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Victims and Courts Bill 2024-26: Lords Amendments

Background

The Victims and Courts Bill 2024-26 has been through its House of Lords stages.

In the Lords a number of amendments were agreed.

The Victims and Courts Bill was passed to the House of Lords on 28 October 2025. The committee stage took place on 9 February and 11 February 2026  and the report stage was held on 10 March 2026. Lords third reading took place on 17 March 2026.

Key amendments passed in the Lords

Three clauses were added relating to Victims’ Rights:

• A clause that would enable victims to have access to free transcripts of court proceedings.
• A clause that would require the Secretary of State to issue an appendix to the Victims’ Code, setting out how the code applies to families and victims of homicides abroad.
• A clause that would enable the publication of sentencing remarks.

Two clauses were added relating to the Unduly Lenient Sentencing Scheme:

• A clause that would mean the time limit of 28 days to make an application could be extended in exceptional circumstances, including whether the victim had not been informed by the relevant body of their right to review a sentence.
• A clause that would give the relevant body a statutory duty to notify victims and families about the Unduly Lenient Sentences Scheme.

One clause on private prosecutions was removed from the bill. A clause which sought to control costs by empowering the Lord Chancellor to set fixed rates for recovering expenses from central funds for private prosecutions was removed on division.

Many other amendments were debated and were not agreed.

Lords amendments will be considered in the Commons on 26 March 2026.

Previous Library briefings on the bill

• Victims and Courts Bill 2024-25: Progress of the bill (23 October 2025)
• Victims and Courts Bill 2024-2025 (16 May 2025)