Criminal Justice (Sentencing etc) Bill
As part of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s normal legislative processes, the Criminal Justice (Sentencing etc) Bill has been referred to the Committee for Justice for scrutiny.
The Criminal Justice (Sentencing etc) Bill sets out to:
- Provide a statement of the principles and purposes of sentencing;
- Make provisions about sentencing guidance;
- Make provision to enable the courts to include community requirements with suspended sentences;
- Set statutory starting points for life sentence tariffs for murder;
- Make provision for unduly lenient sentences arrangements to extend to all Crown Court sentences;
- Introduce ‘Charlotte’s Law’, which makes provision for increased sentences where a killer fails to disclose the location of their victim’s remains; provides for an proportionate reduction in that increase if a subsequent disclosure is made; and includes provision equivalent to ‘Helen’s Law’, requiring the Parole Commissioners to take failure to disclose into account when considering a prisoner’s release on licence;
- Introduce a statutory aggravator model for hate crime, which identifies protected characteristics for this purpose;
- Introduce a vulnerable victim aggravator, where the offender knows or ought reasonably to have known the victim was vulnerable;
- Introduce a new offence of assaulting a person delivering a public service, performing a public duty or providing a service to the public, or a person assisting such a person, along with a corresponding statutory aggravator for more serious offences; and,
- Introduce increases to the maximum penalties and minimum disqualification periods for offences causing death or serious injury by driving; as well as making provision so that driving disqualification periods will normally be served after release from prison.
The Committee is seeking views on the objectives, proposals and potential consequences of the Bill. These views will help to inform the Committee’s consideration of the Bill.
Siobhán will be supporting the Women’s Policy Group response to this consultation. If you wish to contribute to the submission please contact Siobhán as soon as possible.
The consultation closes on the 8th May 2026. Further details about the consultation on the Bill are available here:
https://consult.nia-yourassembly.org.uk/justice/sentencingbill/
Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment: Call for Evidence
The government has launched the Timms Review to ensure that Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is fair and fit for the future in a changing world, and helps support disabled people to achieve better health, higher living standards and greater independence, including through employment.
This Call for Evidence is aimed at organisations and individuals who have information that is relevant to the Review. The Review welcomes evidence and insight from individuals and organisations with lived or learned experience, knowledge and expertise.
The work of the Review is shaped around four key themes:
- the role and purpose of PIP
- eligibility, fairness and equity in the award of PIP
- experience of claiming PIP
- changing context and the impact on PIP underpinned by some specific areas the group would like to focus upon
Siobhán will be providing a submission to this call for evidence which focuses on the situation in Northern Ireland. If you would like to contribute to this response please contact Siobhán as soon as possible.
The Call for Evidence will close on 28 May 2026. More details about the Call for Evidence are available here:
