The Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 (c. 21) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced by the Secretary of State for Justice, Dominic Raab, in March 2023.
The act makes provision for the establishment of an Independent Advocate to support victims of major incidents, and makes changes to the parole system of England and Wales, allowing government ministers to veto the release of some prisoners. Ministers will also have the power to restrict marriage in prisons in England and Wales for those serving whole life orders. The bill was introduced into Parliament on 29 March 2023. It was one of the last pieces of legislation passed into law by the parliament elected in 2019 before it was dissolved prior to the 2024 general election.
In December 2023, an amendment was added to the legislation to establish a compensation scheme for victims of the contaminated haemophilia blood products scandal. The government failed to prevent the amendment in a vote in the House of Commons, despite a three-line whip, in what was seen as a significant blow to the Sunak administration's authority. Provision relating to inflected blood compensation is set out in Part 3 of the act.
A further (but unsuccessful) amendment, put forward with the support of the Catholic Church and the Church of England, would have made provision for a central collection of data covering "the number of primary carers in prison and the number and age of their children".Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, Catholic and Anglican Prisons bishops support bill amendment on hidden “devastating consequences” for children when primary caregivers are imprisoned, published on 25 March 2024, accessed on 27 May 2026
Section 34(2) provides for significant incidents to be declared as "major incidents" and for the Independent Public Advocate (IPA) to be called upon to support victims of the incident in partnership with relevant authorities.Independent Public Advocate, Deputy Prime Minister stands up IPA to support Victims of Manchester Synagogue Attack, published on 3 October 2025, accessed on 5 October 2025
One of its first times the provision of the act were used was in August 2024, in order to prevent the serial killer Levi Bellfield from entering into a civil partnership with his girlfriend.
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