Tag: Ministry of Justice

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 6 October 2025.

From today (Monday 6 October 2025), changes to the Criminal Procedure Rules reinforce open justice by explicitly stating parties who apply for discretionary reporting restrictions in criminal cases, should notify the media of applications.

The updated Rules clarify that the responsibility for notification lies with the applicant, ensuring that journalists are informed and able to challenge reporting restrictions order applications where appropriate.

This formal recognition of the media as interested parties aims to prevent unjustified limits on Crown and magistrates’ Court reporting and improve transparency across the justice system. The changes follow collaborative work between the Criminal Procedure Rule Committee and media organisations including the Media Lawyers Association and News Media Association, with support from HMCTS’ Media Working Group.  

The shared goal has been to ensure the Rules reflect the media’s vital role in holding the justice system to account.

Georgia Jerram, Chair of HMCTS’ Media Working Group, said:

As a society, we often rely on the media to be our eyes and ears in courtrooms. When journalists aren’t given clear and timely information about requests to the court for a reporting restriction, they are denied the opportunity to make a challenge. These changes will help ensure that open justice is not undermined in this way.  

The requirement applies to discretionary reporting restrictions, such as those protecting vulnerable witnesses or ensuring fair trials and does not affect automatic restrictions (which are imposed by legislation and the court has no power to vary or remove) already in place for youth cases and certain offences. You can read the updated Criminal Procedure Rules or find out more about this work in a recent Inside HMCTS blog.

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 2 October 2025.

In the biggest overhaul to marriage law since the 19th century, reforms are set to give marrying couples greater freedom and boost the economy by £535 million.

• Marrying couples to gain freedoms to get married in new locations – from beaches to castles
• Reforms to deliver £535 million injection into the economy creating up to 12,000 jobs
• Part of Plan for Change to kickstart economic growth

Marrying couples to have more freedom over how they say ‘I do’, with reforms allowing them to get married on beaches and at heritage sites.

Announced today (2 October), it is estimated that the biggest overhaul to marriage law since the 19th century could also open up 12,000 jobs and add over £100 million to the public purse.   

The reforms will give couples more choice in how they get married, making the process simpler, fairer and less costly, while ensuring the dignity and integrity of marriage is protected.  

Under the reforms, couples will be able to marry in a wider range of locations provided venues meet strict standards of being appropriate and dignified. 

These changes will mean marriage law reflects modern Britain, making it more straightforward for couples to have legally binding religious ceremonies – including Sikh, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu weddings – and allow non-religious groups, such as Humanists, to conduct legally binding ceremonies for the first time. 

This will also be a significant boost to the economy as it is estimated the reforms could lead to a 3% increase in weddings in England and Wales, adding £535 million to the economy over the next 10 years, supporting 1,800 more businesses and delivering on the Plan for Change to kickstart growth.  

Minister for Family Law, Baroness Levitt KC said:  

Marriage is one of our country’s most celebrated traditions and our plans will allow couples to have the wedding day of their dreams.  

Our reforms will protect the solemnity and dignity of marriage while providing more choice for couples and unlocking untapped opportunities for the economy.

Minister for Victims and Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls, Alex Davies-Jones said:   

Mine and my husband’s wedding day was incredibly special – personal, meaningful and an unforgettable celebration of our love. Every couple deserves the same.   

Our wedding laws should match our country’s needs. These vital reforms will mean couples from all walks of life can celebrate their commitment without outdated restrictions getting in the way. 

The reforms announced will see regulation of weddings shift away from buildings and onto the officiants running the ceremony, offering couples greater freedom to shape their big day.  

ENDS

Further information:

• Planned changes follow Law Commission recommendations from July 2022 to modernise marriage law and break down unnecessary barriers to weddings for engaged couples.
• The Government will undertake a consultation early next year.
• Legislation to reform marriage law will be introduced when parliamentary time allows.

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 1 October 2025.

Victims will get faster justice thanks to the courts sitting for a record number of days, the Deputy Prime Minister will announce in a speech today at the opening of the legal year (Wednesday 1 October).

• More trials will be heard as Deputy Prime Minister funds an extra 1,250 Crown Court sitting days
• Funding will help more cases to be heard this year, speeding up justice for victims
• Part of this Government’s Plan for Change to get the justice system back on its feet

The Crown Court will be able to sit for a total of 111,250 days this year – up by 5,000 compared to last year and reaching the highest levels on record. This follows an announcement from the Deputy Prime Minister later today that the government will fund an extra 1,250 days. 

This will mean more trials can be heard – tackling the backlog of cases, making sure victims see their day in court more quickly and holding more criminals to account.

Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Justice, David Lammy, said:

The Crown Court backlog we inherited stands at over 78,000 and behind each case is a real person, waiting years for justice.  

That is why we are acting with the biggest investment on record as part of our Plan for Change. An additional 1,250 sitting days will be allocated to the Crown Court this financial year, allowing it to hear many extra cases. 

We know there is more to do, and generational reform that cannot wait, but this investment will help ease the torment and bring swifter justice to many more victims.

While extra sitting days will help to bring the backlog down in the short-term, only major reform will address the crisis in our courts.

Statistics released last week showed that there are now 78,329 Crown Court cases waiting to be heard. This means that victims are often waiting three or four years for their case to come to trial.

Sir Brian Leveson is conducting an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts to identify ways to reform the courts system. The first phase of his review has already been completed – the Deputy Prime Minister is carefully considering its proposals and the Government will respond in due course.

The review forms part of the government’s commitment to safer streets by reducing the court backlog, speeding up hearings for victims and defendants, and rebuilding public confidence in the criminal justice system.

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 5 September 2025.

The Secretary of State has approved the appointments of Parole Board Members. These comprise psychologist, psychiatrist and retired judicial members as set out below.

The Secretary of State has approved the appointments of 29 Psychologist members, 5 Psychiatrist members, and 7 Judicial members.

Parole Board members are appointed, by ministers, under Schedule 19 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. The appointment of Parole Board members – save for judicial members – is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments (CPA). Recruitment processes comply with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.

The Parole Board is an independent body that works with its criminal justice partners to protect the public by risk assessing prisoners to decide whether they can be safely released into the community.

The Parole Board was established by the Criminal Justice Act 1967. It is an executive Non-Departmental Public Body sponsored by the Ministry of Justice

New member appointments

The following members below have been appointed for five-year terms from 4 November 2025 to 3 November 2030:

Psychologist Members

• Eleni Belivanaki
• Catherine Bell
• Carol Bond
• Lucy Courtney-Brisbane
• Kate Geraghty
• Charlotte Griffiths
• Madeleine Hamilton
• Eliza Harris
• Ionnie Henry
• James Jackman
• Nicola Jackson
• Rupi Johal
• Sharon Jones
• Jacqueline Kennedy
• Sarah Khan
• Suzanne Lee
• Leiya Lemkey
• Avril McAlees
• Amy Meeson
• Khyati Patel
• Emma Pearce
• Sanjit Saraw
• Samantha Scott
• Diarmuid Sheehan
• Yvonne Shell
• Annita Tasker
• James Taylor
• Nicola Wallis
• Rachael Wheatley

Psychiatrist Members

• Jonathan Barker
• Christine Brown
• Caroline Mulligan
• Samrat Sengupta
• Rosalyn Tavernor

The following members below have been appointed for five-year terms from 20 January 2026 to 19 January 2031:

Judicial Members

• Andrew Bright KC
• Francis Burrell KC
• Patrick Fields
• Michael Hopmeier
• Judith Hughes KC
• Richard Parkes KC
• Caroline Wright

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 2 September 2025.

More people will be tagged and monitored as part of the Government’s Plan for Change as the Sentencing Bill is published.

Tens of thousands more criminals will be tagged and monitored over the next three years as part of the Government’s Plan for Change to make streets safer.

It is the biggest expansion of tagging since the adoption of curfew tags in 1999 with an extra £100 million being invested into electronic monitoring – an increase of 30%.

The Government is also introducing, for the first time, a presumption that all prison leavers will be tagged on release as part of intensive supervision with the Probation Service keeping a closer eye on offenders’ behaviour. This means, unless Probation Staff specifically decide not to, any offender leaving prison will be tagged.

A new pilot launching next month will also see offenders tagged before leaving the prison gates, rather than days later as is currently the case ahead of a planned wider rollout to end the surveillance gap in the crucial time after release.

It comes as legislation to end the prison crisis inherited by the Government and prevent the collapse of the justice system is introduced to Parliament today (2 September).

Alongside the construction of 14,000 more prison places, the Sentencing Bill delivers urgent reform to a system on the brink. Together, this will ensure the country never runs out of prison cells, there is always space inside jails for dangerous offenders, and punishment cuts crime.

Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said:

Last year, the criminal justice system was on the verge of collapse. Since being elected, the Government has worked rapidly to repair the damage, starting with investing £7 billion in 14,000 more prison places as part of our Plan for Change.

A historic increase in tagging and record investment into probation will make our streets safer.

And this Sentencing Bill will ensure that our prisons never run out of space again, we can always lock up dangerous offenders, and that punishment cuts crime rather than creating better criminals.

The Sentencing Bill follows on from the Independent Sentencing Review led by David Gauke published in May.

The Government has already announced it will introduce a new “earned progression model” that will see prisoners who break the rules spend longer than the minimum of 33 or 50 percent in prison, ending automatic release for badly behaved offenders. It was inspired by changes in Texas where crime has since fallen to levels last seen in the 1960s.

To enforce this, the Government is toughening the prison punishment regime, so prisoners face up to three months extra in jail for violence or being found with illicit items like phones. Multiple incidents will see punishments added consecutively with constantly violent prisoners potentially spending their whole sentence behind bars as a result.

Offenders released from prison will enter a period of “intensive supervision” tailored to their risk and the type of crime they committed. Probation officers will maintain discretion to tag offenders based on their risk to the public and their victim. Those subject to Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements will remain in this “intensive supervision” stage for the duration of their sentence. Others will progress into a licence phase, with strict conditions on their behaviour remaining.

This “earned progression model” will apply to prisoners serving standard determinate sentences only. Some offenders on standard determinate sentences will spend at least one-third of their sentence behind bars. Those serving standard determinate sentences for more serious offences will serve at least half in prison. Dangerous offenders will be unaffected with those serving extended determinate sentences or life sentences continuing to spend as much time behind bars as they do now.

The Government is also ramping up deportations of foreign criminals, freeing up vital space in our prisons and keeping the public safe – with deportations 14 percent higher since July 2024. This Bill will drive this work further with measures to see immediate deportation after sentencing for foreign criminals, rather than having their bed and board in prison covered by taxpayers as currently.

The Bill also introduces a presumption that prison sentences of a year or less will be replaced with tougher sentences in the community that better punish offenders and stop them reoffending. Currently, 62 percent of those receiving a prison sentence of under 12 months reoffended within a year, which is higher than similar offenders given sentences in the community.

Offenders who pose a significant risk of harm to an individual or who have breached a court order – including breach of a previous suspended sentence order – will be exempt from this change, meaning judges always have the power to send dangerous offenders or prolific law breakers to prison.

For those offenders who will be punished outside of prison, the Government is toughening up community sentences with a series of new measures:

• Punishments that restrict offenders’ freedom in the community. Judges will be handed new powers to bar criminals from pubs, concerts and sports matches, curtailing offenders’ freedoms as punishment.
• Tough unpaid work orders that force offenders to give back to society. Develop new ways in which offenders can undertake tough, unpaid work. This includes working with local authorities to determine how offenders could give back to their communities, whether by removing graffiti or cleaning up rubbish. Publishing the names and photos of those subject to an unpaid work requirement will demonstrate to the public that justice is being delivered and increase the visibility and transparency of community payback.
• Financial penalties that force offenders to pay back for their crimes. Work to deliver new “income reduction orders” which will see judges able to order offenders to forfeit some of their income as a form of punishment during their sentence.

The Government will follow the most recent evidence on how to use punishment to reduce reoffending and cut crime. This includes expanding the use of “intensive supervision courts”, which target the root causes of offending amongst prolific offenders. Despite significant addiction issues at the start of the sentence, offenders tested negative for drugs over two thirds of the time. Across the world, particularly in Texas and across America, this approach has driven down reoffending rates. Early signs from four pilot sites in England are positive, and the Government has announced it will expand to more sites.

The Sentencing Bill also introduces measures to better support victims of crime, including:

• New “restriction zones” – welcomed last month by victims’ campaigners Diana Parkes CBE and Hetti Barkworth-Nanton CBE, co-founders of The Joanna Simpson Foundation, and Doreen Soulsby – which will restrict offenders to a certain area, allowing victims to travel without fear of seeing them.
•  A judicial finding of domestic abuse in sentencing which will allow criminal justice agencies to identify domestic abusers, ensure they are better monitored, and the right measures are in place to protect victims.

Chief Executive Officer of We Are Survivors, Duncan Craig OBE, said:

I very much welcome the presentation of the Sentencing Bill today and whilst there will be much debate and scrutiny to come, we’re certainly moving towards a new and modern response to dealing with those that cause harm.

As a victim/survivor, I have long been frustrated with the binary and repetitive way we think and respond to victims and offenders. Whilst victims must be a priority in our response, it’s vital we take action to reduce the number of future victims which means reducing offending in the first place.

We have to have a grown-up conversation about offending behaviours, ensure we better understand the cause of offending, and design responses to offending that supports opportunities for people to change. We have to have a paradigm shift to reduce the creation of victims and equally reduce the number of offenders. It is too important not to.

To support the implementation of the Sentencing Review, the Government is investing an extra up to £700 million in the Probation Service by 2028/29 – an increase of around 45 per cent on top of the current budget.

The probation workforce is also being bolstered, with the number of probation officers already up seven per cent in the last 12 months.

In addition to the 1,000 trainee probation officers recruited last year, the Government has commitment to recruit a further 1,300 by March next year. This will increase capacity whilst new technology will lighten the administrative burden and free up time for staff to focus on managing offenders and keeping the public safe.

Further information

• The Government response to the Independent Sentencing Review can be found here: Landmark sentencing reforms to ensure prisons never run out of space again – GOV.UK

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 2 September 2025.

The Sentencing Council will be unable to issue new guidelines without the explicit approval of the Justice Secretary, strengthening democratic oversight of the body. The approval of the Lady Chief Justice will also be required before new guidelines are issued.

Today’s news follows a disagreement between the Justice Secretary and Sentencing Council earlier this year over planned new guidelines which the Justice Secretary argued would result in “a clear example of differential treatment” and risked “undermining public confidence in a justice system that is built on the idea of equality before the law”.

While a new law introduced in June blocked these sentencing guidelines, the Justice Secretary is clear the Council should not be allowed to stray into setting policy without the direction of Parliament and committed to “right the democratic deficit that has been uncovered”.

As part of the Sentencing Bill, introduced in the House of Commons today, both the Justice Secretary and the Lady Chief Justice will be given individual – and separate – powers requiring them to approve any future guidelines before they can be issued.

Enshrined in law, this means any new directive issued by the Sentencing Council will require the explicit approval of both. If the either oppose the guidance, it will not be issued.

The new powers will end a historic democratic deficit, ensuring Parliament’s legitimate role in setting the sentencing framework is recognised and upheld, while maintaining and strengthening judicial and democratic oversight.

Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Shabana Mahmood said:

Individual sentencing decisions will always be the responsibility of the independent judiciary – and this is something I will staunchly defend.

However, policy must be set by parliamentarians, who answer to the people.

Government and Parliament have a legitimate role in setting the sentencing framework. It is right that we now have greater democratic and judicial oversight of the direction of the Council’s work and the final guidelines they publish.

The move forms part of wider reforms to sentencing policy as set out in today’s Sentencing Bill. This landmark legislation also includes measures to ensure prisons never run out of space again, including Texas-style earned release sentences and bold new action to toughen up community punishment.

This comes alongside the Government’s prison building programme, the largest expansion in the estate since the Victorian era. The Government has already opened 2,500 new places since taking office, and has invested £7bn in construction, on track to deliver 14,000 places by 2031.

Tens of thousands more offenders will also be tagged and monitored thanks to a huge boost in investment for the Probation Service, with an increase of up to £700 million by 2028/29, up 45 percent from the current budget.

There will also be a requirement for the Council to seek approval from the Justice Secretary of its annual business plan. The reforms do not interfere with the independence of judges in making individual sentencing decisions.

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 29 August 2025.

A Devon jail is set to almost double in size as the Government ploughs ahead with the largest prison building programme since the Victoria era.

• Two new houseblocks to be built at HMP Channings Wood by end of 2027
• Jail’s capacity boosted by 40 per cent to lock up dangerous criminals.
• Latest step in Government’s plans to build 14,000 prison places nationwide, as part of the Plan for Change.

Work is underway on the 500-place expansion at HMP Channings Wood, which will see the prison grow by around 40 per cent with two new four-storey houseblocks.

The new cells will be fully operational by the end of 2027 and will help ensure there is always enough space for dangerous offenders – cutting crime and keeping the public safe.

The major project will also include the construction of a new jobs and education workshop, training prisoners with the skills they need to turn their backs on crime for good.

Today’s news represents a significant milestone in the Government’s aims to build 14,000 additional prison places by 2031 – with around 2,500 of these having already been built since July 2024.

The build will also create hundreds of jobs in the South West, with an additional 200 permanent jobs expected at the prison once the houseblock is complete.

Minister for Prisons, Probation, and Reducing Reoffending, Lord James Timpson said:

This Government inherited a capacity crisis in our prisons.

We will never let that happen again, ensuring there is always space in our jails for dangerous offenders, part of our Plan for Change.

We’ve delivered 2,500 new places in the last year, on track for 14,000 by 2031. In the fourteen years to April 2024, only 500 places were added to our estate. This new site alone will provide that many.

The project will be delivered by Kier, a leading provider of infrastructure services, construction and property developments.

Rebecca Boundy, Managing Director (Justice) at Kier Construction, said:

We’re proud to be a trusted delivery partner for the government, supporting expansion plans here at HMP Channings Wood and across the UK prison estate.

After recently completing HMP Millsike and starting work on expansion projects at HMP Northumberland and HMP Lancaster Farms, our specialist teams are delivering high-quality, state-of-the-art prison accommodation and facilities that are fit for the future.”

Offenders at the prison have also undertaken training by Kier – earning qualifications to work in construction on release to keep them on the straight and narrow.

The construction follows the opening of the around 1,500-capacity prison in Yorkshire, HMP Millsike, in March. The Government is investing £4.7 billion to deliver these prison builds, whilst investing up to a further £300 million towards vital building maintenance across prisons and the probation service in this financial year.

The prison building programme will work alongside the upcoming sentencing reforms to ensure there is always a cell to lock up the most dangerous offenders.

Background

• The houseblocks will provide 494 places.
• Other key stakeholders in the programme include Mace and Gleeds.
• The Government is investing £4.7 billion to deliver these prison builds over this spending review period (2026/27 – 2029/30).

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 28 August 2025.

A new leadership team, bolstered staff training and improved safeguarding have been put in place at Oakhill Secure Training Centre, following concerns raised by inspectors last month.

• Bolstered support to include strengthened safeguarding and staff training
• Extra investment in healthcare provision and mental health support
• New leadership team appointed with extensive youth custody experience

The centre in Milton Keynes, operated by G4S, was issued an Urgent Notification in July by Ofsted, HM Inspectorate of Prisons, and the Care Quality Commission. The report detailed living conditions below standard, inadequate mental health support and poor safeguarding systems.

The Youth Custody Service has today (28 August) published a detailed action plan to urgently address these concerns.  Developed in partnership with G4S, the plan seeks to fundamentally improve safety and standards at the centre.

This includes G4S installing a new leadership structure and a Governing Governor from YCS directly taking responsibility for overseeing improvements.  Staff will also receive improved training to better deal with conflict and violence, and a review of all safeguarding referrals will ensure appropriate action has been taken in every case.

Sir Nic Dakin, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sentencing and Youth Justice, said:

The serious failings found at Oakhill STC are unacceptable. Every young person in custody must feel safe, supported, and be treated with care.

G4S is already taking urgent steps to deliver necessary improvements, and this action plan gives them the support they need to turn the centre around. We will not hesitate to take further action if needed.

The centre is also undergoing major refurbishments to living conditions, identifying areas requiring repair and prioritising residential units. Healthcare provision is also being bolstered with extra specialist staff including for mental health support.

Staff who have been implicated in serious wrongdoing have been suspended.

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 28 August 2025.

Reoffending by burglars, robbers and thieves has been cut by 20 percent thanks to the tracking of their movements with tags, a new report has found.

Reoffending by burglars, robbers and thieves has been cut by 20 percent thanks to the tracking of their movements with tags, a new report published today (August 28) has found.

The study shows those forced to wear a GPS tag on release from prison were significantly more like to stay on the straight and narrow, meaning less crime, fewer victims and safer streets.

As part of the scheme, the movements of these offenders are monitored and mapped against the locations of recent unsolved burglaries, robberies or thefts.

Any matches are shared with the police to help them investigate the crime and potential suspects, meaning the tag serves as a powerful deterrent to reoffending.

By harnessing innovative tech, this project is helping to protect communities and support smarter policing, part of the Government’s Plan for Change to make our streets safer.

Eliminating suspects early on through GPS tagging has also freed up police to focus on other suspects and investigate more crimes, with the evidence suggesting that the pilot helped police to avoid carrying out roughly 16,000 unnecessary adult arrests over three years.

The findings come as the latest figures showed that almost 20,000 offenders and defendants were wearing an electronic tag as of June 2025, a record high.

Tagging will be ramped up even further as part of the Government’s sentencing reforms with the annual probation budget increased by up to £700 million by 2028, to tag thousands more offenders.

Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, Lord Timpson, said:

The evidence is clear that tagging works, acting as a constant reminder to thieves and burglars that we are watching their every move and will know if they reoffend.

We are increasing the use of tagging as part of our Plan for Change to toughen punishment, prevent crime and make our streets safer.

The pilot deliberately targets “acquisitive” crimes such as burglary, theft and robbery, which are offence types which have among the worst charge and conviction rates.

Evidence suggests the pilot acted as an effective deterrent, with just 160 out of 3,360 offenders convicted due to their movements being mapped to unsolved crimes.

The technology also allows probation staff to keep a much closer eye on the whereabouts of offenders under their supervision so they are better able to prevent them from falling back into a life of crime.

Last week it was revealed that the number of probation officers has increased by seven per cent in the last 12 months, with trainee officer numbers also seeing a surge of 15 per cent.

This follows a pledge by the Lord Chancellor to recruit an additional 1,300 Probation Officers by March 2026 as part of a major boost of support for the Probation Service.

Alan, an offender who is currently on a GPS tag, said:

The second that tag went on my ankle I had that feeling that someone was watching me every second of the day.

It let me get on with my life knowing if I fell back into my old habits I could be back in a jail cell.

Evidence is increasingly proving the effectiveness of tags as a robust way to closely monitor offenders in the community, therefore cutting crime and protecting victims.

A report in March 2025 found that offenders on curfew tags, which keep offenders at home and off the streets during certain times, were also 20% less likely to commit another crime.

Meanwhile statistics show offenders wearing alcohol tags, which monitor whether or not they are drinking, stay sober for 97% of the days they are tagged.

The Government is also exploring broader uses of technology in the justice system to monitor offenders and reduce reoffending.

Under the Ministry of Justice’s AI Action Plan, artificial intelligence will be used to assess offender risk and place dangerous individuals under tighter supervision—cutting crime and delivering swifter justice for victims.

This follows the Government’s response to the Independent Sentencing Review, which recommended greater use of technology and community sentencing to address the inherited crisis in the prison system.

Further information:

• The Impact Evaluation of the Acquisitive Crime Electronic Monitoring Project: 12 Month+ Cohort found male prison leavers enrolled in the project were associated with a seven percentage point decline in the rate of reoffending within 12 months of release (from 33.2% to 26.2%). Read more here.
• The Acquisitive Crime pilot began in 2021 and is currently available in 19 of 43 police force areas, namely; Avon & Somerset, Cheshire, Gloucestershire, Gwent, Humberside, West Midlands, Bedfordshire, City of London, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Durham, Essex, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Metropolitan Police, North Wales, Nottinghamshire and Sussex.
• As of 02 June 2025, the total number of offenders and defendants fitted with an electronic monitoring device was 19,983. Read more here.

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 23 August 2025.

Criminals will be barred from pubs, concerts and sports matches under new sentencing powers.

Criminals will be barred from pubs, concerts and sports matches under new sentencing powers unveiled by the Government today (Sunday 24 August) as part of its Plan for Change.

Judges will be able to curtail offenders’ freedoms with driving limits, travel bans and restriction zones confining them into specific areas.

The changes will toughen up community punishments to deter reoffending and force offenders back onto the straight-and-narrow.

As part of the Government’s work to do everything in its power to keep Britain safe, offenders coming out of prison and supervised by the Probation Service will also face similar restrictions and an expanded mandatory drug testing regime.

In future, criminals without known drug habits will face this scrutiny, not just those with a history of substance misuse.

Offenders who break the rules face being brought back to court or hauled back to prison as punishment depending on the sentence they are serving.

Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said:

Widening the range of punishments available to judges is part of our Plan for Change to cut crime and make streets safer.

When criminals break society’s rules, they must be punished. Those serving their sentences in the community must have their freedom restricted there too.

These new punishments should remind all offenders that, under this Government, crime does not pay.

Rightly, the public expect the government to do everything in its power to keep Britain safe, and that’s what we’re doing.

Currently, judges are able to give out limited bans for specific crimes, for example football bans for crimes committed inside a stadium on match day, to prevent further antisocial behaviour.

The Government will change the law shortly so such bans can be handed down as a form of punishment for any offence in any circumstance.

It will form part of wider reforms to sentencing to ensure punishments cut crime and prisons never again run out of places for dangerous offenders.

Over 2,400 prison places have opened since July 2024 with the Government investing £7 billion to create a total of 14,000 as the prison population increases.

Investment in the Probation Service will also receive a huge boost with an increase of up to £700 million by 2028/29, up from the annual budget of around £1.6 billion today.

This week it was revealed the number of Probation Officers has increased by seven per cent in the last 12 months, with trainee probation officer numbers also seeing a surge of 15 per cent. This follows the Government’s commitment to recruit a further 1,300 this year, in addition to the 1,000 trainee probation officers recruited last year.

New technology, including artificial intelligence, will lighten the administrative burden and free up time for probation staff to increase supervision of the most dangerous offenders and keep the public safe.