Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many victims were originally contacted advising them that their perpetrator may be released from prison early as a result of the Sentencing Act 2026, but whose perpetrator will now no longer be eligible as a result of the latest 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.

According to information held on the Probation Service Victim Case Management System, as of 9 July 2026, 8,711 letters had been issued to victims engaged with the Victim Contact Scheme to inform them of the legislative changes to prisoner release arrangements under the Sentencing Act 2026. This figure should not be interpreted as the number of offenders affected by the changes. Not all offenders will necessarily receive an earlier release date, not all eligible victims choose to participate in the Victim Contact Scheme, and some offenders have multiple victims linked to their case.

On 30 August 2026, the Prime Minister announced further exclusions from the progression model. In addition to rape and certain child sexual offences previously announced, these exclusions included all forms of manslaughter, causing death by dangerous driving, causing or allowing the death of a child and indecent assault offences.

As a result of these changes, sentence calculations are being reviewed and, where necessary, recalculated. It is therefore not currently possible to provide the number of victims who were initially informed that an offender in their case may be eligible for an earlier release date, but whose offender is no longer eligible as a result of the subsequent exclusions.

Once sentence calculations have been completed, Victim Liaison Officers will contact affected victims to confirm whether the offender's release date has changed and, where appropriate, provide them with an opportunity to make representations regarding licence conditions.