On the occasion of the Sentencing Council’s 10^th anniversary in 2020, we reviewed the Council’s achievements and sought views on our future priorities. Following a public consultation, we identified five Strategic objectives for 2021-2026, including a commitment to “explore and consider issues of equality and diversity relevant to our work and take any necessary action in response within our remit”, and to take forward the following specific action: “to explore the potential for the Council’s work inadvertently to cause disparity in sentencing across demographic groups by commissioning independent external contractors to undertake a project to review a sample of key guidelines and processes”.

We commissioned the University of Hertfordshire in October 2021 to conduct research into equality and diversity in the work of the Sentencing Council. 

The report will be published on Tuesday 10 January 2023 (09:30).