The Ministry of Justice has made a replacement statutory instrument updating the standard licence conditions that apply to offenders released from determinate prison sentences in England and Wales. The new instrument, S.I. 2026/911, was made on 7 August 2026, laid before Parliament on 10 August 2026, and signed by Catherine McKinnell on behalf of the Secretary of State. According to the instrument and its Explanatory Note, this is primarily a revoke-and-replace exercise. It withdraws S.I. 2026/760, which had been laid on 7 July 2026, so that the Department can alter the commencement timetable. The substantive policy position is otherwise unchanged, and the replacement instrument is being issued free of charge to all known recipients of the earlier version.
The commencement dates are now split across two points in the autumn. Articles 1 and 3 come into force on 1 September 2026, while article 2, which contains the substantive amendments to the 2015 licence conditions order, comes into force on 1 October 2026. That sequencing matters operationally. It means the revocation of the July instrument takes effect before the revised standard conditions begin to apply. For probation practitioners, prison release teams and legal representatives, the practical point is that the change is about timing rather than direction: the Department has reset the legal start date, not recast the policy.
The legal basis remains section 250 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, with the Order noting the Secretary of State's duty to have regard to public protection, the prevention of re-offending and the successful re-integration of prisoners into the community. The instrument also reflects the more recent amendment to that framework made by the Sentencing Act 2026. In policy terms, the Order sits within the long-running structure established by the Criminal Justice (Sentencing) (Licence Conditions) Order 2015. The latest amendment does not create a new supervision model. It adjusts the standard conditions within the existing release-on-licence regime and makes the language more direct for day-to-day use.
One formal change is the insertion of a definition of supervising officer into the 2015 Order. The instrument links that role to the officer responsible for managing the offender under probation provision arrangements made under section 3 of the Offender Management Act 2007. That clarification is narrower than a headline reform, but it is still useful. It ties the licence conditions more explicitly to the officer who gives instructions, approves addresses and employment, and authorises travel-related decisions. In practice, it reduces ambiguity about who is exercising those functions once an offender has been released.
The replacement text for the standard conditions is broader and more readable than the previous drafting. According to the Order, offenders must behave well in a way that supports the purpose of licence, must not commit any crime, and must keep in touch with the supervising officer as instructed. They must also attend meetings where the supervising officer directs, including meetings at the offender's home, live at an approved address, and obtain permission before staying elsewhere overnight. The amended wording also places clearer obligations around work, identity and contact details. Offenders must tell the supervising officer about new work or a new type of work and obtain approval before starting it. They must disclose any names used that differ from the names on the licence, and they must report changes to contact details, including telephone numbers and email addresses. The Explanatory Note says the revised wording is intended to make the conditions easier for offenders to understand.
The most distinct policy addition concerns passports and travel. Under the new standard conditions, offenders must tell the supervising officer if they hold a passport and provide any passport details requested. They must also obtain permission before applying for a new passport and before leaving the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, unless they are being deported or removed for immigration purposes. For practitioners, that creates a more explicit compliance point than before and is likely to require updated release briefings, records management and casework checks. For offenders, the immediate effect is straightforward: passport possession, passport applications and international travel now sit more clearly within the standard licence framework. The Explanatory Note also records that no impact assessment has been produced because no impact, or no significant impact, on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen, suggesting the Ministry of Justice sees this as a procedural and supervisory adjustment rather than a wider system change.