On this pageThis information sheet is about the Sentencing Act 2026, which received royal assent in January 2026. It focuses on the changes that will most affect adults in custody, and what we know about these changes so far.
IMPORTANT NOTE
As you may be aware, the early releases introduced by the Sentencing Act 2026 have received significant attention in the media. This has led to exclusions being created for some types of offences (see below).
At the time of writing, we cannot guarantee that no further exclusions, changes or delays will be introduced. In the event of further changes, we will aim to update our resources as soon as we have clear and reliable information.
We appreciate that the uncertainty of the situation is incredibly difficult for people in prison and their families, but we strongly advise waiting for sentence calculations from the prison before making any assumptions about release dates.
The main changes covered in this guide are:
- Changes to release for Standard Determinate Sentences (SDS) as part of the ‘earned progression’ sentence model
- Removal of Home Detention Curfew (HDC) for adults
- Changes to Fixed Term Recall (FTR)
- Additional licence conditions, including restriction zones, and prohibition from driving, public events and drinking establishments.
- Changes to termination of IPP licence
- Removal of minimum custodial period for the Early Removal Scheme (ERS)
Recent updates
When the Sentencing Act became law many of the changes were not yet commenced, which means the changes were not yet in force.
Some of the changes have now commenced or have since been given commencement dates:
Earned progression model (early releases)
- A commencement order laid on 8 June 2026 confirmed the dates for the introduction of the earned progression model, which makes changes to release points for Standard Determinate Sentences (SDS).
- This commencement order has since been amended due to the addition of exclusions described below.
- On 4 August the Government announced new exclusions for people serving sentences for rape, serious child sex and other grooming offences. This has also delayed the original date of commencement for early releases from 2 September to 1 October.
- On 30 August the Government announced further exclusions covering manslaughter, death by drunk or dangerous driving and historic child sex offences.
- There is more information about this on pages 3–6.
Home detention curfew (HDC)
- HMPPS have confirmed that HDC will no longer be routinely available from 2 September. There is more information about this on page 7.
IPP
- Changes to termination of IPP licence commenced on 1 June 2026. There is more information about this on page 11.
Adjudications
- A Statutory Instrument was laid on 22 June 2026 which increases the number of additional days an Independent Adjudicator can impose. There is more information on page 4.
Changes to release for Standard Determinate Sentences (SDS)
The Sentencing Act makes changes to the release points for some adults serving standard determinate sentences. This change is part of a move to an ‘earned progression’ model.
- For people serving SDS where automatic release is usually at the halfway or 40% point, they will be automatically released after serving a third of their sentence.
- For people serving SDS for serious sexual or violent offences, where the current automatic release is at two thirds, they will be automatically released at the halfway point.
The changes to release points do NOT apply to people serving sentences under section 250 (this is a type of determinate sentence for people convicted under 18).
If you are serving an Extended Determinate Sentence (EDS) you will not be eligible for earlier release under the earned progression model.
Exclusions from the earned progression model
On 4 August 2026 the Government announced new exclusions from the earned progression model for people serving sentences for rape, serious child sex and other grooming offences. This means the above will no longer apply if you are serving a sentence for one of these offences.
On 30 August the Government announced further exclusions for offences involving unlawful killing, including manslaughter and death by drunk or dangerous driving, as well as some sex offences not included in the previous exclusions.
The full list of excluded offences can be found here. If you are unsure whether this applies to you, please speak to your POM or wait for your release date to be confirmed by the prison.
At the time of writing, we cannot guarantee that no further exclusions, changes or delays will be introduced. In the event of further changes, we will aim to update our resources as soon as we have clear and reliable information.
How does this fit into the ‘earned progression’ model
Changes to the release point are part of moving to an ‘earned progression’ model for adults serving SDS. This model was recommended by the Sentencing Review in 2025 and accepted by the Government for people serving SDS.
Under the earned progression model, sentences will consist of three stages:
- The custody stage – the part of the sentence spent in prison. The earned progression model will allow for earlier release for people serving SDS unless you have been given extra days for breaking prison rules.
- Intensive supervision in the community – you are released into the community on licence, on what is described as an intensive supervision period. This includes regular appointments with probation, strict licence conditions and could include electronic monitoring.
- Final period in the community – you remain on licence but not subject to active supervision unless under Multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) or some other offence types.
How will the earned progression model work?
Although the early release will be automatic for people on relevant sentences, if you break prison rules you could be given extra days through the adjudication system.
From 2 September the maximum number of additional days an Independent Adjudicator can impose per incident will increase from 42 to 84 days.
There will be no cap to the total number of days a person could get.
There is more information about how extra days are given in our Prison Rules and Adjudications information sheet.
When will the changes apply to my sentence?
When the earlier release applies to you depends on how long your sentence is.
The changes are being staggered by sentence length over a ten-month period. This means the changes will not impact those on longer sentences until later next year.
The changes were originally due to come into force from 2 September 2026 for shorter sentences (under 575 days). This has now been delayed to 1 October due to the review of the early release scheme which took place this month. The commencement dates for the tranches following this will then stay as expected.
Staff are in the process of recalculating sentences of all those affected by the changes. This is expected to take a number of weeks so please be aware you may not get your recalculated release date straight away.
Below are the dates that changes are expected to come into place for you depending on your sentence length.
- 1st October 2026, if your sentence is less than 575 days
- 13th October 2026, if your sentence is greater than 574 days and less than 883 days
- 10th November 2026, if your sentence is greater than 882 days and less than 1163 days
- 8th December 2026, if your sentence is greater than 1162 days and less than 1562 days
- 12th January 2027, if your sentence is greater than 1561 days and less than 2122 days
- 9th February 2027, if your sentence is greater than 2121 days and less than 2759 days
- 9th March 2027, if your sentence is greater than 2758 days and less than 3284 days
- 13th April 2027, if your sentence is greater than 3283 days and less than 3655 days
- 11th May 2027, if your sentence is greater than 3654 days and less than 4397 days
- 8th June 2027, if your sentence is greater than 4396 days
The dates above are not release dates for those sentence lengths. The given dates are when the release changes will apply to sentences of that length.
The resulting release date will be different depending on how far into your sentence you are.
For people who have passed the 33% point by the date it applies to their sentence length, they will be released on that date.
For people who have not passed the 33% point by the date it applies to their sentence length, they will be released when they reach the 33% point of their sentence.
We strongly advise waiting for your official recalculated release date before making any assumptions about what these dates mean for you.
Key points about the earned progression model (early release)
- The changes to release will NOT apply to everyone from 1 October – when the changes apply is being staggered by monthly tranches according to sentence length (see next page).
- If you are serving a longer sentence, you will not become eligible for earlier release until the later tranches which go up until June 2027.
- Not everyone serving an SDS or SDS+ will be released earlier than they currently expect to be. This could be for a number of reasons, including:
- If you are serving more than one sentence type
- If you were expecting release on HDC after 2 September
- If the tranche date which applies to your sentence length takes place after your current automatic release.
- If you are serving a sentence which has now been excluded from the scheme.
- Sentence calculation is complex. We strongly advise waiting for your official recalculated release date from prison staff before making any assumptions.
- All sentence recalculations are now expected to be completed by mid October, with earlier tranches prioritised.
- At time of writing the early releases are still in the news and we do not know if this will lead to further exclusions, changes or delays beyond what is included in this information sheet. We aim to update our resources as quickly as we are able to access clear and reliable information when changes do occur.
Changes to Home Detention Curfew (HDC)
Changes have also been made to Home Detention Curfew (HDC).
HMPPS has confirmed that from 2 September 2026, HDC will no longer be routinely available for adults.
The change is because the earlier release and more intense supervision period included in the earned progression model is intended to replace HDC.
This change has currently been made in policy, rather than using changes in the law made available by the Sentencing Act.
What does this mean for me?
- If your HDC referral has been processed before 25 June 2026 and your eligibility date (HDCED) is before 2 September 2026, you will receive HDC in the usual way.
- If your referral hasn’t been processed by 25 June or your eligibility date is after 2 September 2026, you can no longer be released on HDC.
Unfortunately, this means if you were expecting to be released on an HDC eligibility date after 2 September, you may now be released later than expected, even if you are eligible for earlier release.
If you are unsure how the changes will apply to you, we advise discussing this with your Prison Offender Manager (POM).
HDC remains available for some youth sentences.
Electronic Monitoring (also known as tag)
The prison service has advised that:
From 2 September 2026, most eligible prisoners released in tranches from their new release date will be subject to electronic monitoring (a tag) as part of their licence conditions.
Your probation officer will confirm the details of any monitoring requirements before you are released.
Changes to Fixed Term Recall (FTR)
The Act has increased the length of Fixed Term Recalls (FTR) to 56 days for adults serving standard determinate sentences (SDS), irrespective of sentence length.
These changes came into force on 31 March 2026.
The change to 56 days follows a change in law in September 2025 which meant that most people serving an SDS of less than 4 years became automatically eligible for FTR unless they were excluded for one of the following reasons:
- under 18 at point of recall
- serving a national security or terrorist-related offence or fall within the definition of a terrorist offender
- managed under MAPPA levels 2 or 3
- recalled because you have been charged with a further offence
If you need general information about how recall works, please see the following information pages:
Additional licence conditions
The Sentencing Act introduces the following new additional licence conditions.
- Driving prohibition condition
- Public event attendance prohibition condition
- Drinking establishment entry prohibition condition
- Restriction zone condition
Additional licence conditions are conditions that could be added to your licence if your offender manager thinks it is necessary and proportionate to do this.
If you breach the conditions on your licence you could be recalled to prison, receive a warning or have your supervision frequency increased.
These conditions will be available from 1 October 2026, in line with the recently updated Licence Conditions Policy Framework. There is also information in Annex A: Additional licence conditions criteria and table which provides guidance to probation staff for each additional licence condition available.
You can also find more information about licence conditions on the following pages:
Driving prohibition condition
A driving prohibition condition is a condition which bans you from driving a motor vehicle on a road or other public place.
A driving prohibition condition could prevent you from driving generally or it could be very specific about what, where, and when you can’t drive.
Public event attendance prohibition condition
A public event attendance prohibition condition is a condition which bans you from attending a public event.
A ‘public event’ means any event to which the public or a section of the public has access, even if they have to pay to enter.
This condition could be used to ban someone from:
- Any public event at any time.
- Specific types of events (for example, all football matches).
- One specific event
- Specific times, such as banning you from events that take place late at night
Drinking establishment entry prohibition condition
A drinking establishment entry prohibition condition is a condition banning you from entering a drinking establishment.
Under this condition, you could be banned from:
- a particular venue named in the condition.
- specific types of venues or
- all public drinking venues.
You could be banned from drinking establishments at all times or only during specific times, such as late at night.
A ‘drinking establishment’ means as any place where the main activity is selling alcohol for people to drink on-site, unless you are required to be staying there as a guest or buying a full meal to be served (such as a hotel you are staying in or a restaurant).
This definition also covers entertainment venues which stay open past midnight and sell alcohol during those hours.
Restriction zone condition
A restriction zone condition means you will be given one or more specific areas which you must stay within. Moving outside of the restriction zone without permission would be a breach of your licence. You could be fitted with a GPS electronic monitoring tag to enforce this restriction.
You might be required to stay in different areas at different times, such as your home area at night and area of work during the day. If the areas are not connected, the condition will include how you can travel between those areas.
The updated Licence Conditions Policy Framework states that restriction zones may only be used in the following cases:
- Your are managed at Tier A or B level in most cases.
- Your have been convicted of a serious sexual or violent offence listed in schedule 15 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, are subject to a custodial sentence of 12 months or more, and the offence is eligible for the Victim Contact Scheme (VCS).
- Other additional licence conditions, including exclusion zones, have been assessed as insufficient to manage the risk posed, and confinement within a defined geographic area is considered necessary.
There is more information about the use of this conditions in the Licence Conditions Policy Framework.
Changes to licence termination for IPP and DPP
The Act introduced some changes to the termination of licences for people serving IPP and DPP.
These changes came into force on 1 June 2026.
The changes are:
- Reduction in the length of the qualifying period to two years for IPP prisoners. This means if you are serving an IPP sentence, you will be automatically referred to the Parole Board for a termination review two years after your first release.
- Allows for further applications by people serving IPP or DPP to the Parole Board for a licence termination review IF you have been continuously on licence for a period of one year after the qualifying period. There is a limit of one application that can be made during each continuous period on licence.
These changes build on the provision for the termination of IPP and DPP licences introduced by the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024.
The Howard League has produced an excellent guide about licence termination in collaboration with Prisoners’ Advice Service and PRT which you can read here: Terminating your IPP licence: a legal guide.
Removal of minimum custodial period for the Early Removal Scheme (ERS)
The Sentencing Act removes the requirement that you must serve a minimum custodial period before removal. These changes will mean that someone eligible for ERS could be removed for the purposes of immediate deportation any time after sentence.
We do not yet know when this change will come into force.
Changes in the Act follow changes to the law that came into force on 23 September 2025, which had already reduced the minimum custodial period. Under those changes the point in your sentence from which you can currently be removed under ERS must meet the following:
- you must serve a minimum of 30% of the requisite custodial period (the part of your sentence you would usually spend in custody)
- AND the maximum ERS period is 4 years before the point you would normally be
released.
There is more information about the Early Removal Scheme in PSI 04/2013 Early removal of foreign national prisoners.
