Early release on Licence, Post-Sentence Supervision and Home Detention Curfew

All Contents > Sentencing Home > How Sentencing Works > My Sentencing Hearing > Sentencing Guidelines > Credit for Time Spent on Remand > Release from Custody

“It is rare for prisoners to serve the whole of their sentences in custody. Most prisoners serving standard determinate sentences (i.e. sentences imposed for a fixed period of time) will be automatically released on licence after serving 40% in custody”

On this page:

When will a prisoner be released from custody?
Sentences of less than 2 years - automatic release on licence + post-sentence supervision
Sentences of 2 years or more - automatic release on licence at halfway stage
Exceptions to automatic release at the halfway stage
What is release on licence?
Breach of licence - recall to custody
Breach of post-sentence supervision
Home Detention Curfew (HDC) - Release before the halfway stage
Prisoners excluded from Home Detention Curfew
Offences presumed unsuitable for Home Detention Curfew

When will a prisoner be released from custody?

40%

It is rare for prisoners to serve the whole of their sentences in custody. Most prisoners serving standard determinate sentences (i.e. sentences imposed for a fixed period of time) will be automatically released on licence after serving 40% in custody, then the remaining 60% in the community, subject to licence conditions.

70 days before automatic release

The End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) Scheme utilises s.248 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Power to release prisoners on compassionate grounds) to release prisoners (from 23 May 2024 in certain overcrowded prisons) up to maximum of 70 days before the halfway stage.

Home Detention Curfew - 180 days before automatic release

For prisoners who are eligible for Home Detention Curfew (HDC) (see below), release can take place up to 180 days before their automatic release stage (the 40% stage), provided they have served in custody at least 4 weeks or one-quarter of their overall sentence (whichever is the longer period of time).

The government has announed that it intends to increase HDC release from 180 days to 12 months.

Release after serving two-thirds

For other types of sentences, release from custody will only take place at the two-thirds stage, and this will either be automatic or discretionary.

Life Sentences

For people serving life sentences, release on licence can only take place after the specified minimum term has been served, except in murder cases where a Whole Life Order is imposed.

On this page you can read about these early release provisions for all types of sentences.

Changes to the Early Release Provisons (50% to 40%)

The Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Requisite and Minimum Custodial Periods) Order 2024 came into force in two separate stages (staggered by sentence length) in England & Wales:

10th September 2024 for all sentences imposed from that date, or sentences of under 5 years imposed before that date;
22nd October 2024 for sentences of 5 years or more imposed before 10th September 2024.

This statutory instrument changed the automatic release point for eligible sentences with a previous automatic release point of 50% to 40%.

Article 3(6) excludes sentences for certain sexual, violent, domestic abuse, terrorism and national security offences from the change, being offences listed in the Schedule of Excluded Offences and offences listed in Part 1 of Schedule 15(2) to the Criminal Justice Act 2003.