Revisions and corrections to Sentencing Council digital guidelines

The Sentencing Council has established a new process for recording minor revisions and corrections that are made to the digital guidelines and magistrates’ court explanatory materials.

From May 2019, we will be publishing on the website and the magistrates’ court app a log of minor changes that will allow users to track any amendments that have been made throughout the history of a guideline. The log will date back to November 2018, when the sentencing guidelines were fully digitised. It will record:

  • clarifications or corrections to substantive errors or omissions that can be made in a way that gives effect to the Council’s original intention (ie has already been subject to consultation),
  • amendments made to reflect changes in legislation that will not have wider implications for the guideline(s), and
  • updates to information or terminology in a guideline that will not have wider implications for the guideline.

We have also published the Council’s policy on making changes to digital guidelines, which sets out what level of changes will be made and under what circumstances, and how these changes will be managed and logged.

Where changes to legislation or other external changes necessitate wholesale amendment of a guideline, the Council will review the relevant guideline and conduct a full consultation of the proposed revised guideline in the normal course of its work.