Introducing our new sentence date calculator

We have replaced our previous prison release date estimator with a new sentence date calculator for England and Wales.

The tool helps you understand the calendar calculation for one adult standard determinate sentence. It shows the dates alongside the workings, so you can see how the result was reached.

Use the sentence date calculator.

How it works

Enter the sentence start date, its length and the release fraction confirmed in official sentence calculation paperwork.

The tool uses calendar arithmetic adapted from the Ministry of Justice’s published Calculate Release Dates source code. It accounts for different month lengths and leap years, counts the sentence start as day one and rounds fractional days up to a whole day.

It shows:

• the calculated release point using the fraction you supplied;
• the unadjusted sentence expiry date; and
• a breakdown of the calculation, which you can print.

Calculations run in your browser. The tool does not send or save the information you enter, and you do not need to provide a name, offence or prison number.

What the tool cannot calculate

The tool does not determine which release fraction applies. You must confirm that from official paperwork rather than choosing it based on the offence or sentence length.

It does not support multiple or consecutive sentences, recall, life sentences, extended sentences, youth detention or sentences involving time adjustments. These include remand credit, tagged bail credit, additional days and time unlawfully at large.

It also does not calculate licence or supervision dates, early release schemes, or changes to the actual discharge day because of weekends or bank holidays.

This is an independent Criminal Justice Hub tool. It does not connect to prison records or run the full Ministry of Justice legal rules engine. The prison sentence calculation team must confirm the actual release date.

Share your feedback

We welcome feedback on how clear and useful the tool is, particularly its questions and explanation of the results.

Use the feedback option on the tool’s page to tell us what could work better. Please do not include personal case details or confidential sentence paperwork.