Magistrates’ powers, committal, credit and ancillary orders

Single offence. Under the current general limit, magistrates can impose up to six months for a summary-only offence or 12 months for a qualifying either-way offence, always subject to the offence’s own lower maximum and statutory exclusions. The 12-month either-way limit was restored on 18 November 2024. It is not a universal magistrates’ limit applying to every offence, nor permission to ignore an offence-date saving. Sources: Sentencing Code, s.224; SI 2024/1067, regs.1–2; Sentencing Act 2020, Schedule 1.

Multiple offences. For ordinary consecutive terms for summary-only offences, the aggregate is normally limited to six months, or the highest single-offence maximum if lower. Qualifying either-way sentencing permits the statutory aggregate of 12 months, subject to the exact conditions in section 133. The power to impose consecutive sentences is not a general permission to add together every individual maximum. Distinguish ordinary sentences for offences from separate statutory treatment of imprisonment in default or other exceptional powers. Sources: Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980, s.133; Sentencing Code, s.224; guilty-plea guideline, section E2.

Committal after conviction. Under section 14, following summary conviction of an either-way offence by an adult, the magistrates may commit where the offence, alone or with associated offences, is so serious that the Crown Court should have the powers available on conviction on indictment. The offender can be committed in custody or on bail; that status needs a lawful decision of its own. Check the statutory exclusions, including the specified small-value cases, and the effect of any applicable sentence indication. Section 15 separately requires committal where its dangerous-offender conditions are met. The Crown Court’s resulting powers are governed by the actual committal route. Sources: Sentencing Code, ss.14–15, 18–22; CrimPR 28.13.

Apply plea credit and totality before deciding that magistrates’ powers are insufficient. Where the resulting appropriate sentence is within their powers, they should ordinarily sentence rather than commit merely because the pre-credit figure was larger. An earlier decision to retain an either-way case for trial is not, by itself, an irrevocable promise that every later sentencing outcome must remain within magistrates’ powers. But specific statutory restrictions and any legally effective sentence indication cannot simply be ignored. Sources: guilty-plea guideline, section E3; Sentencing Code, ss.14–15 and 18; CPD 9.2.

Remand custody. Qualifying days remanded in custody for the offence or a related offence count as time served under the statutory regime. They do not reduce culpability or the nominal custodial sentence. Check excluded detention and prevent duplicate credit. Being remanded for another offence at the same time is not, by itself, the same as serving another sentence; section 240ZA deals with overlapping remands, detention for other matters and the treatment of multiple sentences. The prison’s calculation and the court’s record must be based on the correct dates. Source: Criminal Justice Act 2003, s.240ZA(1)–(10).

Qualifying bail curfew. An electronically monitored bail curfew qualifies for the statutory calculation where it requires presence at the specified place or places for a total of at least nine hours in a day and the other statutory conditions are met. It is not enough merely to have been on bail or to have worn a tag for a different purpose. For a qualifying determinate sentence, the court applies this calculation:

1. Count the first day on which both relevant conditions applied, even if not for the whole day, and the other qualifying days. Exclude the final day where its last part was spent in custody.
2. Deduct days that also involved the specified electronically monitored post-conviction curfew requirement or temporary release from prison, and then days of breach of either relevant bail condition.
3. Divide the remaining days by two and round any fraction up to a whole day. State the relevant count and deductions in open court.

These are statutory credits, not a discretionary percentage for good behaviour. Sources: Sentencing Code, ss.325–326; Criminal Justice Act 2003, s.240A.

Suspended sentence timing. Fix the suspended custodial term without subtracting remand custody or qualifying bail-curfew time. Those credits become legally operative if the custodial sentence is activated. In particular, the section 325 declaration is made at activation: the original court should record the relevant information and explain its future significance, not describe an anticipatory calculation as an already operative declaration. Time spent on remand or under restrictive conditions can also be relevant to the proportionality of a community package; that is distinct from statutory credit against a custodial sentence. Sources: Sentencing Code, s.325(6); Criminal Justice Act 2003, s.240ZA(7); Imposition guideline.

Ancillary orders are additional orders made alongside, or where the statute permits instead of, the main sentence. Each needs its own power, evidence and reasoning. A shorter custodial sentence does not automatically reduce every other order. The principal distinctions are as follows. Sources: Sentencing Code, Parts 7–8 and 11; CrimPR 24.11, 25.16 and Part 28.

Compensation addresses personal injury, loss or damage resulting from the offence, subject to the statutory limits and particular-case rules. The court considers the evidence, representations and means; where it could make a compensation order but does not, it must give reasons. Where means are insufficient for both an appropriate fine and compensation, compensation has statutory priority. It is not an arbitrary additional punishment. Sources: Sentencing Code, ss.55 and 133–135.

Deprivation and forfeiture concern property under their respective statutory powers; they are not the same as compensation. For a deprivation order, the court must identify property lawfully seized from the offender or in the offender’s possession or control at the relevant arrest or summons stage. The statutory connection is use or intended use in committing or facilitating an offence, or the relevant unlawful-possession offence, subject to exclusions. The court also considers the property’s value and financial or other effects. Protective orders need their own test. A restraining order under section 360 protects the victim or another identified person from harassment or fear of violence; it requires justified, clear terms and the statutory conditions for making it alongside the disposal. The order must not be added merely because protection sounds desirable: identify the relevant statutory test and the people or conduct it concerns. Sources: Sentencing Code, ss.152–155 and 359–360.

Disqualification may follow an offence-specific mandatory or discretionary route or an applicable general power. A driving disqualification and any required test are distinct from imprisonment. In Morgan, the Court of Appeal’s suspension decision did not eliminate the underlying disqualification. Confiscation under the Proceeds of Crime Act is a separate Crown Court process concerning benefit and recoverable amount, not simply a fine of the same amount as the prosecution’s alleged loss. The current section 6 gateway and procedure must be applied; do not assume that every conviction requires the same criminal-lifestyle assessment. Sources: Sentencing Code, Part 8; Morgan, [57]–[59]; Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, s.6.

Costs and surcharge have separate legal bases. Identify the applicable duty or discretion and the prescribed regime, rather than inventing a single flat charge for every sentence. Where several financial orders are proposed, address means, statutory priority and the aggregate burden. The plea reduction is not an instruction to cut compensation, confiscation, disqualification or costs by the ordinary plea fraction. Sources: Sentencing Code, ss.42–45 and 135; Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, s.18; guilty-plea and Totality guidelines.

Repair address. Return to the first part of this section for court power and route errors; to the calculation paragraphs for credit; and to the individual order’s gateway for ancillary-order errors. Do not try to fix an unlawful order by adjusting the custodial term.