Sentencing guidelines - user research
Two reports setting out what judges, magistrates and other legal professionals told us about using the online sentencing guidelines
Consultation: motoring offences
We’re seeking views on proposals for six new and revised sentencing guidelines for motoring offences. Open until 22 May 2024
New judicial member appointed
The Council welcomes Her Honour Judge Amanda Rippon, who has been appointed a judicial member of the Council by the Lord Chief Justice, with the agreement of the Lord Chancellor
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Latest from the Sentencing Council
A consultation paper on sentencing immigration offences.
Why Immigration offences?
This consultation seeks views on a draft of the first dedicated sentencing guidelines for immigration offences under the Immigration Act 1971 and the Identity Documents Act 2010.
There are currently no definitive guidelines for these offences.
The draft guidelines cover the 1971 Act offences of Facilitation (assisting unlawful immigration to the UK and helping asylum – seekers to enter the UK) (section 25 and 25A); Deception (section 24A); Breach of Deportation Order (section 24(A1)); Knowingly entering the UK without leave (section 24(B1)), and Knowingly arriving in the UK without valid entry clearance (section 24(D1)).
The draft guidelines also cover the 2010 offences of possession of false identity documents with improper intention (section 4) and possession of false identity documents without reasonable excuse (section 6).
There are many more immigration offences that could have been included however the Council has chosen to focus on the higher volume, more serious offences.
A number of changes have been made to the Immigration Act 1971 by the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 (NABA).
NABA increased the statutory maximum penalty for the Facilitation offences (section 25 and 25A) raising it from 14 years to life imprisonment.
The Act also amended the offences of breach of a deportation order (section 24(A1)) and knowingly enters the UK without leave (section 24(B1)), increasing the statutory maximum sentences from 6 months to 5 years and 4 years respectively.
In addition, a number of new offences were created including knowingly arriving in the UK without valid entry clearance (section 24(D1)) which was given a maximum sentence of 4 years.
Who should respond?
We would like to hear from anyone who uses sentencing guidelines in their work or who has an interest in sentencing. We would also like to hear from individuals and organisations representing anyone who could be affected by the proposals including:
- victims and their families;
- defendants and their families;
- those under probation supervision or youth offending teams/supervision;
- those with protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
What is the Council consulting about?
The Council has produced this consultation paper in order to seek views from as many people as possible interested in the sentencing of immigration offences.
However, it is important to clarify that the Council is consulting on sentencing guidelines for these offences and not the legislation upon which such offences are based. The relevant legislation is a matter for Parliament and is, therefore, outside the scope of this exercise.
What do we want to know?
Through this consultation process, the Council is seeking views on:
- the principal factors that make any of the offences included within the draft guidelines more or less serious;
- the additional factors that should influence the sentence;
- the types and lengths of sentence that should be passed; and
- anything else you think should be considered.
When and how to respond
The consultation closes on 12 June 2024. See About this consultation for how to respond and our policies on Freedom of Information and privacy.
Related documents
- Draft: Facilitation – for consultation only
- Draft: Knowingly enters the United Kingdom without leave/ Knowingly arrives in the United Kingdom without valid entry clearance – for consultation only
- Draft: Breach of Deportation Order – for consultation only
- Draft: Deception – for consultation only
- Draft: Possession of False Identity Documents etc with Improper Intention – for consultation only
- Draft: Possession of False Identity Documents etc Without Reasonable Excuse – for consultation only
- Resource assessment
- Statistical bulletin
A resource assessment for the draft guidelines on immigration offences, to accompany the consultation.
Immigration offences draft resource assessment (HTML)
Immigration offences draft resource assessment (PDF)
A bulletin explaining current sentencing practice for immigration offences to accompany the consultation.
Immigration offences: Statistical bulletin (HTML)
Immigration offences: Statistical bulletin (PDF)
Data tables to support the statistical bulletin on immigration offences.
Immigration offences: Data tables (ODS format)
A summary of the responses received to the third annual consultation on miscellaneous amendments to sentencing guidelines, and details of all guidelines affected.
- Fraud – amending the Fraud guideline to address perceptions that non-financial impact is not given sufficient weight and to cater for situations where there is no or minimal pecuniary loss
- Fly-tipping – amending the Individuals: Unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal etc of waste/ Illegal discharges to air, land and water guideline to give greater emphasis to community orders over fines
- Equality and diversity in sentencing – amending or adding mitigating factors and the associated expanded explanations to address issues relating to:
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- Remorse
- Good character and/or exemplary conduct
- Determination and/or demonstration of steps having been taken to address addiction or offending behaviour
- Age and/or lack of maturity
- New factors: Difficult and/or deprived background or personal circumstances and Prospects of or in work, training or education
- New factor: Pregnancy and maternity
- Manslaughter – changes relating to:
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- strangulation, suffocation or asphyxiation
- coercive or controlling behaviour
Response to consultation – pdf
Response to consultation – hmtl
About the consultation
In the Sentencing Council’s strategic objectives for 2021-2026 we made a commitment to “explore how the Council’s expanded explanations are being interpreted and applied by sentencers in practice”. This qualitative research report reviews how selected aggravating and mitigating factors, and their accompanying expanded explanations, were identified and interpreted by the judges and magistrates who took part. The selection of the factors explored in this research was informed by recommendations from previous research on Equality and diversity in the work of the Sentencing Council.
This research consisted of two stages. The first used in-depth interviews and hypothetical sentencing scenarios with 20 judges and 20 magistrates to explore existing factors and their accompanying expanded explanations. The second used six focus groups (three with judges and three with magistrates) to gather perspectives on three new proposed mitigating factors.
Based on the findings of this research, amendments have been proposed for a small number of factors and/or their accompanying expanded explanations. These proposed changes were consulted on as part of the Sentencing Council’s third annual consultation on miscellaneous amendments to guidelines.
- Aggravating and mitigating factors in sentencing guidelines and their expanded explanations – Research report: Summary
- Aggravating and mitigating factors in sentencing guidelines and their expanded explanations – Research report
- Aggravating and mitigating factors in sentencing guidelines and their expanded explanations – Research report: Annexes
- Aggravating and mitigating factors in sentencing guidelines and their expanded explanations – Research report (full version – PDF)
Minutes of the Sentencing Council meeting on 1 March 2024.
Minutes of meeting: 1 March 2024
A consultation paper on miscellaneous amendments to sentencing guidelines.
Why Aggravated vehicle taking offences guidelines, disqualification and other motoring related matters?
There are currently magistrates’ courts guidelines for aggravated vehicle taking offences involving dangerous driving, accident causing injury, and causing damage to vehicle/property. However, these were published in 2008and do not follow the detailed, step-by-step format now familiar to the courts. They also do not provide sentence levels for the Crown Court.
This consultation therefore seeks views on a comprehensive package of new and revised guidelines for aggravated vehicle taking offences, for use in both the magistrates’ courts and in the Crown Court.
A further guideline which dates back to 2008 and requires updating relates to vehicle licence and registration fraud. The scope of this offence has changed since the publication of this guideline and the Council is therefore consulting on a revised guideline for this offence.
This consultation also seeks views on a draft overarching guideline on disqualification. This covers when disqualification is available, the principles to follow when setting the length of a disqualification (including interaction with time spent in custody), and when exemptions may or may not apply.
The consultation also covers several other miscellaneous matters relating to motoring which have been raised with the Council.
Who should respond?
We would like to hear from anyone who uses sentencing guidelines in their work or who has an interest in sentencing. We would also like to hear from individuals and organisations representing anyone who could be affected by the proposals including:
- victims and their families;
- defendants and their families;
- those under probation supervision or youth offending teams/supervision;
- those with protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
What do we want to know?
Through this consultation process, the Council is seeking views on:
- the principal factors that make any of the offences included within the draft guidelines more or less serious;
- the additional factors that should influence the sentence;
- the types and lengths of sentence that should be passed;
- the overarching guideline on how to approach imposing driver disqualifications;
- whether there are any issues relating to disparity of sentencing and/or broader matters relating to equality and diversity that the guidelines could and should address; and
- anything else you think should be considered.
When and how to respond
The consultation closes on 22 May 2024. See About this consultation for how to respond and our policies on Freedom of Information and privacy.
Related documents
- Draft: Aggravated vehicle taking – dangerous driving – for consultation only
- Draft: Aggravated vehicle taking – causing damage – for consultation only
- Draft: Aggravated vehicle taking – causing injury – for consultation only
- Draft: Aggravated vehicle taking – causing death – for consultation only
- Draft: Vehicle registration fraud – for consultation only
- Draft: Overarching guideline – Driving disqualification
- Resource assessment
- Statistical bulletin
A resource assessment for the draft guidelines on aggravated vehicle taking, disqualification and other motoring related matters, to accompany the consultation.
A bulletin explaining current sentencing practice for aggravated vehicle taking and other motoring related matters to accompany the consultation.
Data tables to support the statistical bulletin on aggravated vehicle taking and other motoring related matters.
This consultation ran between 31 January and 24 April 2024.
What was this consultation about?
There are no guidelines for these serious offences and the Council felt that developing guidelines would be of benefit to courts.
The consultation paper was produced in order to seek views from as many people as possible interested in the sentencing of these offences.
To accompany the consultation, we also published a resource assessment for the guidelines, along with a statistical bulletin and data tables showing current sentencing practice for these offences.
Who should respond?
During the 12-week consultation period we sought views from anyone who uses sentencing guidelines in their work or who has an interest in sentencing. We also sought views from individuals and organisations representing anyone who could be affected by the proposals, including:
- victims and their families;
- defendants and their families;
- those under probation supervision or youth offending teams/supervision;
- those with protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
What do we want to know?
Through this consultation process, we asked consultees to tell us about:
- the principal factors that make any of the offences included within the draft guidelines more or less serious
- the additional factors that should influence the sentence
- the types and lengths of sentence that should be passed
- whether there are any issues relating to disparity of sentencing and/or broader matters relating to equality and diversity that the guidelines could and should address, and
- anything else they thought we should consider
It is important to note that the Council consulted on sentencing these offences and not on the legislation upon which such offences are based. The relevant legislation is a matter for Parliament and was, therefore, outside the scope of this exercise.