Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-Sentence Reports) Bill 2024-25

The Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-sentence Reports) Bill was published on 1 April 2025. Its second reading is due to take place on 22 April 2025.

The bill would prevent sentencing guidelines, used by judges and magistrates in England and Wales, from referring to personal characteristics such as race, religion or belief, and cultural background in their guidance regarding when a pre-sentence report should be requested.

The bill was introduced in response to planned changes to Sentencing Council guideline on imposing community or custodial sentences. One of the proposed changes was intended to ensure that pre-sentence reports were usually provided where defendants are, among other things, from ethnic, cultural or faith minority communities.

What are the sentencing guidelines and the Sentencing Council?

The Sentencing Council is an independent body, comprising senior members of the judiciary and others. It publishes sentencing guidelines, which the courts must normally follow when sentencing someone who has pleaded guilty or been convicted of a crime.

What changes did the Sentencing Council propose?

The existing guideline for imposing community orders and custodial sentences says courts should request a pre-sentence report whenever they are considering imposing a community order or custodial sentence. The court can forgo the report if it considers it unnecessary (for example, if it already has enough information about the offence and the offender).

A pre-sentence report provides background on a defendant, such as their history, personal circumstances and other factors that might have contributed to their behaviour. They are intended to help a court assess what sentence would be most appropriate and effective, and they are prepared by the Probation Service.

The updated guideline also says that the court must request and consider a pre-sentence report unless it considers it unnecessary. It adds that a pre-sentence report will “normally be considered necessary” in certain circumstances. It includes a non-exhaustive list of these circumstances, which includes when the offender:

• is at risk of their first custodial sentence
• is young (aged 18 to 25)
• is a women
• is from a minority ethnic, cultural or faith community
• is pregnant or post-natal
• is the primary carer for dependent relatives
• has said they are transgender
• has or may have addiction issues, chronic health issues or a disability
• is a victim of domestic abuse, modern slavery or exploitation

Why has the government introduced a bill?

The government objected to potential differential treatment based on race or religion arising from the Sentencing Council’s guideline. It introduced the bill to block the guideline.

The bill is narrow in scope, with only two clauses, as the government’s aim is to prevent potential differential treatment, reinforce equal access to pre-sentence reports and support consistency in using pre-sentence reports across all demographic groups.