{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/victims-and-courts-act-2026/section-13",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/victims-and-courts-act-2026/section-13.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/2026/19",
  "legislation_title": "Victims and Courts Act 2026",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/victims-and-courts-act-2026",
  "path": "section/13",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "13",
  "heading": "Reviews of sentencing: time limits",
  "text": "(1) Schedule 3 to the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (reviews of sentencing — supplementary) is amended as follows.\n(2) In paragraph 1 (time limit for notice of application for leave to refer a case)—\n(a) the existing provision becomes sub-paragraph (1);\n(b) at the end of that sub-paragraph insert “; but in England and Wales this is subject to sub-paragraphs (2) and (5).”;\n(c) after that sub-paragraph insert—\n“(2) Where—\n(a) the Attorney General receives a request to review the sentencing of a person, and\n(b) the request is received in the last 14 days of the 28-day period mentioned in sub-paragraph (1),\nnotice of an application for leave to refer the case in question to the Court of Appeal under section 36 may be given within 14 days from the day on which the request is received.\n(3) For the purposes of this Part, a certificate of the Attorney General as to the date on which a request to review the sentencing of a person was received is conclusive evidence of that fact.\n(4) Where more than one request to review the sentencing of a person is received, references in sub-paragraphs (2) and (3) to a request are to the first request that is received.”;\n(d) after sub-paragraph (4) (inserted by paragraph (c)) insert—\n“(5) The Court of Appeal may allow notice of an application for leave to refer a case to be given after the expiry of the period in sub-paragraph (1) (and any extension of that period under sub-paragraph (2)) where the Court of Appeal is satisfied that—\n(a) notice of the application is given pursuant to a request, by a person who is a victim in the case falling within section 1(1)(a) or (2)(c) of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 (meaning of “victim”), to review the sentencing of a person,\n(b) notice of the application is given—\n(i) within six months from the day on which the sentence, or the last of the sentences, in the case was passed, or\n(ii) where the request is received by the Attorney General within the last 14 days of the six-month period mentioned in sub-paragraph (i), within 14 days from the day on which the request is received, and\n(c) it is in the interests of justice to allow notice to be given after the expiry of the period in sub-paragraph (1) (and any extension of that period under sub-paragraph (2)).”\n(3) In paragraph 12 (application of Schedule to Northern Ireland), after paragraph (d) insert—\n“(da) paragraph 1 has effect as if sub-paragraphs (2) to (5) were omitted;”.\n(4) The amendment made by subsection (2)(d) applies only in relation to cases where the sentence, or the last of the sentences, was passed after it came into force.",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I1",
      "text": "S. 13(1)(2)(a)-(c)(3) in force at 29.6.2026, see s. 18(2)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/19/section/13",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T08:41:27.867027+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}