Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will provide a list of the type of victims by offence group who are (a) eligible and (b) not eligible, to receive a letter informing them of changes made by the Sentencing Act 2026 that will impact them.

The Sentencing Act 2026 contains provisions which change the proportion of a standard determinate sentence that must be served in custody before an offender is automatically released on licence. In June 2026, letters were issued to victims engaged with the Probation Service Victim Contact Scheme to notify them of changes to prisoner release arrangements introduced by the Act.

Eligibility to receive these letters was not determined by the offence group relating to the victim's case. Rather, victims were eligible to receive the letters where they were engaged with the Victim Contact Scheme and the offender in their case was serving a standard determinate sentence and was not subject to recall.

Victims were not eligible to receive the initial notification letter where they had not chosen to receive the services provided under the Victim Contact Scheme, or where the offender in their case was not serving a standard determinate sentence, including where the offender was serving another sentence type or was subject to recall.

Following the Prime Minister's announcement on 30 August 2026, sentence recalculations are being reviewed and, where necessary, recalculated. Victims will be contacted once this process has concluded to confirm whether the changes affect the offender in their case and, where applicable, to provide a revised release date.