Key Facts

• The Sentencing Act, which was due to come into effect in September, would have seen some offenders released after serving a third of their sentence, rather than half, with the rest of their sentence spent in the community under monitoring.
• Around 700 prisoners were expected to be released early in September under the scheme, which had been criticised by opposition parties, as well as victims and their families.
• Two of the killers of PC Andrew Harper, who was killed in 2019, would have benefited from the scheme from June 2027, when the longest fixed sentences would have been added to the scheme, prompting criticism from PC Harper's widow, Lissie.
• The pause aims to "give victims and survivors certainty" and the government wants to make sure it gets "the implementation of this policy right", with a review also looking at the information given to survivors and victims' families as part of the early release process.
• Under the original scheme, offenders serving standard fixed sentences would leave jail after serving 33% of their term, while serious sexual and violent offenders on fixed terms would be released after 50%, rather than 66%, of their sentence.