• Foreword, Lord Justice William Davis
• Addendum to the Foreword, Lord Justice Holroyde
• Sentencing Council annual report 2024/25

The Sentencing Council’s annual report for 2024/25 documents the Council’s achievements of the year 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 in the context of the objectives set in the Council’s five-year strategy, Sentencing Council strategic objectives 2021-2026.

The year 2024/25 was marked by the sad death of the Council’s Chairman, Lord Justice William Davis, on 7 June 2025. The report, Sir William’s third as Chairman, includes an addendum to his Foreword by Vice Chairman, Lord Justice Tim Holroyde.

The Council’s achievements of the year include:

• publishing and bringing into effect new and revised offence specific definitive guidelines covering:
  • strangulation and suffocation
  • blackmail, kidnap and false imprisonment
  • aggravated vehicle taking and other motoring related matters
• publishing a revised overarching guideline on the imposition of community and custodial sentences and an overarching guideline consolidating guidance on driver disqualification
• holding the fourth, annual miscellaneous amendments consultation and consultations on:
  • blackmail, kidnap and false imprisonment
  • non-fatal strangulation and suffocation
  • aggravated vehicle taking and other motoring related offences
  • immigration offences
  • offences related to hare coursing
  • guidance relating to ancillary orders
• publishing an evaluation of the bladed articles and offensive weapons guidelines and an independent review of the domestic abuse overarching guideline

In July 2024 the Council launched You be the Judge, a powerful online education tool designed to help people understand how sentencing works.