Assault PC

Overview

What is this consultation about?

The consultation relates to a revised and updated sentencing guideline for offences of assaulting a police officer.

What is the Sentencing Council?

The Sentencing Council is the independent body responsible for developing sentencing guidelines which courts in England and Wales must follow when passing a sentence. The Council consults on its proposed guidelines before they come into force and on any proposed changes to existing guidelines.

Why is there a new guideline for Assault PC offences?

The Sentencing Council published its revised assault guidelines in 2020. During the development of the revised guidelines the aggravated offence of assault on emergency workers (s.1, Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018) was introduced. The provision provided for an increased sentence for common assaults on emergency workers, in the same way as increased sentences are available for some racially and religiously aggravated offences. Emergency workers include police officers, medical staff, and other professions related to the emergency services.

At the time the new legislative provisions were introduced the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed that the offence of assaults on constables (referred to throughout this document as “assault PC”) would no longer be charged, and the new assault on emergency worker offence (which has a maximum sentence of two years) would be charged for assaults on police officers. However, in May 2025, the CPS revised this policy and confirmed it will now charge the assault PC offence where the victim of an assault is a police officer and the seriousness of the offence does not require a sentence exceeding six months imprisonment. Specifically, the CPS confirmed that where prosecutors do not anticipate an offence would fall within the highest level of seriousness if charged as an assault on an emergency worker, a summary offence will be charged. In these circumstances common assault will be charged for offences where a victim is a non-police officer emergency worker, and for common assault on a police officer the CPS will resume charging assault PC offences. This will enable proceedings to be dealt with in magistrates’ courts.

A guideline for assault PC offences existed previously in the original assault guidelines issued by the Council in 2011. When the assault guidelines were revised it was decided that as the CPS were no longer charging the offence it was not necessary to update and revise the guideline as for other assault offences. The decision of the CPS to revise its guidance on charging the assault PC offence has led the Council to revise and update its original Assault PC guideline. This is necessary to ensure parity of sentence between offences against different categories of emergency worker which will be charged as different offences under the new CPS policy, and to ensure sentences are proportionate to other assault offences.

Responding to the consultation

Through this consultation process, the Council is seeking views on:

• the principal factors that make any of the offences included within the draft guidelines more or less serious
• the additional factors that should influence the sentence
• the types and lengths of sentence that should be passed
• whether there are any issues relating to disparity of sentencing and/or broader matters relating to equality and diversity that the guidelines could and should address, and
• anything else you think should be considered.

We would like to hear from anyone who uses sentencing guidelines in their work or who has an interest in sentencing. We would also like to hear from individuals and organisations representing anyone who could be affected by the proposals including:

• victims and their families
• defendants and their families
• those under probation supervision or youth offending teams/supervision
• those with protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

In the following sections the proposed guideline is outlined in detail and you will be asked to give your views. You can give your views by answering some or all of the questions below either by email to consultation@sentencingcouncil.gov.uk or by using the online consultation at https://consult.justice.gov.uk/.

This consultation exercise is accompanied by a resource assessment, a statistical summary and data tables which can be found at: www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk

What else is happening as part of the consultation process?

This is a 12 week public consultation. The Council has not yet planned any consultation meetings but would be happy to arrange a meeting to discuss any of the issues raised if this would be helpful. Once the results of the consultation have been considered, the Council will seek the consent of the Lord Chancellor and the Lady Chief Justice to issue a definitive guideline as required by section 120 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. When consent is given, those updated guidelines will be published alongside a consultation response document setting out the consultation responses and the Council’s response to these.

Approach to the guidelines

In preparing the guidelines, the Council has had regard to the purposes of sentencing and to its statutory duties.

Applicability of guidelines

When issued as definitive guidelines following consultation the guideline(s) will apply only to offenders aged 18 and older. General principles to be considered in the sentencing of children and young people are set out in the Sentencing Council’s definitive guideline, Sentencing children and young people.