The Victims and Courts Act 2026 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2026 were made on 12 August 2026 and come into force on 13 August 2026. Signed by Alex Davies-Jones, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice, the instrument is the first commencement order under the Victims and Courts Act 2026. For policy readers, the immediate point is that this is not a wholesale start for the Act. The legislation.gov.uk text shows a limited commencement focused on victim information requests and the legal machinery needed to make those requests operable from 13 August.
Regulation 2 brings section 7 of the 2026 Act into force only so far as it relates to specified parts of Schedule 2. The same regulation commences selected Schedule 2 paragraphs that insert new sections 44M and 44O into the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004, alongside connected provisions needed to support those sections. That drafting matters. Commencement orders often activate a statute in stages, and the Explanatory Note makes clear that this first tranche is aimed at one practical outcome: creating a route for victims to seek information where failure to disclose could leave them exposed to harm.
New section 44M is the main operational change. The Explanatory Note says it applies where a victim makes a request for information to the provider of probation services. If that provider considers the victim would be at risk of physical or psychological harm if information is not provided, it may disclose information that would be required or permitted as if the request had been made under the provisions listed in the table in section 44M. In plain terms, the provision creates a harm-based gateway. It does not establish automatic disclosure in every case. The decision turns on a request from the victim and an assessment by the provider of probation services that withholding information would create a risk of physical or psychological harm.
The commencement order also shows how tightly drawn the first phase is. Paragraph 24 of Schedule 2 is commenced only so far as necessary to enable a response to a request received under section 44M, and paragraph 30(1) to (3) is commenced only for the purpose of such requests. That means the new arrangements are being switched on with a narrow administrative scope. The Government has chosen to start the provisions needed to receive, process and answer section 44M requests, rather than commencing a wider package all at once.
The statutory scheme is not limited to standard probation cases. The Explanatory Note states that, for some offenders subject to orders under the Mental Health Act 1983, requests will still be made to the provider of probation services, but the legal duties may fall on responsible clinicians, managers of relevant hospitals, the First-tier Tribunal or the Mental Health Review Tribunal for Wales. That is a significant operational point. In those cases, victim-information handling will require coordination across probation, health settings and tribunal bodies, with the provider of probation services acting as the entry point for the request.
New section 44O sits beside section 44M as a saving provision. The Explanatory Note states that nothing in section 44M limits any power that the provider of probation services already has under Part 3 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. The practical effect is continuity. The new request route adds a specific power linked to victim safety, but it does not cut back existing disclosure powers that probation providers may already exercise under the 2004 Act.
For victims, support organisations and justice agencies, the commencement date of 13 August 2026 marks the start of a more defined route for asking for information where there is a risk of harm. For providers of probation services, the immediate task is administrative as well as legal: requests need a clear intake process, a recorded harm assessment and, where relevant, a handover mechanism for hospital or tribunal decision-makers. The legislation.gov.uk note also records that an Impact Assessment has been produced for the wider Victims and Courts Act 2026 package, including these provisions. The broader section 7 rights are not being commenced in full at this stage; only the elements linked to the specified Schedule 2 paragraphs start on 13 August, which points to a staged implementation model.