The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (Counselling Services) Regulations 2025
These Regulations, enacted by the Secretary of State under powers granted by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, formally define what constitutes a 'counselling service' for the purposes of restricting when authorised persons, including police bodies, can request confidential information related to those services, specifying that these services offer psychological or emotional support to improve a service user's mental health, and setting a commencement date of January 12, 2026, primarily for England and Wales.
Arguments For
The regulations provide necessary legal clarity by specifically defining the 'counselling services' to which restrictive rules on information requests apply under the 2022 Act.
By defining the scope, the regulations help protect sensitive user data by ensuring that only clearly defined services falling under the specified description are subject to Section 44A(4) of the Act, which governs when authorised persons can request such information.
The regulations ensure consistency in application across relevant law enforcement bodies (including service police) receiving guidance via the mandated Code of Practice required under Section 44D(2).
Arguments Against
Defining a specific description of counselling services might inadvertently exclude niche or emergent support services that should arguably be protected under similar privacy standards, creating potential gaps in oversight.
The simplification of necessary impact assessment (stating no significant impact is foreseen) could lead to underestimation of the administrative burden placed on providers of the defined services when responding to legitimate requests from authorized persons.
The regulations focus narrowly on psychological or emotional support for improving mental health, which might not cover all forms of confidential support services that victims or witnesses might utilize, leading to differing treatment standards.
The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the power conferred by section 44A(5) (including as applied by section 44F(1)) of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022
The Home Office Minister, the Secretary of State, is issuing these statutory rules.
This authority comes from specific subsections within the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, which gives power to define certain services.
Citation, commencement and extent
(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (Counselling Services) Regulations 2025 and come into force on 12th January 2026.
(2) These Regulations extend to England and Wales, subject as follows.
(3) Insofar as these Regulations relate to the persons mentioned in section 44F(2) (application of Chapter 3A to service police etc) of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, these Regulations extend to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The official title for these rules is the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (Counselling Services) Regulations 2025, and they become legally effective on January 12, 2026.
Generally, these rules apply across England and Wales.
However, if the rules concern service police forces (as defined in the Act), the regulations also apply to Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Description of counselling services
A counselling service is of a description specified for the purpose of section 44A(5) of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 if it is a service, whether paid or unpaid, offering psychological or emotional support to a service user for the purpose of improving the service user’s emotional or mental health.
This section defines what a 'counselling service' means under the related Act for official purposes.
A service fits this description if it offers psychological or emotional support to an individual with the goal of improving that person's emotional or mental well-being, regardless of whether the service charges a fee.
Explanatory Note
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
Chapter 3A of Part 2 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (“ the 2022 Act”) (c. 32) relates to victim third party material requests. Under section 44A(4), authorised persons and their equivalents in the service police (as defined respectively in sections 44E and 44F(2) of the 2022 Act) may only request counselling information where they reasonably believe that the information has substantial probative value to a reasonable line of enquiry.
Regulation 2 of these Regulations describes the counselling services which are covered by section 44A(4).
The description also operates for the purpose of section 44D(2) of the 2022 Act (by virtue of section 44D(3) of that Act), which requires the Secretary of State to publish a code of practice for authorised persons with specific content relating to counselling information requests, and for the purpose of section 30 of the Victim and Prisoners Act (c. 21) (by virtue of section 30(4) of that Act) which requires the Secretary of State to publish a report about the operation in the relevant review period of Chapter 3A of Part 2 of the 2022 Act in relation to counselling information requests.
A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. An Explanatory Memorandum has been published alongside these Regulations on www.legislation.gov.uk. Copies may be obtained from the Data and Identity Directorate at the Home Office at 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF.
This note clarifies that the 2022 Act restricts law enforcement (authorised persons and service police) from requesting counselling information unless they consider it substantially valuable evidence for an investigation.
Regulation 2 specifically identifies which services are subject to these restrictions.
The definition also supports other duties, such as mandating a Code of Practice for handling such information requests and requirements for reporting on the process.
Officials determined that a full impact assessment was unnecessary because minimal impact on the public, voluntary, or private sectors is expected, and an accompanying Memorandum is available for public review.
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