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Section 30: Pre-sentence report requirements

Sentencing Act 2020 · 2020 c. 17View on legislation.gov.uk

Part 3: Procedure — CHAPTER 1: Information and reports

This section applies where, by virtue of any provision of this Code, the pre-sentence report requirements apply to a court in relation to forming an opinion.

If the offender is aged 18 or over, the court must obtain and consider a pre-sentence report before forming the opinion unless, in the circumstances of the case, it considers that it is unnecessary to obtain a pre-sentence report.

If the offender is aged under 18, the court must obtain and consider a pre-sentence report before forming the opinion unless—

there exists a previous pre-sentence report obtained in respect of the offender, and
the court considers—
in the circumstances of the case, and
having had regard to the information contained in that report or, if there is more than one, the most recent report,

that it is unnecessary to obtain a pre-sentence report.

Where a court does not obtain and consider a pre-sentence report before forming an opinion in relation to which the pre-sentence report requirements apply, no custodial sentence or community sentence is invalidated by the fact that it did not do so.

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This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.