Some people on licence could be confined to areas “just a few miles wide” under a new Government scheme. The Justice Secretary, Alex Norris, gave the warning.
Mr Norris said the ‘restriction zone’ scheme will launch in October. GPS tags will enforce the zones, and anyone who breaches one can face recall to prison.
According to the MoJ, the scheme will cover “serious sexual and violent offenders”. It has not yet published the criteria for deciding who falls within the scheme.
Ministers say the zones aim to give victims more freedom and to cut the risk of unwanted contact further. The Government first announced the plan last year. It used powers in the Sentencing Act 2026 to bring the scheme into law, and probation officers will enforce it.
The MoJ said each zone will stay in place for as long as necessary. Each zone will face review every three months, and every zone must end when the licence period ends.
The approach reverses current practice. Existing ‘exclusion zones’ bar offenders from named places, such as a victim’s home or workplace. Outside those places, they can travel anywhere in the UK. Restriction zones instead confine a person to a defined area.
Each zone will follow a plan tailored to the individual and drawn up in consultation with victims. Mr Norris said probation officers would monitor the GPS data. Anyone who crosses a boundary could then quickly face a return to prison. “Offenders should carry the consequences of their crimes, not their victims,” he said.
Victims’ groups have responded with caution. One domestic abuse survivor called the zones a “fantastic concept”. However, she said a perpetrator had repeatedly breached her indefinite restraining order without facing any consequence. “The biggest challenge would be to gain victims’ confidence in authorities to follow through their promises of protection,” she added.
The start date follows a change to the Government’s early release scheme after a backlash. The scheme aims to ease prison overcrowding. An update on 4 August removed early release eligibility for people sentenced for rape, serious child sex offences and grooming.
The Prison Governors’ Association warned that a change at such a “very late stage” added to the pressure on staff.
Mr Norris is due to bring forward further proposals when Parliament returns in the first week of September. They would water down the Sentencing Act’s early release measures still more.
When the Government announced the plan last year, it faced criticism that it could put extra pressure on probation staff. The Government says it hopes to ease that pressure by recruiting more staff and making greater use of technology.
