Jade's Law Takes Effect on 18 December 2026, and Only for Offences Committed From That Date

Jade's Law Takes Effect on 18 December 2026, and Only for Offences Committed From That Date

Commencement regulations made on 22 October 2026 fix 18 December 2026 as the day the Crown Court's new duty to restrict a killer parent's parental responsibility begins to run in England and Wales. The duty is not law yet, and it will reach only offences committed on or after that date.

Information last verified on 30 October 2026. This is a developing story; we update it as the record changes.

Status: Not in force. Section 18 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 has been commenced by the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 (Commencement No. 12 and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/1126 (C. 92)), regulation 2 of which provides that section 18 "comes into force on 18th December 2026". Regulation 3(1) then limits it: the amendments "apply only in relation to offences committed on or after 18th December 2026". As at 30 October 2026, the legislation.gov.uk text of section 18 still carries the status "Prospective".

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers England and Wales. Section 80(1) of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 provides that the Act "extends to England and Wales only", subject to listed exceptions that do not include section 18, and the Family Procedure (Amendment No. 2) Rules 2026 state at rule 1(2) that they "extend to England and Wales". We do not state the position in Scotland or Northern Ireland here, because that would need separate primary sources we have not opened for this piece.

What Happened

On 22 October 2026 the Ministry of Justice made SI 2026/1126 (C. 92), the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 (Commencement No. 12 and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026, using the powers in section 81(2) and (3)(a) of the 2024 Act. Its explanatory note records that these are "the twelfth commencement Regulations made under the 2024 Act". Regulation 2 is the operative line: section 18 of the 2024 Act, headed by the regulation as "restricting parental responsibility where one parent kills the other", comes into force on 18 December 2026.

Regulation 3 is just as important as regulation 2. Paragraph (1) confines the whole of section 18 to "offences committed on or after 18th December 2026". Paragraph (2) adds a tie-breaker for indictments that plead a date range: where an offence is found to have been committed over a period of two or more days, or at some time during such a period, "it must be taken to have been committed on the last of those days". Section 18 was never in force at Royal Assent, as the annotation on the section page records by reference to section 81(2) of the Act, and as at 30 October 2026 legislation.gov.uk has not yet applied the amendment to the Children Act 1989 text.

The court rules landed alongside. The Family Procedure (Amendment No. 2) Rules 2026, SI 2026/1124 (L. 17), are dated as made on 22 October 2026, after the Family Procedure Rule Committee signed them on 12 October 2026, were laid before Parliament on 27 October 2026, and come into force on 18 December 2026. On the criminal side, the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (No. 2) Rules 2026, SI 2026/721, were made on 29 June 2026, and rule 2(a) times rule 12(b), (d), (e)(iii) and (g)(iii) to come into force "at the same time as section 18 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024". Those paragraphs amend rule 25.16 of the Criminal Procedure Rules 2025 (SI 2025/909), the rule on procedure if the Crown Court convicts. Rule 25.16(3), which lists what the prosecutor must do, gains a duty to provide any other information and make any representations the court requires where it must make an order under section 10A. Rule 25.16(7), which lists what the court must do once it has taken the evidence into account, gains a step requiring it to make the order, subject to the section's exceptions. Rule 25.16(6) is also amended so that the defendant's opportunity to make representations and introduce evidence runs before the court makes the prohibited steps order as well as before sentence, and a new note to the rule summarises sections 10A and 10B. On 30 October 2026 the rule as published shows the gap where that step will go, because the paragraph has been renumbered around it but the new sub-paragraph is not yet in force.

The reform is the one the government named Jade's Law. A Ministry of Justice announcement of 3 October 2023, Jade's Law to be introduced to better protect children, named it after Jade Ward, who was murdered by her former partner in 2021, and recorded that her family campaigned for the change after her killer continued to take part in decisions about their four children. That announcement predates enactment and described the measure in looser terms than the section that was eventually passed, so the statutory text below, not the press language, is what will operate from 18 December.

What the Law Will Require

The existing order, and what is new about this one. A prohibited steps order is already a creature of section 8(1) of the Children Act 1989, which defines it as "an order that no step which could be taken by a parent in meeting his parental responsibility for a child, and which is of a kind specified in the order, shall be taken by any person without the consent of the court". It is one of the private law orders in section 8, alongside the specific issue order and the child arrangements order, and it is normally made by the family court on an application. Three things are structurally new under section 10A. The order is made by the Crown Court, as part of sentencing, rather than by a family judge. It is mandatory rather than discretionary, subject to the exceptions below. And it is not limited to steps "of a kind specified in the order": it covers every step.

The trigger. Section 10A(1) applies where a child has two parents at least one of whom has parental responsibility for the child, and a parent who has parental responsibility ("the offender") is convicted of the murder of the other parent, or of the manslaughter of the other parent in the circumstances set out in subsection (2). Those circumstances are narrow and specific: where, but for section 54 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (loss of control) or section 2 of the Homicide Act 1957 (diminished responsibility), the offender would have been liable to be convicted for murder. Murder carries its own sentencing framework, which our guide to life sentences in the UK sets out separately. Other homicide offences, and other victims, are outside section 10A as enacted.

The duty and the content of the order. Section 10A(3) provides that "the Crown Court must make a prohibited steps order when sentencing the offender". Section 10A(4) prescribes what the order must say. It must specify that no step of any kind which could be taken by a parent in meeting their parental responsibility for a child may be taken by the offender with respect to the child without the consent of the High Court or the family court, and it must be made to have effect until it is varied or discharged by the High Court or the family court. There is no fixed expiry date in the section itself, though section 91 of the Children Act 1989 continues to set age limits on section 8 orders and section 18 does not amend those subsections.

Restriction, not removal. Parental responsibility is defined by section 3(1) of the Children Act 1989 as "all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property". Section 10A does not strike that status out. It bars the offender from exercising it without the consent of the High Court or the family court. The drafting of the family rules confirms the distinction: new rows in rule 12.3 of the Family Procedure Rules refer to "every person whom the applicant believes to have parental responsibility for the child, including those for whom parental responsibility has been restricted under section 10A of the 1989 Act". The offender remains a parent with parental responsibility, and loses the ability to act on it unilaterally.

The exceptions. Section 10A(5) stops the Crown Court making the order in three situations: where making it is prohibited by section 29(3) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002, which bars prohibited steps orders while a placement order is in force; where a prohibited steps order meeting the subsection (4) requirements is already in force; and, where the offender is convicted of manslaughter, where it appears to the Crown Court that it would not be in the interests of justice to make the order. That third exception exists only on the manslaughter route. Section 10A(6) disapplies sections 1, 7 and 11 of the Children Act 1989, which are the welfare principle, welfare reports and the general principles and supplementary provisions, where the Crown Court proceeds under the section.

Where the order sits in the wider Act. Section 18 makes a set of consequential changes that matter in practice. Section 9 is amended so that a section 10A order can be made for a child who is in the care of a local authority, and so that the exceptional-circumstances tests in section 9(6) (orders ending after a child reaches 16) and section 9(7) (children who have already reached 16) do not apply to it. A new section 33(3A) provides that where a section 10A order is in force in relation to a parent, a local authority with a care order may exercise its power under section 33(3)(b) only in relation to steps by that parent that the order does not prohibit. Section 91(2) is amended so that the making of a care order does not discharge a section 10A order, and new section 91(5B) and (5C) discharge an existing prohibited steps order against the same parent for the same child when a section 10A order is made, except to the extent that the existing order prohibits steps by other people. Section 10A(8) treats the order as if the family court had made it for the purposes of section 31F(6) of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984, which gives the family court power to vary, suspend, rescind or revive its own orders. Section 10A(9) withholds enforcement from the Crown Court: it "does not have jurisdiction to entertain any proceedings in connection with the enforcement" of the order. Section 18(8) inserts section 50(2A) into the Criminal Appeal Act 1968 so that the order is not a "sentence" for the purposes of that Act.

The review, and who has to bring it. Section 10B is the review provision, and it places the burden on the local authority rather than on the bereaved family. Where a section 10A order is made, the local authority that is the relevant local authority at the time the order is made must apply to the court to review it. "The court" here means the High Court or the family court, under section 92(7) of the Children Act 1989. Section 10B(5) requires the application to be made as soon as is reasonably practicable and in any event before the end of 14 days beginning with the day after the order was made. Section 10B(6) lets the Secretary of State amend that 14 day period by regulations. Section 10B(7) defines the relevant local authority as the one in whose area the child is ordinarily resident, or, failing that, the one in whose area the child is present, in England or Wales.

Appeals. Section 10A(7) provides that the order does not cease to have effect if the offender is acquitted of the murder or manslaughter on appeal, but points to section 10B(3) and (4). Those subsections require a second review: once the first application has been disposed of, whether or not the order was varied, and the parent is then acquitted on appeal, the relevant local authority at the time the acquittal verdict is entered must apply to the court to review the order, again within 14 days of the day after the verdict.

What the family rules do. SI 2026/1124 amends Part 12 of the Family Procedure Rules 2010. Rule 12.2 is amended so that "private law proceedings" expressly include proceedings for the review of a prohibited steps order made under section 10A(3). Rule 12.3 gains two new rows setting out the parties: on a review, the applicant is the relevant local authority and the respondents include every person believed to have parental responsibility, those whose parental responsibility has been restricted under section 10A, anyone who had parental responsibility immediately before a care order, and any relative believed to be caring for the child. On an application to vary or discharge an order the Crown Court has made but the family courts have not yet reviewed or varied, the applicant is anyone entitled to apply for a section 8 order (including a parent restricted under section 10A) or anyone with the court's permission, and the relevant local authority is a respondent. Rule 12.8 is amended on service, with the court officer effecting service in variation and discharge proceedings unless the court directs the applicant to do it. Rules 12.16 and 12.19 are adjusted to fit reviews into the right procedural tracks.

What Happens Next

The record as it stands points to a short, concrete sequence.

Before 18 December 2026. Nothing in section 18 operates. Families who want to restrict a parent's exercise of parental responsibility must still use the existing family law routes, by applying to the family court.

On 18 December 2026. Section 18 comes into force, inserting sections 10A and 10B. The Family Procedure (Amendment No. 2) Rules 2026 come into force the same day, and the timed paragraphs of rule 12 of SI 2026/721 start with section 18.

After that date. Because of regulation 3(1), the duty bites only on convictions for offences committed on or after 18 December 2026, with regulation 3(2) treating a date range as ending on the last day. Homicide cases take time to reach a Crown Court sentencing hearing, so there will be a gap between commencement and the first order under section 10A, and during that gap convictions for earlier killings will continue to be sentenced without the new duty. We are not going to put a date on the first order.

Two things still outstanding. First, the Secretary of State's power under section 10B(6) to change the 14 day review window has not been exercised as far as the record we opened shows. Second, the inserted sections already have pending amendments. Section 5 of the Victims and Courts Act 2026 (2026 c. 19, Royal Assent 29 April 2026) would substitute a new heading for section 10A, insert a new section 10A(10), and insert the words "(if any)" into section 10B(2), as consequential changes to its own new sections 10C to 10G on restricting parental responsibility of certain sex offenders and following rape. Section 5 was not in force at Royal Assent, see section 18(1) of that Act, and the record of changes to the Children Act 1989 shows no commencement instrument for it yet. So the text that switches on in December is the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 version, unamended.

Analysis: Why This Matters

The following is analysis from the Recording Law Editorial Team.

The structural point is where the order is made. Today, and for every offence committed before 18 December 2026, restricting a parent's exercise of parental responsibility is a family court exercise that someone has to start, and under section 8(1) the order reaches only steps "of a kind specified in the order". For offences committed on or after that date, section 10A will move the first order into the Crown Court, make it mandatory on conviction, and make it total in scope: every step a parent could take, barred without the consent of the High Court or the family court. That is a different design from the one the family courts have used since 1991, and it explains the disapplication of sections 1, 7 and 11 in section 10A(6). A sentencing judge is not equipped to run a welfare enquiry, so the section does not ask for one at that stage, and instead routes the welfare question into the family court through the section 10B review.

The allocation of the review duty is the other deliberate choice. Section 10B puts the application on the relevant local authority, within 14 days, rather than on a bereaved grandparent or a surviving guardian. The 2024 Ministry of Justice announcement about a related measure described the same architecture, saying local authorities would make the family court application so families would not have to start proceedings or pay legal costs. Whether 14 days is comfortable for a children's services department that has just acquired an order it did not apply for is a resourcing question the section leaves open, which is presumably why section 10B(6) contains a power to change the period.

Three limits on the measure are worth stating plainly rather than reading past. The manslaughter route is confined by section 10A(2) to loss of control and diminished responsibility, which keeps the section close to killings that would otherwise have been murder. There is an interests of justice exception in section 10A(5)(c), but only for manslaughter, so the murder duty has no equivalent escape valve beyond the placement order and existing order cases. And regulation 3(1) means the section has no retrospective reach at all, so the families whose cases prompted the campaign the government named after Jade Ward will not themselves be covered by it.

How This Affects You

If you are raising a child after one parent has killed the other, the most important thing to know is that this change does not apply to you unless the offence was committed on or after 18 December 2026. For killings before that date, the position is unchanged, and the route to restricting a parent's exercise of parental responsibility remains an application to the family court. Our UK family law hub sets out the orders that are available now, and carers who are already looking at longer-term arrangements sometimes consider a special guardianship order alongside or instead of an order restricting a parent.

If the offence falls on or after 18 December 2026 and a conviction follows, the order should be made by the Crown Court at sentencing without anyone applying for it, and the relevant local authority should then bring the review to the High Court or the family court within the section 10B(5) period. Reading the section, the order restricts what the offender can do rather than deciding who the child lives with, so questions about living arrangements, contact and schooling may still need their own orders.

If you are the parent whose parental responsibility would be restricted, note that section 10A(4) preserves a route: steps may be taken with the consent of the High Court or the family court, the order lasts until one of those courts varies or discharges it, and the family rules expressly contemplate applications to vary or discharge.

None of this is a substitute for advice on your own case. A family law solicitor in England or Wales can tell you which orders are in force in your situation, who has standing to apply, and what evidence a review would need. If you are in the middle of bereavement and a criminal case at the same time, it is reasonable to ask the local authority social worker allocated to your family what their obligations will be once this section is running.

This is general legal information, not legal advice. It describes legislation for England and Wales as recorded on legislation.gov.uk and verified on 30 October 2026, and it covers a provision that is not yet in force. Nothing here is advice about any individual case, and no article can substitute for a solicitor who has read your papers. If a child's safety or living arrangements are at stake, speak to a family law solicitor in England or Wales, or to the local authority children's services team involved with the family.

Related articles

• UK Family Law hub
• UK Criminal Law hub
• Domestic Abuse Protection Orders explained

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Last updated: 2026-10-30. This is a developing story; details verified as of 2026-10-30.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Jade's Law in force now?

No. Section 18 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 comes into force on 18 December 2026 under regulation 2 of SI 2026/1126, and regulation 3(1) applies it only to offences committed on or after that date. As at 30 October 2026 the legislation.gov.uk text of section 18 is still marked Prospective, and the Children Act 1989 has not yet been updated to show sections 10A and 10B.

What will the Crown Court have to do from 18 December 2026?

Under the new section 10A(3) of the Children Act 1989, the Crown Court must make a prohibited steps order when sentencing a parent who has parental responsibility and who is convicted of murdering the child's other parent, or of manslaughter in the circumstances in section 10A(2). The order must bar the offender from taking any step a parent could take in meeting their parental responsibility without the consent of the High Court or the family court.

Which manslaughter convictions are covered?

Only those described in section 10A(2): where, but for section 54 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (loss of control) or section 2 of the Homicide Act 1957 (diminished responsibility), the offender would have been liable to be convicted for murder. Section 10A(5)(c) also lets the Crown Court decline to make the order in a manslaughter case if it appears that doing so would not be in the interests of justice.

Does the order remove parental responsibility?

No. Parental responsibility is defined in section 3(1) of the Children Act 1989, and section 10A does not cancel that status. The order restricts its exercise by requiring the consent of the High Court or the family court before the offender takes any step as a parent. Rule 12.3 of the Family Procedure Rules, as amended by SI 2026/1124, refers to people for whom parental responsibility has been restricted under section 10A, which reflects that they still have it.

How long does the order last?

Section 10A(4)(b) requires the order to be made to have effect until it is varied or discharged by the High Court or the family court. Section 18 also amends section 91(2) of the Children Act 1989 so that making a care order does not discharge it, and amends section 9 so that the usual age restrictions on section 8 orders do not apply to it.

Who applies to review the order?

The relevant local authority. Section 10B(2) requires the authority that is the relevant local authority when the order is made to apply to the High Court or the family court to review it, and section 10B(5) requires the application as soon as is reasonably practicable and in any event within 14 days beginning with the day after the order was made. Section 10B(7) defines the relevant local authority by where the child is ordinarily resident or, failing that, present in England or Wales.

What happens if the conviction is overturned on appeal?

Section 10A(7) provides that the order does not cease to have effect on an acquittal on appeal. Section 10B(3) and (4) then require a further review: the relevant local authority at the time the acquittal verdict is entered must apply to the court to review the order, within the same 14 day period measured from the day after the verdict.

Does this apply in Scotland or Northern Ireland?

No. Section 80(1) of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 provides that the Act extends to England and Wales only, subject to exceptions that do not include section 18, and the Family Procedure (Amendment No. 2) Rules 2026 extend to England and Wales. We have not opened primary sources on the law in Scotland or Northern Ireland, so we do not state the position there.

What should families do about killings that happened before 18 December 2026?

The new duty will not reach them, because regulation 3(1) of SI 2026/1126 limits section 18 to offences committed on or after 18 December 2026, and regulation 3(2) treats an offence committed over a period of days as committed on the last of those days. The existing family court routes for restricting a parent's exercise of parental responsibility continue to apply, and a family law solicitor in England or Wales can advise on which order fits the situation.