The Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 (Commencement No. 12 and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026

Published: Wed 28th Oct 26

Activated legal provisions restricting the parental responsibility of individuals who kill the other parent of their child, effective 18th December 2026.

These Regulations bring section 18 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 into force on 18th December 2026 for England and Wales.

This section amends the Children Act 1989 to restrict the parental responsibility of a parent who is convicted of killing the other parent of their child.

The Regulations stipulate that these new legal restrictions apply only to offences committed on or after the commencement date, and they provide a rule for determining the date of an offence that occurs over multiple days.

Arguments For

The document brings into force section 18 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, which is intended to restrict the parental responsibility of a person who kills the other parent of their child.
The regulations provide a specific implementation date of 18th December 2026, ensuring a clear timeline for the legal change to take effect.
The transitional provisions clarify that these restrictions apply only to offences committed on or after the commencement date, preventing the retrospective application of the new rules.
The explanatory note states that no impact assessment was produced because no significant impact on the private, voluntary, or public sectors was foreseen from these specific regulations.

Arguments Against

Legal practitioners might identify potential complexities in cases where the act of killing occurred over a period spanning the commencement date, although the regulations attempt to resolve this by using the final day of the offence.
Family law advocates may have concerns regarding the nearly two-month gap between the making of these regulations in October 2024 and their commencement in December 2026.
The document does not specify the procedures for cases where a conviction is later overturned, leaving the legal effect on parental responsibility in such scenarios to the interpretation of the underlying 2024 Act and the Children Act 1989.

Citation and interpretation

1.-(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 (Commencement No. 12 and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026.
(2) In these Regulations, "the 2024 Act" means the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024.

This section establishes the official name of the statutory instrument and defines the shorthand term used to refer to the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 throughout the text.

It ensures that subsequent references to "the 2024 Act" are legally unambiguous.

Commencement of section 18

Section 18 of the 2024 Act (restricting parental responsibility where one parent kills the other) comes into force on 18th December 2026.

This section activates section 18 of the 2024 Act on 18th December 2026.

This specific provision of the primary legislation modifies how parental responsibility is handled within the legal system when one parent is responsible for the death of the other.

Transitional provision

3.-(1) The amendments made by section 18 of the 2024 Act apply only in relation to offences committed on or after 18th December 2026.
(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1), where an offence is found to have been committed over a period of 2 or more days, or at some time during a period of 2 or more days, it must be taken to have been committed on the last of those days.

This section limits the application of the new parental responsibility rules to offences that occur on or after the start date of 18th December 2026.

It further specifies that if a killing occurs over several days, the legal date of the offence is considered to be the final day of that period for the purposes of determining if the new rules apply.

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