Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many victims will be sent letters advising them their perpetrator will be released from prison early as a result of the Sentencing Act 2026 following the relevant offence exclusions.

The Sentencing Act 2026 contains provisions which change the proportion of a standard determinate sentence which must be served in prison before the offender serving such a sentence is released automatically on licence. Eligible victims who have opted into the Probation Service Victim Contact Scheme, where the offender is serving a standard determinate sentence, have been informed of the commencement of the legislation.

On 30 August, the Prime Minister announced that the Government has set out plans to create more headroom in the prison system, so that we can reduce the number of people released early under these changes. This includes excluding sentences for all forms of manslaughter, death by dangerous driving, causing or allowing the death of a child and indecent assault offences from the progression model, in addition to rape and certain child sexual offences previously announced.

Sentences are now being recalculated, and, at this stage, we cannot provide figures on the number of offenders whose release dates will change and, therefore, the number of victims affected. This will continue to evolve whilst the calculations take place. Once sentence calculations have taken place, Victim Liaison Officers will write to victims, confirming if the offender in their case has a changed release date and giving them the opportunity to make representations about licence conditions.