Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-sentence Reports) Act 2025

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Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-sentence Reports) Act 2025
Act of Parliament
Coat of arms of the United Kingdom (2022, variant 1).svg
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title An Act to make provision about sentencing guidelines in relation to pre-sentence reports.
Citation 2025 c. 17
Introduced by Shabana Mahmood MP, Secretary of State for Justice (Commons)
Lord Timpson, Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending (Lords)
Territorial extent England and Wales
Dates
Royal assent 19 June 2025
Status: Current legislation
History of passage through Parliament
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-sentence Reports) Act 2025 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-sentence Reports) Act 2025 (c. 13) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It forbids the Sentencing Council from using personal characteristics in making sentencing guidelines concerning pre-sentence reports.

Contents

Background

The Sentencing Council makes sentencing guidelines for offenders in England and Wales. Under the Sentencing Act 2020, judges and magistrates who are sentencing offenders must consider and apply these guidelines.

In March 2025, the Sentencing Council released guidelines relating to the imposition of community and custodial sentences, which included a presumption that a pre-sentence report ought to be ordered for offenders from a number of groups and statuses, including age and gender, serious chronic medical conditions, being a sole or primary carer for relatives, being a victim of trafficking or domestic abuse, and being from a minority ethnic, cultural or religious background. [1] [2] [3]

Supporters of the change argued that the new guidelines would potentially contribute to undoing existing inequalities in sentencing and make the justice system fairer. [1] Opponents argued it amounted to "two-tier" justice: Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice minister, said of the guidelines: "this seems like blatant bias, particularly against Christians, and against straight white men". [4]

The Secretary of State for Justice, Shabana Mahmood, requested that the Sentencing Council overturn the guidelines. [5] The Sentencing Council later delayed the guidelines. [6]

Provisions

The Act contains one clause, which amends Section 120 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 to forbid the use of "personal characteristics" including race, religion and cultural background in guidance relating to pre-sentence reports. [7]


See also

References

  1. 1 2 Alge, Daniel (11 March 2025). "New sentencing guidelines will make the UK's justice system more fair, not less – expert view". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 4 April 2025. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  2. ↑ "Imposition of community and custodial sentences guideline: Response to consultation". Sentencing Council . 5 March 2025. Archived from the original on 6 April 2025. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  3. ↑ Culbertson, Alix (6 March 2025). "What are pre-sentence reports and what are the controversial changes to them?". Sky News . Archived from the original on 29 March 2025. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  4. ↑ "Robert Jenrick says new sentencing guidelines have 'blatant bias against Christians and straight white men'". Sky News. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  5. ↑ Rogers, Alexandra (31 March 2025). "What action could the justice secretary take against the Sentencing Council?". Sky News. Archived from the original on 31 March 2025. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  6. ↑ "Sentencing guidelines for ethnic minority suspects delayed after backlash". 31 March 2025. Archived from the original on 31 March 2025. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  7. ↑ Fouzder, Monidipa (20 June 2025). "Sentencing Council blocked from referring to race or ethnicity in guidance". Law Society Gazette. Archived from the original on 20 June 2025. Retrieved 20 June 2025.
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