What are we going to do? 

Police-led management of sex offenders in the community 

The government has committed to halving levels of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade. Ensuring a robust system for managing registered sex offenders and those that pose a risk of sexual harm is a crucial part of delivering that commitment.  We are going to strengthen the notification requirements for sex offenders, give the police a power to prohibit sex offenders from changing their names on official documents and issue statutory guidance for the police to follow when disclosing information about sex offenders to prevent sexual harm. 

Notification of Details (Community and Suspended Sentences) 

The government recognises the importance of ensuring that the public is protected. That means ensuring offenders who are managed in the community are able to be properly monitored by probation services, with the ability for services to take robust enforcement action where necessary.  The bill places a new duty on individuals serving a sentence in the community and who are supervised by probation or a youth offending team (YOT) to inform their responsible officer if they change their name, use a different name (e.g. an alias) or change their contact information. The name change could be for any reason. This requirement already applies to offenders released from custody and we want to make sure that the same requirement applies to those serving sentences in the community. 

How are we going to do it? 

Changes to the notification requirements in Part 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 

Sex offenders are already automatically required to provide the police with a record of their personal details. This must be done at a designated police station annually and whenever their details change. 

The bill makes changes to strengthen these requirements, including by requiring relevant offenders to notify the police: 

(a) in advance of any contact with children in a private place; 

(b) in advance of any absence of five days or more from their sole or main residence. 

The bill also gives the police a power to review offenders’ indefinite notification requirements of their own initiative after the 15-year minimum duration has ended. 

The bill also enables the police to receive notification virtually subject to the offender meeting certain criteria and with clear safeguards. 

The bill also lowers the rank of police officer able to apply for a warrant allowing police to enter and search a relevant offender’s home for the purposes of assessing their risk of sexual harm, from superintendent to inspector. 

Prohibiting registered sex offenders’ name changes 

The bill strengthens the requirements for registered sex offenders in respect of their changes of name. 

The bill does this by requiring all registered sex offenders to notify the police of an intended change of name at least seven days in advance. 

The bill also enables the police to serve a notice on registered sex offenders requiring them to seek the police’s approval before changing their name on specified documents, namely UK passport, driving licences and/or immigration document. The police will be able to refuse permission for a name change on these official documents when they are satisfied that it is necessary to protect the public from sexual harm. 

Guidance on the police’s disclosure of information to prevent sex offending 

The bill creates a power for the Home Secretary to issue guidance to chief officers of police about the disclosure of information by police forces for the purposes of preventing sex offending.  

The bill does not change the legal basis under which the police can make a disclosure. Any guidance will be clear that the police must continue to meet its legal obligations under the Human Rights Act 1998, Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation. 

The bill places a duty on the police to have regard to any guidance issued under this power. This will make sure that the scheme is used and applied consistently across all police forces and will help increase the number of applications. 

Notification of Details (Community and Suspended Sentences) 

The measure will amend the Sentencing Code 2020. For individuals serving community orders, youth rehabilitation orders and referral orders, the requirement will last for the whole duration of the order while the individual is supervised by probation / YOT, until it reaches the end date set by the court or is otherwise terminated. For suspended sentence orders, this requirement will last for the period when the individual must keep in touch with probation / YOT. Once the individual is no longer required to keep in touch with probation or the YOT, this requirement will also end. 

Background 

Police-led management of sex offenders in the community 

Under Part 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, offenders who receive a conviction, caution or finding for specified sexual offences are automatically required to provide the police with a record of (amongst other things) their: name, address, date of birth, national insurance number, any foreign travel, where they are living in a household with a child under the age of 18, their bank account and credit card details, and information about their passports or other identity documents. This must be done annually and whenever their details change. 

Relevant sex offenders (that is, those that are subject to Part 2 of the 2003 Act) are eligible for management under the multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA). On 31 March 2024, there were 70,052 sex offenders in the community under MAPPA management. 

The Home Office commissioned an independent report into the police’s management of sex offenders in the community in 2022, which was conducted by retired Chief Constable Mick Creedon. The report ‘Independent review of police-led sex offender management’ was published in April 2023. Chief Constable Creedon made a number of recommendations intended to improve the consistency, efficiency and effectiveness of the police’s management of sex offenders. 

A number of the measures in the bill directly follow Chief Constable Creedon’s recommendations. These include enabling the police to review indefinite notification requirements of their own initiative and enabling the police to receive notification virtually.  

Prohibiting registered sex offenders’ name changes 

The bill  strengthens the requirements for registered sex offenders in respect of changes of name. Currently, registered sex offenders must notify the police of their using a new name within three days of doing so; failure to do so is a criminal offence. This requirement extends to the use of aliases and names by which the offender is known online. The changes provided for in the bill are in response to several high-profile sexual offence cases in which an offender’s change of name was a feature. 

The changes: 

a) Require all registered sex offenders to notify the police of an intended change of name at least seven days in advance; 

b) Enable the police to serve a notice to offenders requiring them to seek the police’s approval before changing their name on specified documents (UK passports, driving licences and/or immigration documents). Such approval will not be given  when the police are satisfied that it is necessary to protect the public, or any particular members of the public, from sexual harm. 

Additional changes to the notification requirements 

The bill makes further changes to the notification requirements for sex offenders as follows.  

Notifications of contact with children  

The law currently requires registered sex offenders to notify the police where they spend 12 hours or more in a household where children are present. They must notify the address, the date on which that stay or residence began, and the period for which they intend to reside or stay at that household. 

The changes in the bill will remove the time threshold after which the notification requirement is triggered and make the requirement for RSOs of concern to notify when they are entering a private place (i.e. one to which the public does not have access) where it is reasonably foreseeable children will be present. Following consultation with the police, these changes are considered necessary in order to: (a) provide the police with actionable information in advance of an offender having contact with children; and (b) remove a time threshold that is well above the time in which sexual abuse can take place and which is hard to verify after the fact. 

The change will result in these notification requirements being targeted at offenders that pose a specific risk of sexual harm to children. 

Lowering the authorising rank for applications for section 96B warrants 

Section 96B of the Sexual Offences Act 2003  provides for a court to issue a warrant so that a constable may enter and search a relevant offender’s home for the purposes of assessing their risk of sexual harm. These are obtained and executed when an offender denies entry to the police, preventing from conducting a risk assessment.  

Currently, a superintendent is required to make the application in person, which can delay the police’s obtaining of a warrant due to a superintendent’s competing priorities and commitments. These delays create opportunities for offenders to destroy or conceal information that may be relevant to the police’s assessment of their risk. 

This change will enable an inspector to authorise an application for a section 96B warrant and for the application to be made in court by a constable. As inspectors are closer to the operational detail of each offender’s management and have access to systems used to record information about offenders’ risk, this will make the process more efficient. Requiring an inspector to authorise an application will ensure that applications comply with the police’s legal obligations and court procedure rules. 

Notifying absence from a previously notified address 

Currently, section 85(5)(a) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003  and regulation 9 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Notification Requirements) (England and Wales) Regulation 2012 require a relevant offender to notify every seven days where they have no sole or main residence. 

Relevant offenders with a sole or main residence are required to notify any address where they spend seven consecutive days or seven days or more cumulatively in a period of 12 months. From our engagement with the police, the government is aware of examples of offenders staying at several different addresses for periods of just under seven days, thereby avoiding the requirement to notify. 

This change will require offenders to notify the police in advance of absence from their sole or main residence where that absence is for a period of five days or more. This will enable the police to receive more actionable information about that offender’s travel plans and it will close the opportunity for them to spend up to seven days at many different addresses without notifying. 

Enabling the police to receive virtual notification  

Currently, section 87 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003  requires a relevant offender to notify in person at a police station in their local police force area. In his report on the police’s management of sex offenders, Chief Constable Creedon noted the ubiquity of remote technologies in modern life and the challenges offenders face in reaching a police station before the statutory three-day time limit to notify changes of their details elapses. This can result in unintentional but unavoidable breaches of the notification requirements.  

Chief Constable Creedon recommended that the legislation notification requirements be amended to allow for virtual notification at the discretion of the police and in specified circumstances. This change will enact that recommendation, imposing clear safeguards on the process and leaving a power for the police to compel the offender to notify in person if they are dissatisfied with the offender’s virtual notification. 

Police’s review of indefinite notification requirements 

Relevant offenders sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 30 months or more are subject to the notification requirements indefinitely. They must comply with the notification requirements for a minimum period of 15 years before they are allowed to apply for their notification requirements to be reviewed. The police – in conjunction with other MAPPA agencies if appropriate – review their notification requirements and decide whether the offender’s risk level is low enough for the requirements to be removed. 

Currently, section 91A(a) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003  allows offenders only to initiate such a review by making an application in writing. During his engagement with forces, Chief Constable Mick Creedon heard that offenders subject to indefinite notification requirements do not always apply for their removal and many remain subject to the notification requirements where their risk level does not require it. 

Chief Constable Creedon recommended affording the police discretion to review offenders’ indefinite notification requirements of their own motion upon the elapsing of the 15-year minimum duration. The bill implements that recommendation and will result in the police being able to review – and where appropriate – disapply unnecessary indefinite notification requirements. 

Guidance on the police’s disclosure of information to prevent sex offending 

This provision will confer a power on the Secretary of State to issue statutory guidance to the police regarding their disclosure of information to prevent sexual offending. Such guidance is currently issued on a non-statutory basis with the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme (also known as “Sarah’s Law”) being the only guidance of this type currently.  

Chief officers of police must have regard to any guidance issued under this power. Any guidance will be clear that the police must continue to meet its legal obligations under the Human Rights Act 1998, Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation. 

Notification of Details (Community and Suspended Sentences) 

In August 2022, secondary legislation was passed requiring offenders on licence to inform their probation officer or YOT if they change their name or contact details (the Criminal Justice (Sentencing) (Licence Conditions) (Amendment) (No.2) Order 2022). This order  recognised the importance of ensuring the public is protected and offenders managed in the community are able to be properly monitored by probation services with the ability for services to take robust enforcement action where necessary. 

This measure will ensure consistency across the sentencing framework, meaning that, regardless of the sentence an individual is serving, probation or the YOT is aware of the name(s) they are using and have up-to-date contact details for the purposes of effectively supervising them. 

Key statistics 

The most recent Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) report was published by MoJ on 31 October 2024. It shows that on 31 March 2024, there were 70,052 registered sex offenders in the community in England and Wales. A 2% increase from 2023 and 52% increase from 2014. This growth is mainly due to increases in registered sex offenders. 

The volume and proportion of sexual offences receiving a charge outcome has risen 9.4% (17,862) of sexual offences were charged in the year ending June 2024, up from 8.5% (16,269) in the year ending June 2023. 

There has been a decrease in the volume and proportion of cases ending because the victim does not support further action, 41.2% (78,369) in the year ending June 2024 down from 42.1% (80,434) in the year ending June 2023.  

Frequently asked questions 

Police-led management of sex offenders in the community 

Why aren’t all sex offenders being prohibited from changing their names? 

On 31 March 2024, there were 70,052 sex offenders risk managed by the police in the community. This is more than double the number in the community on 31 March 2007, the earliest year we have data for. Chief Constable Creedon’s independent report into the police’s management of sex offenders in the community made clear that the growth in the number of registered sex offenders since 2006/7 has had considerable implications for police resources. 

The bill  imposes a requirement for offenders to notify name changes in advance and creates  a power for the police to target the prohibition at high-risk offenders whom the police are concerned may change their names to offend again.  

Why are there exemptions to the prohibition? 

The police must conduct their work in compliance with equalities and human rights legislation. The exemptions recognise that there are legitimate reasons why offenders subject to a prohibition may change their names (for example, following marriage), and that such a change may help them to rehabilitate and reintegrate into the community. Preventing legitimate changes may be counter-productive and increase an offender’s risk. 

The police retain the discretion to refuse an offender’s application to change their name on an identity document – even where they claim an exemption – if they consider the name change would increase the risk of sexual harm to the public. 

Why won’t the restriction on name changes apply to all kinds of name changes, including the use of aliases and informal names? 

Our approach is robust because it enables the police to take enforcement action against sex offenders that breach a notice to try to obtain an identity document that they could use to secure a Disclosure and Barring Certificate or travel abroad. By blocking those gateways, it will be even harder for offenders to gain access to settings where they may have unsupervised contact with vulnerable people. 

Notification of Details (Community and Suspended Sentences) 

Who will this requirement apply to? 

The policy applies equally to adults and children. We will create consistency across offenders on licence and those serving community sentences. The requirement will relate to individuals who are serving the following orders: 

(a) community orders (sections 200-220 of the Sentencing Act 2020) 

(b) suspended sentence orders (sections 286-305 of the Sentencing Act 2020) 

(c) youth rehabilitation orders (sections 173-199 of the Sentencing Act 2020) 

(d) referral orders (sections 83-108 of the Sentencing Act 2020) 

Failure to comply with the duty will count as a breach of a requirement in the same way as failure to comply with any other requirement of the order. And so an individual would be taken back to court where the judge can revoke the original order and resentence them. They then, for example, could impose curfew requirements or unpaid work requirements.   

Failure to comply with the duty will count as a breach of a requirement in the same way as failure to comply with any other requirement of the order. And so an individual would be taken back to court where the judge can revoke the original order and resentence them. They then, for example, could impose curfew requirements or unpaid work requirements.   

What changes will offenders be required to notify their responsible officer of? 

This legislation captures not just formal legal changes of name by deed poll but also, for example, the use of an online alias. There will also be a duty on individuals (as with offenders on licence), to inform the responsible officer of any additions or changes to contact details, including any phone number or email. 

How long will the requirement on the offender to notify their responsible officer of any name change last for? 

For individuals serving community orders, youth rehabilitation orders and referral orders, the requirement will last for the whole duration of the order while the offender is supervised by probation / YOT until it reaches the end date set by the court or is otherwise terminated. For suspended sentence orders, this requirement will last for the period when the individual must keep in touch with probation / YOT. Once they are no longer required to keep in touch with probation or the YOT, this requirement will also end.