Extended Sentences: When Can You Be Released?

If you are serving an extended determinate sentence, often called an EDS or just an extended sentence, you will not be released automatically part-way through. Your case must be sent to the Parole Board once you have served two-thirds of the custodial part of the sentence, and the Board decides whether you are released.

That one difference catches a lot of families out. Below is how the sentence is built, when the Parole Board gets involved, and what the law says about the latest point you can be held.

What an extended sentence is made of

An extended sentence is two periods added together (section 279 of the Sentencing Act 2020):

• the appropriate custodial term, which is the prison part
• the extension period, a further period during which you are on licence

Licence means being in the community under supervision, with conditions you have to keep to, and with the possibility of being returned to prison.

The law sets limits on the extension period (section 281). It must be at least one year. The maximum is five years for a specified violent offence, eight years for a specified sexual offence or specified terrorism offence, and ten years for a serious terrorism offence where the relevant provision applies. The two parts added together cannot be longer than the maximum sentence available for the offence.

So a sentence announced in court as "twelve years, made up of eight years in custody and four years of extended licence" is an extended sentence with an eight-year custodial term. The eight years is the figure that matters for release.

When the Parole Board gets your case

For someone serving a single extended sentence, the requisite custodial period is two-thirds of the appropriate custodial term (section 246A(8) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003). Once that period has been served, the Secretary of State must refer the case to the Parole Board.

It is two-thirds of the custodial term, not two-thirds of the whole sentence. On the example above, that is two-thirds of eight years, not two-thirds of twelve.

The test the Parole Board applies

The Board may direct release only if it is satisfied that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public that you should be confined (section 246A(6)).

That is a risk question, not a question of whether enough of the sentence has been served or whether release would be fair. Nobody can tell you in advance how the Board will answer it.

If the Board does not direct release

If the Board does not direct release at that point, you stay in custody. There is still a backstop: once you have served the whole of the appropriate custodial term, the Secretary of State must release you on licence (section 246A(7)).

So the custodial term is the longest you can be kept in prison on that sentence at that stage. The exception is where you were released under section 246A earlier in the sentence and then recalled under section 254.

What the extension period means in practice

The extension period is time on licence that sits after the custodial term. It is the reason the total figure read out in court is longer than the prison part. Being on licence means conditions, supervision, and the risk of recall to prison if those conditions are broken.

Some older extended sentences are released automatically

There is an important exception for certain sentences imposed before section 4 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 came into force. Where the appropriate custodial term is under ten years and the offence is not listed in Schedule 15B, release at the requisite custodial period is automatic rather than a Parole Board decision (section 246A(2)).

If the sentence was passed some years ago, that is worth checking against the paperwork rather than assuming a parole hearing is required.

The 2026 release changes do not apply to extended sentences

The progression model brought in by the Sentencing Act 2026, which moved many prisoners to release after a third of the sentence, applies only to standard determinate sentences. Ministry of Justice guidance is explicit that extended determinate sentences are out of scope: people serving them still serve at least two-thirds, with release decided by the Parole Board. Indeterminate sentences, including life sentences, are also out of scope.

If you have heard on the wing that everyone is now out at a third, that is not the rule for an extended sentence.

What is worth checking on the paperwork

These are document questions, and they are the sort of thing an independent review looks at:

• whether the extension period falls within the legal maximum for that type of offence
• whether the custodial term and extension period added together exceed the maximum sentence for the offence
• whether the prison has worked the parole eligibility date from the custodial term rather than from the whole sentence
• whether the sentence is one of the older cases where release is automatic
• whether an extended sentence was the right sentence at all, which is a question for an appeal against sentence and not for the prison

What this means for you

If you or a family member is serving an extended sentence, three things follow. The earliest release point is two-thirds of the custodial term, and it is a Parole Board decision rather than an automatic date. The latest release point on that sentence is the end of the custodial term. And the 2026 changes that shortened time in custody for many prisoners do not reach extended sentences.

The useful step is to get the figures confirmed in writing by the prison and then check them against the sentencing remarks and the warrant. Calculation errors and recording errors do happen, and they are only ever found by reading the documents.

Talk to Case Review UK

Case Review UK provides independent written assessments of criminal cases by senior UK lawyers and barristers. That includes sentence reduction analysis, release date and probation address reviews, and post-sentence appeal assessments. Fixed fee, no hourly billing, and a written report in 7 to 14 days.

If you want someone outside the police, the CPS and the court that dealt with the case to read the paperwork and tell you honestly what it shows, get in touch.

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This article is general information about the law in England and Wales. It is not legal advice on any individual case, and Case Review UK is not a substitute for a solicitor.