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Written question asked by Nick Timothy (Conservative) on Tuesday, 8 September 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 11 September 2026 (named day). It was answered by Catherine McKinnell (Labour) on Friday, 11 September 2026 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Prisoners' Release

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the additional cost will be, in (a) money, and (b) staff hours, to the Probation Service as a result of the ten tranches of early released prisoners under the Sentencing Act 2026 progression model.

Answer

The Government assessed the impact of the Sentencing Act 2026 reforms through its published Impact Assessment and is working with probation, policing and local partners to manage implementation. The Impact Assessment can be accessed here: Sentencing Act Impact Assessment.

This Government is committed to ensuring the Probation Service has the capacity it needs to manage offenders safely in the community, including those released on licence from October 2026. We are investing up to £700 million in probation and community services by the final year of the spending review period to support the expansion of tagging, accommodation provision and increasing capacity. We have committed to onboarding at least 1,300 more trainee probation officers in 2026/27. This builds on the success of previous years’ campaigns with 1,057 trainees onboarded in 2024/25, and 1,389 in 2025/26.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
28074
Session
2026-27
Subjects
Costs Prisoners' release Probation Probation officers
Legislation
Sentencing Act 2026
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk