Sentencing companies in England and Wales: purposes, seriousness, guidelines, guilty plea credit, fines, and Serious Crime Prevention Orders—practitioner checklist

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Statutory purpose of sentencing—application to companies

The aims of sentencing, as set out in section 57 of the Sentencing Act 2020 (SA 2020), apply in identical terms to companies and to individuals. In deciding the sentence for a corporate offender, the court will have regard to the following purposes:

punishing offenders
reducing crime
reforming and rehabilitating offenders
protecting the public, including victims of crime
ensuring offenders make reparation to those affected by their offences

These purposes inform and shape the court’s choice of sanction for a company.

Seriousness of the offence

The court must determine the gravity of the offence by reference to the factors listed in SA 2020, s 63, namely:

the offender’s culpability in committing the offence; and
any harm the offence caused, was intended to cause, or could reasonably have been foreseen

In addition, the court will take into account any aggravating and mitigating features of the offence, and will also consider any relevant previous convictions...

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Web page updated on 20/05/2026

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