All offenders convicted of murder receive a mandatory life sentence. The sentencing court then sets a minimum term (or tariff). The minimum term is the time that an offender must stay in custody before being considered for release by the Parole Board, to serve the remainder of their sentence in the community.
	The sentencing court is required to set the minimum term in accordance with the statutory framework in sections 321 and 322 of, and Schedule 21 to, the Sentencing Code. Schedule 21 contains starting points based on seriousness and examples of cases which would normally fall within each starting point. The highest starting point is the whole life order (WLO) starting point which applies in cases of exceptionally high seriousness.
	WLOs are the most severe form of punishment that the courts can impose. Such sentences have no tariffs and no possibility of Parole Board release, and as such they are reserved for the most heinous cases of murder. The murder of a police officer or prison officer in the course of their duty is already, pursuant to paragraph 2(2)(c) of Schedule 21, a case that would normally be considered to be of exceptionally high seriousness and so attract a WLO starting point.
	This measure also makes a WLO the starting point in cases of murder of a police or prison office where the murder was motivated by something done in the course of their duties, even if the murder did not itself occur while on duty (as in R v Elias Morgan). It also adds the murder of probation officers in the course of duty, or where motivated by something done in the course of their duties, to the WLO starting point.
	This policy is designed to ensure that those who commit the very worst murders face the most severe punishment available. It recognises the unique and dangerous job that police, prison and probation officers do. They perform a distinctive role with routine contact with dangerous offenders in difficult situations. By making this amendment, it ensures that the exceptional seriousness of these murders is expressly recognised in the sentencing framework for murder.
Policy background Part 1: Sentencing Whole life order: murder of police, prison or probation officer