The Sentencing Council has published new guidelines for sentencing adults convicted of blackmail, kidnap or false imprisonment in England and Wales. These are the first guidelines to be issued for these serious offences and have been developed through consultation to assist judges in sentencing the broad spectrum of cases that fall under these categories. The guidelines, which will come into effect on 1 April 2025, aim to provide a structured approach to sentencing these offences, ensuring consistency and proportionality across the justice system.

The Sentencing Council has issued its annual report for 2023-24, highlighting the Council's achievements between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024. These include publishing new and revised offence specific definitive sentencing guidelines for certain offences, holding its third, annual miscellaneous amendments consultation and consulting on proposed changes to the overarching guideline and three offence specific guidelines, and publishing the findings of three research projects.

The Sentencing Council has published a significantly revised Imposition of community and custodial sentences guideline, which has been developed through public consultation and is effective from 1 April 2025. The updated guideline strengthens the emphasis on pre-sentence reports and provides enhanced detail on community and suspended sentence order requirements. It also includes a new section that considers the purposes and effectiveness of sentencing and includes new evidence that courts should consider when sentencing young adults, female offenders, mothers with dependent children and pregnant and post-natal offenders. The guideline has been published alongside the consultation response document.

The Sentencing Council for England and Wales has published a statement regarding the Sentencing Bill 2025, which was introduced to Parliament on 2 September 2025. The Bill proposes to amend the current process for issuing definitive guidelines by requiring the Council to obtain approval from both the Lord Chancellor and the Lady Chief Justice before publication. Following its first meeting since the Bill's introduction, held on 24 October 2025, the Council confirmed that it will continue its ongoing work on sentencing but will defer the publication of any definitive guidelines until Parliament reaches a final decision on the process and manner by which such guidelines are to be issued.

The Sentencing Council (SC) has announced a consultation on ancillary orders guidance. The SC is inviting feedback on proposals that aim to enhance the consistency, accessibility and presentation of the SC’s guidance on ancillary orders. The consultation covers 28 ancillary orders for six of these ancillary orders, the SC is proposing new guidance and for the rest revised or more detailed guidance are proposed. The consultation closes on 4 December 2024.

The Sentencing Council has launched a consultation on six new and revised sentencing guidelines for motor offences in England and Wales which will apply in both the magistrates' court and the Crown Court. The Sentencing Council is seeking views on the draft guidelines covering aggravated vehicle taking resulting in injury, death, damage and dangerous driving. Additionally, the consultation seeks views on the overarching guideline for driver disqualification. The consultation will run from 21 February 2024 to 22 May 2024.

The Sentencing Council has launched its fifth annual consultation on a series of miscellaneous amendments to sentencing guidelines. The proposed changes aim to improve clarity and consistency, while ensuring the guidelines reflect developments in both legislation and case law. Key proposals include: (1) amending the fraud guidelines to reference gain made or intended by the offender as part of the harm assessment; (2) clarifying the wording of the high harm factor in the strangulation or suffocation guidelines; and (3) amending the guilty plea reduction guideline to clarify that disqualification from driving is not eligible for reduction. The consultation also proposes changes to the magistrates' courts sentencing guidelines for non-imprisonable motoring offences and the introduction of several new guidelines for these offences. The consultation closes on 29 January 2026.

The Sentencing Council has published its Business Plan for 2024-25, setting out the work it aims to undertake in the financial year to March 2025. This includes publishing new and revised guidelines for sentencing blackmail, kidnap and false imprisonment offences, aggravated vehicle taking offences, vehicle registration fraud and driver disqualification and immigration offences. The Business Plan also details the draft guidelines which will be consulted on throughout the year and evaluation work, which will include reviewing its guidelines covering bladed articles and offensive weapons, intimidatory offences and breach offences.

The Sentencing Council has published a review of existing research looking at the effectiveness of sentencing. The review considers existing research to determine the ways in which sentencing may or may not be effective in relation to sentencers, offenders, victims and the public.

The Sentencing Council has published its annual report for 2024/25. The report details the introduction of new sentencing guidelines for blackmail, kidnap, false imprisonment, aggravated vehicle taking and strangulation offences. A revised Imposition guideline published in March 2025 sparked controversy over pre-sentence report guidance for ethnic minorities, leading to legislative intervention by the Lord Chancellor and postponement of implementation. The report also notes the death of Council Chairman Lord Justice William Davis in June 2025 and launch of an interactive 'You be the Judge' public education website.

The Sentencing Council has published its response to the third annual consultation on miscellaneous amendments to the sentencing guidelines used in both magistrates’ courts and Crown Courts. The changes include: new guidelines for sentencing pregnant offenders; amendments to the manslaughter guidelines relating to strangulation and coercive control, in response to recommendations in the Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review; amendments to the fraud guideline to give more recognition to the impact on victims even where there is no or very little financial loss; and amendments to the guideline for sentencing individuals for fly-tipping and other environmental offences to give greater emphasis to community orders over fines. The changes come into effect on 1 April 2024.

The Sentencing Council has published its response to the fifth annual miscellaneous amendments consultation, with changes to sentencing guidelines in both magistrates' courts and the Crown Court taking effect on 13 July 2026. The 12‑week consultation, which ran from 6 November 2025 to 29 January 2026, received 76 responses. The amendments include a clarification that driving disqualification is not subject to guilty plea reduction, an addition to the fraud guideline's harm assessment to reference the gain made or intended by the offender, a clarification of the high harm factor in the strangulation or suffocation guideline and several new and amended motoring offence guidelines for magistrates' courts. A full list of amendments will be published on 13 July 2026.