The Home Office has published documents setting out the
government’s response to the issues raised during the
consultation on pre-charge bail.
The measures we propose to take forward include:
- removing the statutory presumption to release without bail
- adjusting the timescales and authorisation levels for
pre-charge bail to better reflect the operational realities faced
by investigating officers, whilst maintaining rigorous oversight
of decisions to extend bail timelines
- ensure that victims are a key part in the pre-charge bail
process, that they are fully informed as the case progresses and
are able to ask questions and provide views where appropriate
- working with policing stakeholders to ensure there is
appropriate guidance to operate the pre-charge bail system
Download the full outcome
Police powers: pre-charge
bail government response
PDF, 301KB,
29 pages
Police powers: pre-charge
bail overview of the evidence
PDF, 1020KB,
73 pages
Pre-charge bail overview
of the evidence, raw data files
ODS, 17.9KB
Original consultation Summary
Consultation on proposals for reviewing pre-charge bail
legislation.
This consultation ran from
10:30am on 5 February 2020 to 11:45pm on 29 May 2020
Consultation description
On 5 November 2019 the government launched a review of pre-charge
bail legislation to put victims’ safety first and support police
investigations.
This public consultation exercise is a central part of the wider
review. This paper sets out issues raised by stakeholders
alongside a corresponding set of initial proposals on which views
are sought.
Documents
Police powers: pre-charge
bail government consultation
PDF, 381KB,
30 pages
