. Poor behaviour could result in serving longer in custody, administered through the existing disciplinary sanction of additional days.

Under the additional days system, sentences can now be extended by up to 84 days for each single incident of prison indiscipline. Our briefing Earned Regression highlights the flaws in this system and how it can lead to unfair outcomes. Moreover, we remain concerned that using this system as the cornerstone of an earned progression model will result in people spending longer in custody. There is also a possibility that an individual could receive so many additional days that they are ultimately released without supervision, a risk to their rehabilitation and to public safety.

The Act introduces changes relating to sentences of imprisonment for public protection (IPP). These include a reduction from three years to two years for licence termination and introduce the right to apply for a licence termination review for those who have had one continuous year on licence since their last annual termination review. These changes have not yet been implemented, and we do not at present know when they will take effect.

Following intense media scrutiny this summer, the government announced that changes to release points would not apply for people convicted of certain offences. We discuss this change in more detail here. 

When will these changes begin?

Sections 25 (ensuring that release provisions for certain offences are aligned between the military and civilian justice systems) and 28 (ensuring that license provisions are similarly aligned) came into force at commencement.

The following sections came into force in March 2026:

• Section 1 – A presumption of suspended sentence order for sentences of 12 months or less (discretionary, with some exceptions).
• Section 2 – Custodial sentences of up to three years may be suspended (an increase from 2 years).
• Section 4 – A change to the Sentencing Code which acknowledges victims of crime.
• Section 5 – Increases the maximum period for which a sentence can be deferred from six months to 12 months.
• Sections 7 to 9 – Defines and widens the parameters of offences relating to terrorism and national security, making similar provisions in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
• Section 11 – Requires that a whole life order be given in cases involving the murder of probation officers (in addition to the murder of police or prison officers).
• Sections 19 and 20 – New requirements for the Sentencing Council to seek consent from the SSJ before the publication of their annual business plan, and prior to changes to sentencing guidelines.
• Sections 30, 31, 32 (1-3) and 33 – Changes to Fixed Term Recall. For those already in custody on recall, release dates will be staggered based on sentence length (for further detail on staggered dates, see: https://prisonreformtrust.org.uk/adviceguide/the-sentencing-act/).
• Section 40 – Removes prescriptive guidance around parole board administration and composition.
• Section 41 – Changes to release provision for repatriated prisoners.
• Section 43 – Changes to powers of the Secretary of State to refer Parole Board decisions to the High Court.
• Section 44 – Amendments to the Bail Act 1976.
• Section 45 – Changes to the deportation of foreign criminals.

The following sections came into force 11 May 2026:

• Section 21 – requiring the Secretary of State to produce an annual report relating to prison capacity
• Section 34 and schedule 5 – These provisions end post-sentence supervision for people serving sentences of less than 2 years
• Section 36 – removes the requirement for people to perform the hours imposed under an unpaid work requirement within a 12-month period
• Sections 38 and 39 – introduce a new process for the termination of community orders and the supervision period for suspended sentence orders

Section 42, which makes changes to IPP licence termination, came into force on 1 June 2026. These changes allow those serving IPP or DPP sentences to request that the Secretary of State refer their case to the Parole Board to consider licence termination. Section 42 also makes provision to reduce the qualifying period for referring someone who is serving an IPP sentence to the Parole Board for consideration of licence termination. This section provides an early opportunity for licence termination and aligns the IPP sentence with the DPP sentence.

The following changes to community orders come into force 2 September 2026:

• Section 12 – removing requirement for a court to specify the maximum number of days of participation in rehabilitative activity where a ‘probation requirement’ is attached
• Section 13 – changing the name of ‘rehabilitation activity requirement’ to ‘probation requirement’
• Sections 14 to 16 – introducing new community requirements which can: prohibit someone from driving; prohibit someone from attending public events; and prohibit someone from entering drinking establishments
• Section 18 – Lord Chancellor given power to add to or alter requirements of a community or suspended sentence order
• Section 27(1) – extends the power of the Probation Service to drug test everyone on licence
• Section 27(2-7) – gives the Secretary of State powers to include new restrictive conditions on people’s licences (as per sections 14-16: restrictions to driving; attending public events; and entering drinking establishments; as well as the ability to impose a restriction zone to limit someone’s movements to a specific geographical location)

The following provisions came into force 1 October 2026:

• Section 23 which reduces the requisite custodial period to one third for people serving standard determinate sentences for certain offences. A range of offences are now excluded, including serious sexual offences and unlawful killing. A full list of excluded offences is available here.
• Section 24 which introduces extensions to any period of driving disqualification in accordance with the requisite custodial period of the sentence.

For people in prison serving a sentence immediately before 1 October 2026, release at the one third point will occur at staggered points, and for those serving two or more concurrent sentences, these changes relate to the longest of those sentences at that time. The relevant dates are:

• 1st October 2026, where the relevant sentence is less than 575 days.
• 13th October 2026, where the relevant sentence is greater than 574 days and less than 883 days.
• 10th November 2026, where the relevant sentence is greater than 882 days and less than 1163 days.
• 8th December 2026, where the relevant sentence is greater than 1162 days and less than 1562 days.
• 12th January 2027, where the relevant sentence is greater than 1561 days and less than 2122 days.
• 9th February 2027, where the relevant sentence is greater than 2121 days and less than 2759 days.
• 9th March 2027, where the relevant sentence is greater than 2758 days and less than 3284 days.
• 13th April 2027, where the relevant sentence is greater than 3283 days and less than 3655 days.
• 11th May 2027, where the relevant sentence is greater than 3654 days and less than 4397 days.
• 8th June 2027, where the relevant sentence is greater than 4396 days.

For those already in the community having been released immediately before 1 October 2026, these changes will commence on 12 October 2027.

The changes to the release dates do not apply to people who were convicted as children and were sentenced under section 250 of the Sentencing Code 2020 (previously s.91 of PCCSA). These people will remain eligible for HDC, and SDS40 will continue to apply as section 23(10) of the Sentencing Act, which revokes SDS40, does not come into force for those serving s.91 or s. 250 sentences.

From 5 October 2026, judges will be required to state in court whether the case involves domestic abuse (Section 6).

At the start of next year (18 January 2027) a system of ‘earned reduction’ for community or suspended sentence orders will be introduced. This means that people will be able to earn credits to reduce the number of unpaid work hours they are required to complete.

Our activity

To ensure that these reforms have a positive impact, the Howard League will continue to monitor prison population and sentencing data to understand trends.

We will continue to work with government and civil service to ensure that reforms are fair, equitable, and alive to unintended consequences. We will continue to push for the adoption of the Independent Sentencing Review’s proposals on Extended Determinate Sentences.

We also continue to engage with our members and stakeholders with lived experience living and working in prisons, to understand how the Sentencing Act is impacting people in real time, and what lessons can be learnt in policy development.

Dr Helen Churcher
Senior Research and Policy Officer

Comments