The Sentencing Council has amended several sentencing guidelines to reflect legislative changes introduced by the Crime and Policing Act 2026 and the Victims and Courts Act 2026. The changes come into force on 29 June 2026 and apply to offenders convicted on or after that date. The amendments introduce a new statutory aggravating factor of grooming across a range of sexual offence guidelines. The aggravating factor applies where an offence is facilitated by, or involves, the grooming of a person under the age of 18. The Council has also amended the guidelines to reflect changes to magistrates' sentencing powers for certain either-way offences. The updated guidelines apply to breaches of slavery and trafficking prevention or risk orders, criminal behaviour orders, sexual harm prevention orders, and restraining and non-molestation orders, ensuring the sentencing guidelines reflect the latest legislative changes.

This Practice Note explains the approach the Scottish criminal courts take when sentencing health and safety offences. For information on the sentencing of health and safety offences in England and Wales, see Practice Notes: Sentencing organisations for health and safety offences and Sentencing individuals for health and safety offences. See also Practice Note: Health and safety fines over £1 million—tracker which provides a summary of the prosecutions for health and safety offences in the UK which resulted in fines of over £1m being imposed. Objectives of sentencing and punishment The over-riding objectives of sentencing in health and safety cases are: • to achieve a safe environment for the public • to ensure that the punishment is sufficient to bring that message home to the guilty party, and • to be a deterrent to would be offenders Where the offender is a corporate entity (or similar), that message should be clear not only to those who manage that company, but also to those who own it as shareholders. This does

Corporate Crime analysis: The defendant applied for permission to appeal a fine of £640,000 following a guilty plea to one count of failing to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery, contrary to regulation 11 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER 1998) and section 33(1)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA 1974). Permission to appeal was sought on three potential grounds: (1) whether the offender’s breach was a significant cause of actual harm; (2) the discount for guilty plea; and (3) whether a strict liability offence under the regulations should attract a lesser fine than a fine imposed for a breach of HSWA 1974. The application was refused: (1) the judge was entitled to uplift for actual harm; (2) the discount of 20% for guilty plea was not arguably wrong; (3) strict liability was only relevant to the issue of culpability. Written by Fiona Canby, barrister at Temple Garden Chambers.

Gross negligence manslaughter is a common law offence and occurs when the offender: • is in breach of a duty of care towards the victim • the breach causes the death of the victim, and • having regard to the risk involved, the offender’s conduct was so bad as to amount to a criminal act or omission For information on the offence of manslaughter by gross negligence, see Practice Note: Involuntary manslaughter. Gross negligence manslaughter can only be committed by an individual and should not be confused with manslaughter caused by a corporation which is a statutory offence created by the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. For information on the offence of corporate manslaughter, see: Corporate manslaughter—overview and Practice Note: Corporate manslaughter—an introductory guide. The sentencing of organisations for corporate manslaughter is addressed in the Crown Court offence-specific guideline for corporate manslaughter. See Practice Note: Sentencing for corporate manslaughter. The Sentencing Council has published an offence-specific guideline for the sentencing of gross negligence manslaughter offences in the Crown Court. Practitioners

The Sentencing Council has published offence specific sentencing guidelines (the Guidelines) for use in magistrates’ courts and Crown Courts in England and Wales for the unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of waste and for illegal discharges to air, water and land contrary to section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA 1990) and regulations 12, 38(1), (2) and (3) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016, SI 2016/1154 (EPR 2016). The Guidelines also refer to the now repealed Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 (EPR 2010), SI 2010/675, which the EPR 2016 replaced. The Guidelines are effective from 1 July 2014, regardless of when the offence took place. However, they do not extend to Scotland or Northern Ireland although the sentencing courts in these jurisdictions may have reference to them to assist them when sentencing. For information on the investigation, prosecution and sentencing of environmental offences in Scotland, see: Scottish environmental enforcement—overview. The Sentencing Council has also published sentencing

This Practice Note reviews the parts of the Sentencing Council’s offence-specific guidelines which are used by the magistrates’ courts and Crown Courts in England and Wales when sentencing individuals for food safety and food hygiene offences. In accordance with section 59 of the Sentencing Act 2020 (SA 2020) (known as the Sentencing Code), the courts must follow Sentencing Council guidelines in sentencing an offender unless ‘satisfied that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so’. The Sentencing Council has published offence-specific guidelines for food safety and hygiene offences. Separate guidelines apply for the sentencing of organisations for these offences, see Practice Note: Sentencing organisations for food safety and food hygiene offences. The Sentencing Council also publishes a number of overarching guidelines, which should be considered in respect of all sentencing exercises, see Practice Note: Sentences imposed following conviction. Among these, the General guideline—overarching principles (the General guideline) is specifically designed to be used in conjunction with offence-specific guidelines and covers seriousness as well

The Sentencing Council (SC) produces guidance on sentencing for courts in England and Wales in the form of offence-specific sentencing guidelines for use in the magistrates’ court and the Crown Court which, pursuant to section 59 of the Sentencing Act 2020 (SA 2020) (also referred to as the Sentencing Code), courts in England and Wales must follow when sentencing individuals for health and safety offences unless it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so. These sentencing guidelines do not extend to Scotland or Northern Ireland although the sentencing courts in these jurisdictions may have reference to them to assist them in their sentencing role. See Practice Note: Sentencing health and safety cases in Scotland. The SC has published offence-specific guidelines for courts sentencing individuals for breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA 1974) and for breaches of health and safety regulations. HSWA 1974 and Health & Safety Regulations as defined by the HSWA 1974, Sch 1, apply to individuals who are employers (under

The Sentencing Council has published offence specific sentencing guidelines for use in the magistrates’ courts and Crown Courts in England and Wales for the unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of waste and for illegal discharges to air, water and land contrary to section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA 1990) and the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations. The Sentencing Council has also published sentencing guidelines for the following other environmental offences, but these are based upon guidelines in place for unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of waste and for illegal discharges to air, water and land, and sentencing courts are instructed to refer to the sentencing approach in steps one to three and five and six of the main guidelines, adjusting the starting points and ranges to take account of the statutory maximum penalties for these offences: • breach of duty of care (EPA 1990, s 34) • transporting controlled waste without registering (Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989, s 1) • breach of an abatement

This Practice Note explains the Sentencing Council’s offence-specific guideline, which is used by the magistrates’ courts and Crown Courts in England and Wales when sentencing organisations for food safety and food hygiene offences. In accordance with section 59 of the Sentencing Act 2020 (SA 2020) (known as the Sentencing Code), the courts must follow Sentencing Council guidelines in sentencing an offender unless ‘satisfied that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so’. For the sentencing of individuals for the same offences, see Practice Note: Sentencing individuals for food safety and food hygiene offences. The Sentencing Council also publishes a number of overarching guidelines, which should be considered in all sentencing exercises, see Practice Note: Sentences imposed following conviction. Among these, the General guideline—overarching principles (the General guideline) is designed to be used in conjunction with offence-specific guidelines and covers seriousness as well as providing expanded explanations for aggravating and mitigating factors, culpability and harm, see Practice Note: Sentencing Council General Guideline—overarching

The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA 1974) applies to employers and self employed persons. The Sentencing Council (SC) produces guidance on sentencing for courts in England and Wales in the form of offence-specific sentencing guidelines for use in the magistrates’ court and the Crown Court which, pursuant to section 59 of the Sentencing Act 2020 (SA 2020), courts in England and Wales must follow when sentencing organisations for health and safety offences unless it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so. These sentencing guidelines do not extend to Scotland or Northern Ireland although the sentencing courts in these jurisdictions may have reference to them to assist them in their sentencing role. For information on sentencing these offences in Scotland, see Practice Note: Sentencing health and safety cases in Scotland. The SC has published offence-specific guidelines for courts sentencing organisations for breaches of HSWA 1974 and for breaches of health and safety regulations. The SC also publishes a number of overarching

This Practice Note explains sentencing procedure in the magistrates’ court and Crown Court in accordance with Sentencing Act 2020 (SA 2020) (Sentencing Code). The Sentencing Act 2026 (SA 2026), which received Royal Assent on 22 January 2026, makes wide-ranging amendments to the Sentencing Code, including increasing the maximum period for which a court may defer sentence from six months to 12 months for offenders convicted on or after 22 March 2026. Will I be sentenced in the magistrates’ or Crown Court? All criminal cases start in a magistrates’ court; however, only summary-only or either-way offences can be sentenced there. For more information on allocation and sending, see Practice Notes: • Allocation and sending for trial—sending of cases forthwith to the Crown Court for trial, and • Allocation and sending—either-way offences not sent forthwith to the Crown Court for trial If a conviction takes place in the magistrates’ court, the magistrates or district judge will impose a sentence which is within the general limit

The court considered whether an arbitration agreement contained within a guarantee which was unenforceable on grounds of illegality would, as a result, also be unenforceable. Mackie J held that the arbitration agreement was separable and as the arbitration agreement itself required no illegal activity it would be upheld.