The sentence does not end at the prison gate

A fixed prison term is normally divided between custody and licence. The custodial part is spent in prison, subject to any earlier release on Home Detention Curfew. The licence part is served in the community. The sentence does not expire merely because the prison door has opened. A licence contains standard conditions and may include additional restrictions tailored to the case. These can regulate contact with particular people, entry into specified areas, residence, reporting to probation, treatment, drug testing and electronic monitoring. A failure to comply can lead to recall, sometimes without any new criminal conviction. Depending on the applicable recall rules and the assessment of risk, the person may serve a fixed period back in custody or remain there for longer.

Determinate sentences under the current rules

The most common form of immediate prison sentence is a standard determinate sentence. The judge fixes its length and, unlike an extended or life sentence, release normally takes place automatically at a point specified by legislation. The Parole Board does not usually decide whether the person can leave prison. At present, many prisoners within what the prison service calls the SDS40 arrangements are released after serving 40% of the term in custody. A two-year sentence in this category produces an ordinary automatic release point after about nine and a half months, subject to the precise calculation made by the Prison Service. The remaining 60% is still part of the sentence and is served on licence. The 40% rule does not apply to everyone. The 2024 legislation contains exclusions, and other standard determinate prisoners ordinarily have a halfway release point. For a two-year sentence at one-half, the ordinary release point is after one year.

When is the current release point two-thirds?

A higher release point applies to standard determinate sentences of four years or more imposed for certain serious violent and sexual offences. Depending on the statutory category and the length of the sentence, release is generally at the two-thirds point. A six-year sentence with a two-thirds release point therefore means an ordinary custodial period of four years, followed by two years on licence. There are separate rules for terrorism offences and several special categories of sentence. Two people given terms of the same nominal length may therefore have very different release arrangements. The name of the offence alone may not provide the answer: the sentence type, statutory provision, length and relevant dates must be checked together.

Time spent on remand usually counts

Days spent in custody on remand before sentence will normally count automatically as time served. If somebody receives a two-year sentence after already spending six months on remand, those six months are not ignored. They are brought into the release-date calculation, subject to rules preventing the same days from being credited twice. The position is different for bail, even where the conditions were restrictive. Time spent on bail counts only where there was a qualifying curfew of at least nine hours a day enforced by electronic monitoring. The usual credit is one-half day for each qualifying day, after the statutory calculation and any necessary adjustments. Thus, 120 qualifying days would normally produce a reduction of 60 days off the time spent in prison. These credits affect the dates on which different stages of the sentence are reached; they do not alter the seriousness assessment that led the judge to select the sentence. Multiple or consecutive sentences, time unlawfully at large and earlier periods of custody can make the calculation substantially more complicated.

Can somebody leave prison even earlier on a tag?

Some people serving standard determinate sentences can be released before their ordinary automatic release date under the Home Detention Curfew scheme. This is often described as release on tag. It is a managed transition into the community, not an entitlement and not the same thing as the release point that applies to everyone in a sentence category. Under the current policy, an eligible and suitable prisoner may spend up to 365 days on Home Detention Curfew. They must pass a risk assessment and have an approved address, and statutory exclusions apply. The policy requires the prisoner to serve part of the custodial period and at least 14 days in custody after sentence before HDC release. Once released, the person is subject to an electronically monitored curfew, generally for 12 hours a day, until the ordinary release date.

Extended determinate sentences

An extended determinate sentence can be imposed where the court finds the statutory dangerousness test satisfied and the other legal conditions are met. It contains a custodial term and an additional extended licence period. It is designed for offenders who present a significant risk of causing serious harm through further specified offending. For a non-terrorism extended sentence, the person can ordinarily be considered by the Parole Board after serving two-thirds of the custodial term. Release at that stage is not automatic. The Parole Board must be satisfied that continued detention is no longer necessary for public protection. If it is not satisfied, the prisoner can be kept in custody until the end of the custodial term. Any release is followed by the balance of that term and then the extension period on licence. For example, an extended sentence described as nine years may consist of a six-year custodial term and a three-year extension. The earliest Parole Board consideration would ordinarily arise after four years, but the person could remain in prison for the full six-year custodial term. The licence can then continue until the end of the nine-year total.

Life sentences

A life sentence has no fixed end date. The judge normally sets a minimum term, often called the tariff, which must be served before the Parole Board can consider release. The minimum term is not a promised release date. It is the earliest point at which the question can be considered. If the Parole Board concludes that the risk cannot safely be managed in the community, the person remains in prison and the case is reviewed again later. If released, the person remains on licence for life and can be recalled. A whole-life order is different: apart from exceptional compassionate-release powers, it provides no ordinary prospect of release. There are also special custodial sentences for offenders of particular concern and specialist rules for terrorism cases. These commonly involve a minimum custodial period followed by Parole Board consideration, rather than automatic release at 40% or halfway. Any accurate advice must begin by identifying the precise sentence imposed.

What if the prison sentence is suspended?

A suspended sentence is still a custodial sentence, but the person does not go to prison immediately. The court fixes an operational period and may impose requirements to be completed in the community. If the order is complied with and no further offence is committed, the prison term will not ordinarily be served in custody. For people convicted on or after 22 March 2026, there is now a statutory presumption that a custodial term of 12 months or less will be suspended unless an exception applies. The exceptions include cases involving breach of a court order, a significant risk of physical or psychological harm, and exceptional circumstances justifying immediate custody. Courts can now also suspend qualifying sentences of more than two years and up to three years. A breach does not mean that every suspended sentence is activated in full in every case, but activation of some or all of the term is a real possibility. If activated, the ordinary release rules are then applied to the custodial sentence, with any relevant remand credit.

What is changing on 1 October 2026?

The Sentencing Act 2026 creates a new progression model for standard determinate sentences. It was originally due to begin on 2 September, then paused for review. On 4 August, the Government announced that the revised model is now due to start on 1 October 2026. For standard determinate sentences that currently carry a 40% or halfway release point, the earliest release point will become one-third. For standard determinate sentences currently carrying a two-thirds point, the earliest release point will become one-half. Release will be delayed where an independent adjudicator imposes additional custodial days for serious breaches of prison rules. The Government says that repeated bad behaviour could keep a prisoner in custody for as much as the whole sentence. This means that a three-year standard determinate sentence which currently has a 40% release point may, in principle, have an earliest release point after one year. A six-year standard sentence currently carrying a two-thirds point may have an earliest point after three years. Those examples assume that the person falls within the new model, receives no added days and has no other sentence or remand calculation affecting the date.

Which prisoners are excluded from the new earlier points?

The Government has confirmed that life sentences and extended determinate sentences will not move to the new earlier release points. On 4 August it also announced exclusions for rape, serious child sexual offences and grooming offences. Those prisoners will see no reduction under the progression model and will remain subject to the existing release arrangements applicable to their sentence. The announcement is very recent. The precise list and legislative mechanism for the additional sexual-offence exclusions will need to be checked when the implementing material is published. Until the new provisions commence, the current 40%, halfway and two-thirds rules continue to govern release. The revised policy should not be treated as if it were already in operation.

Earlier release does not mean no supervision

The model divides the sentence into custody, a period of intensive supervision and a final licence stage. The Government says there will be substantially expanded electronic monitoring and stricter licence conditions, including restriction zones in suitable cases. A person will remain on licence until the sentence expires and can be recalled if they cannot safely be managed in the community. For victims and defendants alike, the practical release date may therefore be only one part of the picture. The conditions imposed after release, the extent of active probation supervision and the risk of recall can be as important as the day on which custody ends.

Why an exact release date can be difficult to give in court

The sentencing judge decides the type and length of sentence, but the Prison Service calculates the release dates. That calculation may have to combine several statutory regimes. Relevant details include the date of the offence, the date of conviction, whether sentences are concurrent or consecutive, the category and length of each sentence, remand credit, qualifying tagged bail, additional days, recall history and transitional provisions when the law changes. A judge or solicitor can usually explain the applicable proportion, but a precise date quoted without the complete sentence record may be misleading. This is particularly important during the transition to the October 2026 model, when some prisoners will remain under earlier rules or fall within an excluded category.

How Chetwode can help

The period actually spent in custody depends first upon the sentence the court chooses. Effective representation at the sentencing hearing can influence whether the custody threshold is crossed, whether a short sentence can properly be suspended, the length of any term, and whether the prosecution's case on dangerousness or an extended sentence is justified. Time already spent on remand or a qualifying tagged curfew must also be identified accurately. Chetwode Criminal Defence Solicitors advises and represents people facing sentence in the magistrates' courts and the Crown Court. We prepare focused mitigation, challenge inaccurate or exaggerated prosecution material and explain the practical effect of the available sentences in clear terms. If you or a family member is facing the possibility of custody, contact Chetwode as early as possible so that the court has the evidence and submissions it needs before sentence is passed.