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STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS
2025 No. 1207
CRIMINAL LAW, ENGLAND AND WALES
The Sentencing Act 2020 (Special Procedures
for Community and Suspended Sentence
Orders) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
Made - - - - 18th November 2025
Laid before Parliament 20th November 2025
Coming into force
Regulations 1 and 3 13th December 2025
Regulation 2 25th December 2025
The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by
section 395A(1) and (5) of the Sentencing Act 2020(1).
Citation, commencement and extent
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Sentencing Act 2020 (Special Procedures for
Community and Suspended Sentence Orders) (Amendment) Regulations 2025.
(2) Subject to paragraph (3), these Regulations come into force on 13th December 2025.
(3) R egulation 2 comes into force on 25th December 2025.
(4) These Regulations extend to England and Wales.
Amendment of the Sentencing Act 2020 (Special Procedures for Community and Suspended
Sentence Orders) Regulations 2023
2. In the Sentencing Act 2020 (Special Procedures for Community and Suspended Sentence
Orders) Regulations 2023(2), in regulation 3, for the words from “of” to “force” substitute
“beginning with the day on which these Regulations come into force and ending with 31st March
2029”.
(1) 2020 c. 17. Section 395A was inserted by paragraph 2 of Schedule 14 to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022
(c. 32).
(2) S.I. 2023/559 as amended by S.I. 2024/1220.Document Generated: 2025-12-25
Status: This is the original version (as it was originally made). This
item of legislation is currently only available in its original format.
Amendment of the Sentencing Act 2020 (Special Procedures for Community and Suspended
Sentence Orders) Regulations 2024
3. In the Sentencing Act 2020 (Special Procedures for Community and Suspended Sentence
Orders) Regulations 2024(3), in regulation 3, for the words from “of” to “force” substitute
“beginning with the day on which these Regulations come into force and ending with 31st March
2029”.
Timpson
Minister of State
18th November 2025 Ministry of Justice
(3) S.I. 2024/654.
2Document Generated: 2025-12-25
Status: This is the original version (as it was originally made). This
item of legislation is currently only available in its original format.
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
The Sentencing Act 2020, as amended by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022,
makes provision for special procedures to apply to community orders and suspended sentence
orders in certain cases to be described in regulations. The Sentencing Act 2020 (Special Procedures
for Community and Suspended Sentence Orders) Regulations 2023 (the “2023 Regulations”) and
the Sentencing Act 2020 (Special Procedures for Community and Suspended Sentence Orders)
Regulations 2024 (the “2024 Regulations”) describe certain such cases (“specified cases”).
In accordance with section 395A(4) of the Sentencing Act 2020, when the 2023 Regulations and
2024 Regulations were made, they each provided that specified cases qualify for special procedures
only if the community or suspended sentence order was made within a period of 18 months beginning
on the day the regulations came into force. The Sentencing Act (Special Procedures for Community
and Suspended Sentence Orders) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 subsequently amended the 2023
Regulations to provide that a specified case qualified for special procedures if the order was made
within a period of 30 (rather than 18) months after the 2023 Regulations came into force. The 2024
Regulations have not, prior to these Regulations, been amended.
The 2023 Regulations came into force on 26th June 2023 and, therefore, in the absence of further
legislation, specified cases would have ceased to qualify for special procedures after 25th December
2025. The 2024 Regulations came into force on 14th June 2024 and, therefore, in the absence of
further legislation, specified cases would have ceased to qualify for special procedures after 13th
December 2025.
These Regulations amend both the 2023 Regulations and 2024 Regulations to provide that specified
cases will continue to qualify for special procedures if the community or suspended sentence order
is made on, or before, 31st March 2029.
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