The majority of these changes will be made on 1 June 2025 and will be effective from that date.
The annual consultations consider potential changes to guidelines arising from various sources including case law, changes to legislation and feedback from sentencers. In this way the Council aims to ensure that sentencing guidelines remain clear and up to date.
The responses to this consultation have led us to refine the proposals, the full details of which are set out in the response document and are summarised below.
Matters relevant primarily to magistrates’ courts:
Supplementary information: new guidance on setting a fine for those on a variable income
New guideline for the offence of using or keeping heavy goods vehicle if levy not paid
Careless Driving: revising the guideline to change the factors to align with newer guidelines and replace reference to ‘pedestrians’ with ‘vulnerable road users’ (effective from 1 July)
Drive otherwise than in accordance with a licence: adding clarification to the guideline regarding offenders who are entitled to a licence but do not hold one
Allocation guideline: various changes including changing the name of the guideline; updating the legislative references; clarifying wording relating to community orders; adding a reference to the Criminal Practice Directions in the Committal for sentence section; and providing additional information by way of an Annex
Matters relevant to magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court:
Sentencing children and young people guideline: adding a reference to sentencing young adults at the beginning of the guideline
Assistance to the prosecution: adding a dropdown to guidelines summarising the approach to be taken.
Sentencing very large organisations: adding some guidance on sentencing very large organisations to relevant guidelines
Revenue fraud: adding a sentence table for offences where the maximum sentence has increased from 7 years to 14 years
Standard language in guidelines: establishing a standard form of wording in guidelines (changes to individual guidelines will be made over the coming months)
Totality: adding further guidance to the Totality guideline
Shop theft and Benefit fraud guidelines: adding an expanded explanation to the mitigating factor ‘offender experiencing exceptional hardship’
Wording relating to community orders in guidelines: clarifying the wording relating to programme requirements and adding a note relating to committal to the Crown Court
Wording on mandatory minimum sentences: adding a reference stating where the burden of showing that exceptional circumstances exist lies
Domestic abuse: adding the aggravating factor to more guidelines