The Ministry of Justice has published guidance on upcoming changes to the law in England and Wales governing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) which take effect on 1 October 2025 under section 17 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024.

The use of NDAs is a subject that has received growing attention in recent years, and continues to do. Despite the new changes that are about to come into effect, there are already calls for the Government to go further, including last week’s report on misogyny in music and in a recent debate in the House of Lords in which a Minister confirmed that the Government was “working at pace” to explore ways to impose yet further restrictions on the use of NDAs.

Turning to the changes that will shortly come into effect, individuals who have signed an NDA on or after 1 October 2025 and are victims of crime – or reasonably believe themselves to be so – will be allowed to make so-called “permitted disclosures” even if the NDA seeks to prevent them from doing so.

As the guidance explains, the new rules on permitted disclosures mean that individuals subject to an NDA can nonetheless “disclose information to certain individuals for certain purposes related to relevant conduct” (i.e. the criminal conduct that makes the person a victim of crime). This includes making disclosures to the following:

• Police or other bodies which investigate or prosecute crime, for investigating or prosecuting the relevant conduct.
• Qualified lawyers, for seeking legal advice about the relevant conduct.
• Regulated professionals (including regulated healthcare professionals), for obtaining professional support in relation to the relevant conduct.
• Victim support services, for obtaining support in relation to the relevant conduct.
• Regulators, for cooperating with the regulator in relation to the relevant conduct.
• To a person authorised to receive information on behalf of any of the above, for the relevant purposes mentioned above.
• A victim’s close family, for the purpose of obtaining support in relation to the relevant conduct.

Helpful additional information is provided in the guidance about what constitutes a permitted disclosure, as well as circumstances in which disclosures will not be permitted for the purposes of the statute (for example if a disclosure is made to a person on the ‘permitted disclosure list’ but for the primary purpose of releasing the information into the public domain rather than for the purposes outlined in the statute).

The guidance also makes clear that the definition of a victim of crime includes those who have not told anyone about that crime. Equally, there does not have to be a formal investigation or a conviction for someone to be a victim of crime or to reasonably believe that they are.

To read the guidance in full, click here.