Credit for Pleas - Practical Insights for Criminal Lawyers & Prosecutors

Introduction

How much credit should a defendant receive for pleading guilty, and when? With evolving case law, new proposals and shifting sentencing principles, the landscape is changing fast. Are you up to date?

This 30 minute webinar designed for criminal defence lawyers and CPS practitioners, will unpack the latest developments and key cases surrounding credit for a guilty plea. From Sir Brian Leveson's proposals to recent Court of Appeal decisions and the document published by the Sentencing Council ‘Reduction in sentence for a timely guilty plea’, we will explore how timing, context, and legal nuance shape sentencing outcomes.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• The proposals by Sir Brian Leveson in his review of the criminal justice system
• Rex v Derie [2024] - Whether sufficient credit had been given when a youth had entered a very late plea
• Rex v Saunders [2024] - Whether sufficient credit had been given when the plea was only entered following an experts ‘back calculation’ report
• The 20% Rule under Section 73 of the Sentencing Code 2020
• The mandatory minimum sentence being imposed in a firearms case
• The amount of credit that should be afforded to a defendant in circumstances where a Newton hearing is held and the facts are found in favour of the CPS
• Credit when the Court is sentencing on more than one summary offence
• R v Edwards [2022] - Whether sufficient credit had been given where a defendant had stayed out of trouble even though no unpaid work under a Community Order had been completed at all
• The start of a criminal trial - An ever-diminishing percentage of credit once a trial has started - perhaps, none whatsoever!
• Regina v Nolan [2022] - The Court of Appeal considering the position where guilt was only admitted following a fitness to plead report
• How the Judge is to view credit when imposing sentence upon a defendant pleading guilty to murder
• Credit whereby a different type of sentence is imposed

This pre-recorded webinar will be available to view from Monday 9th February 2026

Alternatively, you can gain access to this webinar and 1,900+ others via the MBL Webinar Subscription. Please email webinarsubscription@mblseminars.com for more details.