Statutory instrument 2026/1090 is a commencement measure rather than a fresh policy instrument. Made on 15 October 2026 and signed by Alex Davies-Jones for the Ministry of Justice, it is the fourth commencement regulation under the Crime and Policing Act 2026 and fixes two November dates on which selected provisions become operative. The parent Act received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026. (legislation.gov.uk) For implementation purposes, that is the key point. Commencement regulations do not alter the substance of the Act; they determine when enacted sections begin to have legal effect for investigators, prosecutors, courts and record-holders. (legislation.gov.uk)
The first commencement date is 6 November 2026. On that date, regulation 2 brings into force section 104(1) to (3) so far as extending to England and Wales, together with section 104(4) and (5), section 106, section 107 and section 137 of the Act. The Explanatory Note describes that first wave as covering specified pornography offences and child abduction in England and Wales. (onewe.uk) In legislative terms, these provisions work by amending existing criminal law frameworks rather than by creating a standalone code. Sections 104, 106 and 107 amend the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, while section 137 amends the Child Abduction Act 1984. (legislation.gov.uk)
The pornography provisions are narrower and more technical than the headline wording may suggest. Section 104 creates an offence of possessing or publishing pornographic images of strangulation or suffocation, with publication expressly including making material available to another person by any means. Section 106 creates a parallel offence for pornographic images of sex between relatives, and section 107 does the same for pornographic images portraying sexual activity with a child under 16. (legislation.gov.uk) For practitioners, 6 November is therefore the date from which those provisions can begin to apply where commenced by this instrument. That matters for charging decisions, investigative practice and evidential assessment, because the offences move from enacted text to operative law on that date. (onewe.uk)
The legal effect is not limited to the standalone offences. Sections 104, 106 and 107 also make linked amendments to Schedule 34A to the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and to Schedule 7 to the Online Safety Act 2023 in specified cases, so the commencement date has consequences for connected sentencing and online safety frameworks as well as for frontline prosecution. (legislation.gov.uk) The drafting also shows how phased commencement can work in practice. For section 104, the instrument brings subsections (1) to (3) into force only so far as they extend to England and Wales, while also commencing subsections (4) and (5). For policy teams, that is a reminder that commencement can be staged by date, territorial reach and subsection. (onewe.uk)
Section 137, also starting on 6 November 2026, amends section 1 of the Child Abduction Act 1984. The Act text and explanatory notes show that it creates an offence where a person connected with a child under 16 takes or sends the child out of the United Kingdom with consent but later detains the child abroad without the appropriate consent. (legislation.gov.uk) That change is aimed at cases where the original journey may have been authorised but the later retention overseas was not. For police, prosecutors and family law specialists, the significance is practical rather than symbolic: post-commencement conduct can be assessed against the amended offence structure in England and Wales. (legislation.gov.uk)
The second commencement date is 16 November 2026. On that date, section 242 comes into force for England and Wales, activating the statutory route on pardons and criminal records for women prosecuted under abortion law when they were acting in relation to their own pregnancy. (onewe.uk) Section 242 inserts new section 165B into the Policing and Crime Act 2017. As drafted, it applies to women, living or deceased, who were convicted, cautioned, arrested or investigated on suspicion of an abortion-related offence in those circumstances, and it provides for pardon and expungement of official records. For justice agencies, the operational task is not only recognition of the pardon but also deletion of the relevant official records. (legislation.gov.uk)
The wider message in this instrument is administrative but important. Ministers are now moving selected criminal law and records provisions from the statute book into live operation, and the government published Act-level impact assessments on 29 September 2026 through the Home Office and Ministry of Justice. (gov.uk) For readers tracking legal implementation, the dates are straightforward. New pornography-related offences and the child abduction amendment start on 6 November 2026, while the abortion-related pardon and record-deletion provisions follow on 16 November 2026. That makes this a useful commencement instrument to watch, even though its function is procedural rather than to create new policy in itself. (onewe.uk)