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The Victims and Courts Act 2026 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2026

S.I. 2026/918 · Made 12 August 2026

Original text. legislation.gov.uk does not revise statutory instruments, so later amendments are not shown here. Changes made to it are listed under each provision when known.

OFFENDER MANAGEMENT, ENGLAND AND WALES

Made 12th August 2026

The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by section 18(1) and (6) of the Victims and Courts Act 2026f1.

Annotations to the whole text

Footnotes

f1

2026 c. 19.

Contents

  1. 1Citation and interpretation
  2. 2Provisions coming into force on 13th August 2026
  3. Signature
  4. Explanatory note

1Citation and interpretation

(1)

These Regulations may be cited as the Victims and Courts Act 2026 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2026.

(2)

In these Regulations, “the 2004 Act” means the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004f1.

2Provisions coming into force on 13th August 2026

The following provisions of the Victims and Courts Act 2026 come into force on 13th August 2026—

(a)

section 7 (victims’ rights to make representations and receive information etc) in so far as it relates to the provisions of Schedule 2 commenced by paragraph (b);

(b)

in Schedule 2—

(i)

paragraphs 1 and 23 in so far as they relate to the provisions commenced by sub-paragraphs (ii) to (v);

(ii)

paragraphs 2 and 27 to 29;

(iii)

paragraph 24 but only in so far as it is necessary to enable a response to be made to any request received under section 44M of the 2004 Act;

(iv)

paragraph 25 but only to the extent that it inserts sections 44M and 44O into the 2004 Act;

(v)

paragraph 30(1), (2) and (3) but only for the purpose of any request received under section 44M of the 2004 Act.

Signature

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State

Alex Davies-Jones

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State

12th August 2026

Ministry of Justice

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These are the first commencement regulations made under the Victims and Courts Act 2026 (c. 19) (“the 2026 Act”).

Regulation 2 brings into force certain provisions of the 2026 Act. Those provisions both introduce sections 44M (power to disclose information to victims etc) and 44O (saving for other powers of provider of probation services) into the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 (c. 28) (“the 2004 Act”) and other provisions of the 2026 Act necessary to bring those sections of the 2004 Act into force.

Section 44M applies where a victim makes a request for information to the provider of probation services. If the provider of probation services considers that the victim would be at risk of physical or psychological harm if information is not provided in accordance with that section, they may provide the information to the victim that they would be required or permitted to provide as if the request had been made under the provisions specified in the table in section 44M. Requests for information made under section 44M will be made to the provider of probation services, but in relation to some offenders subject to orders made under the Mental Health Act 1983 (c. 20), these provisions will impose obligations on responsible clinicians, managers of relevant hospitals and the First-tier Tribunal or the Mental Health Review Tribunal for Wales.

Section 44O provides that nothing in section 44M will limit any power that the provider of probation services has under Part 3 of the 2004 Act.

An Impact Assessment has been produced in relation to the provisions of the 2026 Act, including the provisions being commenced by these Regulations and a copy is available at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/681b1b5b386c17c856f1735e/vac-victims-ia.pdf.