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The Sentencing Act 2026 (suspended sentence reforms) has changed how the courts decide whether a custodial sentence is served immediately or suspended in England and Wales. The press has called the changes “soft on crime”. The truth is more practical: this is a prison-capacity reform that creates real opportunities for defendants who are properly represented. This is what the Act changed, who benefits, and how a prepared defence team uses the new framework at sentencing.
A Suspended Sentence Order is a custodial sentence that the court does not enforce immediately, allowing the offender to remain in the community under set conditions. The Sentencing Act 2026 made the most significant change to Suspended Sentence Orders in years. It received Royal Assent on 22 January 2026, and the key suspended-sentence provisions took effect from 22 March 2026. Three changes matter most.
A suspended sentence order could previously only be imposed where the custodial sentence for the offending, was two years or less. Generally, any suspended sentence imposed by the court, could have been suspended for up to two years. Under the new law, that ceiling rose to three years. Sentences for offences in the newly widened band, which could not previously be suspended, can now be considered for a Suspended Sentence Order, despite crossing the previous two-year threshold.
Where the custodial sentence is 12 months or less, the court must now consider to suspend it as a statutory requirement, unless the case is exceptional enough to justify an immediate custodial sentence. This is the change driving the “soft on crime” headlines, and it is the most consequential part of the Act for many defendants. It does not mean a suspended sentence is guaranteed, or that for certain offences, prison is automatically avoidable. It means that the starting point for short prison sentences has shifted, and the prosecution now has to make the case for immediate custody rather than the defence having to argue for suspension from a neutral position. The relevant sentencing guidelines from the Sentencing Council continue to apply alongside the new presumption.
The operational period of a Suspended Sentence Order can be set for up to three years. Courts can attach community-based requirements such as Rehabiliation Activity Requirement days (RAR), Unpaid Work Requirement, Alcohol Abstinence and Monitoring, Mental Health Treatment Requirement and Attendance Centre Requirement, similar to those available on a community order, and can now additionally impose Income Reduction Orders alongside a Suspended Sentence Order during the operational period. The suspended sentence order is not a free pass to avoid prison. It carries real conditions, and any breach of the order activates the custodial sentence that was avoided. Certain serious offences are excluded from suspension by statute.
I have read the press coverage carefully. The “soft on crime” framing is not entirely wrong. There is a genuine presumption to suspend short prison sentences now. Though i will add, the framing misses the practical reality: this is a reform driven by prison capacity rather than reduced crime, and the exception that allows immediate custody is where a great deal of the real sentencing work happens for defendants facing sentence.
The suspended-sentence change does not stand alone. The Act is a broad reform of the Sentencing Code, and the other changes affect how a custodial sentence is served.
The headline reform is the Earned Progression Model, due to be implemented in August 2026. It introduces a three-stage release process under which release is conditional on behaviour in custody, with the earliest release available at the one third point of the sentence for those who progress through the stages. Release is followed by a period of the sentence served on licence, and the licence conditions attached by the Parole Board or the Probation Service continue to bite after release. It is paramount that the offender upon release adhere to all licence conditions strictly, failing which, can result in a recall being triggered. Irrespective of what the reason for the breach of licence was, if a standard recall is triggered, the offender must hand themselves in, and appoint a legal team to commence proceedings to challenge the parole board decision. Unless the Parole Board agree that there was no breach of the licence, it would effectively mean that the offender must serve the remainder of the licence period (total sentence), in prison, rather than blending back into society. The automatic release at the halfway point no longer applies in recall cases, where an offender is released prior to the halfway pointm on Home Detention Curfew (HDC) and then recalled to prison. Offenders serving extended sentences, including Extended Determinate Sentences, are excluded from the model, and the framework is designed to keep higher-risk offenders in custody longer. This is the source of the “new 33% rule” that has appeared in coverage.
The Act also extends the period for which a court can defer sentence from six to twelve months, amends the Bail Act 1976 so that the “no real prospect” test now applies to convicted individuals awaiting sentencing, and introduces tougher community order options including restriction zone requirements.
For a defendant, the combined effect is that more of the sentencing process is now open to argument. The suspended-sentence presumption, the wider suspendable band, and the earned progression model each create a point at which careful sentencing representation can change the outcome.
For defendants facing sentencing in 2026, the practical question is whether the Act improves the chance of avoiding immediate custody. The answer depends on the facts in the case.
For regulated professionals, the change is significant. For a teacher, accountant, doctor, lawyer, financial-services worker, regulated business-individual or sportsperson, the difference between an immediate custodial sentence and a Suspended Sentence Order is often the difference between a destroyed career, and one that survives a conviction. A regulator’s response to immediate custody differs materially from its response to a suspended sentence. For this group, the widened band and the presumption to suspend short sentences are meaningful, and in some instances, life
The reform matters to defence practice generally. Sentencing submissions, pre-sentence report engagement, and mitigation packages have more purchase now, because the band within which suspension is available is wider and the starting point for short sentences is different. The exceptional-circumstances exception means that the prosecution can still argue for immediate custody, and certain serious offences remain excluded from suspension altogether. The work is in knowing where to draw the line.
For context, this reform sits alongside the wider 2026 legislative wave we have covered, including the new deepfake offence under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and the procedural reality of voluntary interviews under caution.
Sentencing is where a great deal of the case is decided. The work done between a guilty plea (or conviction) and the sentencing hearing makes a material difference to whether a sentence is served immediately or suspended.
We work proactively. We frontload evidence into sentencing preparation, because by the time the case enters the sentencing courtroom, the room is already mapped and the judge has considered the substantive mitigation dossier uploaded to the court system (whether it is Common Platform for the Magistrates' Court, or the Crown Court Digital Case System). A lot of the 'heavy lifting' already done before the day of your sentencing reduces the significant risk of prison. We leave no stone unturned on the mitigation bundle, analysis of the strengthes of the pre-sentence report, the character references, and the medical, psychological and psychatric evidence where it applies. We do not wait for the court to set the agenda. In fact, in some cases, call character witness evidence to adduce good character thereby further humanising a positive view of the defendant.
In my experience, when one defends clients through sentencing exercises, the outcomes that matter most turn on the work that is invisible within the courtroom. As with anything in life, the more prepared you are, the better the result. Under the new framework, the most important sentencing argument is often whether the exception for immediate custody applies, because that is the test that decides whether a short custodial sentence is suspended or served immediately. A well-prepared sentencing submission, anchored in the relevant sentencing guidelines, is where that argument is won or lost.
“Sentencing is not a single hearing. It is months of preparation that culminates in a hearing. By the time you walk into court, the work has been done, or it has not. We make sure we go above and beyond.”
Akram Mula, founder, Lex Vindico Group
We act for HNW individuals and regulated professionals across medicine, finance, law, sport, and senior executive roles. The discretion required at sentencing runs through our criminal defence practice. Our team is led by Akram Mula, a Solicitor Advocate and former CPS-approved prosecutor. Having sat on the prosecution side and moved to defence, we know what the prosecutor at sentencing is arguing and what the sentencing judge is reading.
The Act introduces reforms to Suspended Sentence Orders (raising the maximum suspendable term to three years and creating a presumption to suspend sentences of 12 months or less), introduces the Earned Progression Model for release, extends deferred sentences from six to twelve months, and amends the Bail Act 1976. It is a broad reform of the sentencing code driven in large, by prison capacity.
Yes. The maximum custodial term that can be suspended rose from two years to a maximum period of three years. A sentence in that newly widened band can be considered for a Suspended Sentence Order, subject to the court’s assessment of the case, and depending upon the offence committed.
For custodial sentences of 12 months or less, the sentencing court have now, a presumption to, suspend the sentence unless it finds a special justification for immediate custody. The Act amends that the presumption applies to sentences imposed after 22 March 2026. This is the most significant practical change for short custodial sentences.
The suspended-sentence presumption applies to sentences imposed after 22 March 2026, regardless of when the offence occurred. Cases part-heard at commencement need careful handling, and we recommend taking advice on the specific position.
This applies post custody stage. It refers to the Earned Progression Model, under which a prisoner who progresses through the model’s stages can become eligible for release at the one third point of the custodial sentence. Release is conditional on behaviour in custody, and higher-risk offenders, including those on Extended Determinate Sentences (rather than standard determinate sentences), are treated differently or excluded. The purpose is to release certain prisoners before the halfway point, albeit with strict licence conditions. It is worth noting that the current automatic release date is the halfway point.
The Earned Progression Model, due to be implemented in August 2026, introduces a structured three-stage release process overseen by the Parole Board. It is not automatic early release. Progression depends on conduct in custody, and the framework is designed to keep higher-risk offenders in custody longer.
The custody threshold is the legal test a sentencing court applies before imposing any custodial sentence: the offence must be so serious that neither a fine nor a community order can be justified in the circumstances. The Act did not lower that threshold. It changed what happens once a short custodial sentence has been decided upon.
The Act introduces that Section 45 provides that where foreign criminals are concerned, the UK Immigration Legislation and criminal justice system ensures that any suspended sentence length of 12 months, or more, would count as a 'period of imprisonment'.
Yes. A Suspended Sentence Order carries conditions, and the operational period can now run for up to three years. If the defendant breaches the conditions, such as, fails to engage with the Probation service, or fails to attend a RAR day without reasonable excuse, or commits a further offence during the operational period of the SSO, there is a significant risk that the court can activate the original custodial term and require it to be served immediately. In that situation, a thorough mitigation dossier could mean that we are able to persuade the judge to give you a 'second chance' before activating the suspended sentence order.
Lex Vindico Group is a London-based criminal defence firm, founded by Akram Mula. We act for HNW individuals and regulated professionals across the UK and internationally, concentrated where the stakes are highest: pre-charge representation, sexual offences defence, financial crime, and serious crime.
What we offer at the sentencing stage is rare in one firm: a proactive defence stance that prepares the sentencing hearing as carefully as a trial, the operational discretion that HNW and regulated-professional work demands, and direct courtroom experience including a former CPS-approved prosecutor at the head of the firm.
We are not the cheapest firm in London. We are the firm to instruct when the sentencing hearing will decide more than the trial did.
The window between conviction (or plea) and the sentencing hearing is where the most can be done. Whether your sentence sits within the suspendable band or close to it, the argument on whether immediate custody is justified can decide the outcome. Even where the sentence length is not within the suspendable range, our lawyers can help you argue lower harm and lower culpability and even, a 'written basis' which essentially compels the judge to a particular lower sentence bracket. If you have any particular concerns, please get in touch with our team now.
We offer confidential consultations, in person at our London offices or remotely by secure call. Initial enquiries are handled discreetly and quickly.
If you are facing sentencing and these changes are in play for your case, the work we do in the weeks before the hearing changes the room you walk into. Speak to us today.
Lex Vindico Group is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. We represent individuals nationally across England and Wales in criminal, regulatory, and parallel-proceedings defence at every stage, and most decisively, at the pre-charge stage.
This article is written by Akram Mula, LLM, Solicitor Advocate and CPS-approved Prosecutor, founder of Lex Vindico Group. It is general legal information about the Sentencing Act 2026, not legal advice on any specific case. Statutory references in this article are flagged for editorial verification before publication. For advice on your individual circumstances, contact our team directly.
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