Victims and Courts Act rules start on 13 August 2026

If you have ever opened a commencement regulation and wondered why the law sounds like it is speaking in code, you are not alone. This new instrument, published on legislation.gov.uk and made on 12 August 2026, is the first step in switching on parts of the Victims and Courts Act 2026 in England and Wales. A commencement regulation does not usually create a whole new policy by itself. It tells you which bits of an Act start to operate on a specific date. Here, that date is 13 August 2026, and the change is focused on victim information rights rather than the whole Act all at once.

According to the Ministry of Justice text signed by Parliamentary Under-Secretary Alex Davies-Jones, only certain provisions are being brought into force now. The important ones are part of section 7 and parts of Schedule 2 of the Act. That sounds dry, but the practical point is simple. This first wave is mainly about making two new legal sections work inside the older Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004: section 44M and section 44O. Everything else commenced here is mostly there to support those two sections.

Section 44M is the part most readers will care about. It applies when a victim asks a provider of probation services for information. If that provider believes the victim would face physical or psychological harm if information is not given, it may disclose certain information to that victim through this new legal route. **What this means:** this is not a general free-for-all where any detail about an offender can be handed over on demand. The provider must consider the risk of harm, and the information that can be shared is tied to categories already recognised elsewhere in law.

One reason the regulation looks so technical is that it switches on the legal groundwork around that new request power at the same time. Some parts of Schedule 2 start only so far as they are needed to let requests under section 44M be received and answered. That is why the wording is so narrow. **Why that matters:** it lets government bring one workable piece into force without claiming the whole Act is ready on day one. For victims and support workers, the message is that a new door opens on 13 August, but not every reform in the wider Act arrives with it.

There is another part of the change that deserves attention because it is easy to miss. In some cases involving offenders who are subject to orders under the Mental Health Act 1983, the duties linked to a victim's request will not sit only with probation providers. The Explanatory Note says responsibilities may also fall on the clinicians responsible for the patient's case, managers of relevant hospitals, and the First-tier Tribunal or Mental Health Review Tribunal for Wales. **What this means:** if a case sits within the mental health system, victims may need information from a different public body depending on where decisions and records are held.

Section 44O is less dramatic, but it is still important. It says the new section 44M does not take away any other power a probation provider already has under Part 3 of the 2004 Act. In plain English, the new rule adds a route rather than shutting older ones down. That matters because when Parliament creates a fresh power, there can sometimes be arguments that earlier powers have been narrowed without anyone saying so directly. This provision is there to stop that argument before it starts.

For victims, the practical change is modest but real. From 13 August 2026, there is a clearer legal basis for some information requests where withholding information could leave someone at risk of physical or psychological harm. For probation services, clinicians, hospital managers and tribunals, it means new duties and judgement calls need to be ready straight away. If you are trying to place this in the bigger picture, the safest reading is this: one switch has been flicked, not the whole room lit up. The legislation.gov.uk note says these are the first commencement regulations under the Victims and Courts Act 2026, and the wider Act is supported by a government impact assessment. For readers, that is a useful reminder that legal change often arrives in stages, and understanding the stage you are in matters just as much as knowing the headline.