The Sentencing Council’s eighth business plan sets out our aims for the financial years 2020/21 and 2021/22.

Among these aims is the publication in autumn 2021 of the Council’s response to our 2020 consultation What next for the Sentencing Council?, which will lay out the Council’s priorities for the next five to 10 years.

The business plan includes information on staffing in the Office of the Sentencing Council, the Council’s budget and a timetable for consultations we expect to conduct on draft guidelines and the publication of definitive guidelines throughout the period. It also sets out our plans for research and analysis work, which includes reporting on research into:

• attitudes to guidelines;
• consistency in sentencing;
• cumulative impact of guidelines on sentencing severity and prison places; and
• equality and diversity issues related to guidelines.