The Sentencing Act 2026 (Commencement No. 4) Regulations 2026

Explanatory note

Reproduced verbatim from the instrument as published on legislation.gov.uk (Crown Copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). The note is prepared by the responsible government department and is not part of the instrument itself.

These Regulations bring into force specified provisions of the Sentencing Act 2026 (“ the 2026 Act ”) (c. 2) .

Regulation 2 brings into force sections 23(1)-(15) and 24 of the 2026 Act. Section 23 amends the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (“ the 2003 Act ”) (c. 44) which set out the requisite custodial periods for those serving adult standard determinate sentences. The requisite custodial period for those serving these sentences who are released under section 244 of the 2003 Act is 40% or 50% of the sentence (depending on the offence). Section 23 reduces this period to the one-third point of the sentence. For those who are released under section 244ZA of the 2003 Act, the period is reduced from the two-thirds point of the sentence to the halfway point. Section 24 makes amendments to the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 (c. 53) which are consequential to the changes to the requisite custodial period. The amendments ensure that any period of driving disqualification is extended in accordance with the requisite custodial period of the sentence.

Regulation 3 provides for the changes to the requisite custodial periods to come into force in relation to existing prisoners who are in custody serving an adult standard determinate sentence immediately before 2nd September 2026. It does so by using a series of commencement dates. The commencement date is determined by the length of sentence that the prisoner is serving.

Regulation 4 provides a commencement date for the changes to apply in relation to existing offenders who have been released early under section 246 of the 2003 Act and who are in the community under Home Detention Curfew immediately before 2nd September 2026.

Regulation 5 provides that section 23(10) of the 2026 Act does not come into force in relation to those serving youth sentences under section 250 of the Sentencing Code, or (historically) under section 91 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 (c. 6) . Section 23(10) revokes the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Requisite and Minimum Custodial Periods) Order 2024 ( S.I. 2024/844 ).

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.