On 1 July 2023, a number of new and revised guidelines from the Sentencing Council will come into effect.

Revised animal cruelty guidelines

Two guidelines for sentencing offenders convicted of animal cruelty offences, reflecting changes introduced by Parliament in the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021, will come into effect. Produced by the Council following consultation, the guidelines are a new ‘Animal cruelty’ guideline for the most serious offences and ‘Failure to ensure animal welfare’, which revises elements of the Council’s existing animal cruelty sentencing guideline.

Sentencing guidelines for motoring offences

Also coming into effect are 12 new and revised sentencing guidelines for offenders convicted of motoring offences. The guidelines include updated versions of six current guidelines – published in 2008 – and reflect new maximum sentences for some of the offences. They also include five new guidelines for offences created since the current guidelines were published and a new guideline for sentencing offenders convicted of causing injury by wanton or furious driving. The Council consulted on proposals for these guidelines in 2022.

Revised Totality guideline

The revised Totality guideline will also come into effect on 1 July. The guideline sets out two types of sentences for multiple offences: concurrent, where the sentences are all served at the same time; and consecutive, where sentences are served one after the other. It helps courts reach a just and proportionate sentence in such cases and make sure that all courts take a consistent approach to sentencing multiple offences.