The Sentencing Act 2026 (Commencement No. 5) (Amendment) Regulations 2026, made on 1 September 2026, postpone a set of criminal justice provisions by 29 days. Signed by Jake Richards, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice, the instrument amends regulation 3 of the earlier Commencement No. 5 Regulations so that the relevant provisions now start on 1 October 2026 rather than 2 September 2026. The Regulations also state that any amendment made by the instrument has the same extent as the provision amended. In legislative terms, this is a commencement correction rather than a change to the substance of the Sentencing Act 2026.
The explanatory note to S.I. 2026/948 identifies the delayed package as sections 12 to 16, section 18 and section 27 of the Sentencing Act 2026. Those provisions cover changes to community and suspended sentence orders, delegated powers over sentencing requirements, and new probation and licence powers for offenders released from custody. The earlier commencement instrument, S.I. 2026/772 (C. 65), had brought those measures into force on 2 September 2026. The amendment means the existing legal position remains in place until 30 September 2026, with the new regime due to begin on 1 October 2026.
Several of the delayed provisions are directed at how courts frame community and suspended sentence orders. Section 12 removes the requirement for the court to specify the maximum number of days on which an offender may be instructed to participate in rehabilitative activity where a probation requirement is attached. Section 13 renames the current rehabilitation activity requirement as a probation requirement. That matters because court forms, standard wording and sentencing practice now have a longer lead-in period. Orders made before 1 October 2026 continue under the present statutory language and present requirement structure, rather than the revised terminology created by the Act.
Sections 14 to 16 are also postponed. According to the explanatory note, these provisions would let the court impose new community requirements prohibiting an offender from driving, attending public events or entering drinking establishments, whether as part of a community order or a suspended sentence order. For sentencers, the effect of the delay is straightforward. Those three additional requirements are not yet available under the Sentencing Act 2026, so courts must continue to rely on the current set of sentencing requirements until the new commencement date.
Section 18 is delayed on the same timetable. The explanatory note states that this provision gives the Lord Chancellor power, by secondary legislation in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, to add to or alter the requirements that may be imposed as part of a community order or suspended sentence order. From a policy perspective, that is an important delegated power because it creates a mechanism for later adjustment of the sentencing framework without further primary legislation. By moving commencement to 1 October 2026, the instrument also postpones when that power can first be exercised.
Section 27 has the clearest operational effect for probation and offender management. The explanatory note says section 27(1) extends the Probation Service's power to drug test all offenders on licence. Sections 27(2) to (7) amend the Criminal Justice Act 2003 so that the Secretary of State may include new restrictive conditions in the licences of offenders released from custody. Those potential conditions include prohibitions on driving, attending public events and entering drinking establishments, as well as a restriction zone limiting an offender's movements to a specified geographical location. Because the commencement date has moved, those wider statutory powers will not take effect until 1 October 2026.
For courts, probation teams and officials responsible for licence drafting, the immediate consequence is a defined additional month for implementation work. The legislation itself does not explain the reason for the revised date, but it gives agencies more time to finalise guidance, training materials, case management changes and standard documentation before the new provisions come into force. The explanatory note also records that no full impact assessment has been produced because no significant effect on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. That signals that the Ministry of Justice is treating S.I. 2026/948 as a narrow timing amendment, even though the delayed provisions will have practical consequences for sentencing practice and post-release supervision once they commence.