Section 17 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 will bring in the most significant restriction on non disclosure agreements (NDAs) since the #MeToo reforms.
Under the new regime, any NDA signed on or after 1 October 2025 is unenforceable so far as it purports to stop a victim of crime, or anyone who reasonably believes they are a victim, from confiding in specified people for specified support-related purposes.
The Ministry of Justice’s June 2025 guidance, Victims and Prisoners Act 2024: changes to non-disclosure agreements, explains how the law will work in practice and what parties should do when drafting settlement terms.
What are the changes?
The Act defines a “victim” broadly. It is any person who has suffered physical, mental, emotional or economic harm that flows directly from criminal conduct, even where the perpetrator has not been tried or convicted.
Clauses that seek to curtail a victim’s ability to share information about that conduct with law-enforcement bodies, qualified lawyers, regulated counsellors or victim-support workers, professional regulators, or the victim’s own child, parent or partner, will now be void.
In contrast, disclosures that aim chiefly to place the information in the public domain remain outside the safe harbour. The guidance illustrates this with the example of instructing a solicitor to front a press campaign.
Equally, NDA restrictions on revealing commercial or financial data that are unconnected to the underlying offence will continue to bite.
The Ministry of Justice emphasises that the new law sits alongside, and does not supersede, existing prohibitions. NDAs have long been unable to block criminal reporting or whistleblowing under the Employment Rights Act 1996. Section 17 simply extends that list of protected communications.
The measure is prospective only, so NDAs concluded before 1 October 2025 remain governed by the current common-law and statutory framework, but employers should appreciate that renewing or materially varying an older agreement after that date will trigger the new rules.
Implications for employers
For organisations, the message is twofold. First, template confidentiality clauses should be revised well before October 2025. Severability language alone will not rescue a provision that purports to gag a victim and could expose the business to reputational damage if challenged.
Second, settlement negotiators should factor in the possibility that allegations could reach regulators or family members notwithstanding a payment.
Although claimants still owe duties of confidence in respect of purely commercial secrets, the statutory carve-out is wide enough that many high-profile workplace-misconduct scenarios, such as sexual assault, malicious data misuse, harassment amounting and criminal stalking, would fall within its protection.
Going forward, employers and advisers will need to treat confidentiality as a narrower, more carefully sign-posted instrument and rely on robust internal investigations, prompt remedial action and transparent risk assessments rather than sweeping NDAs to manage the fallout from criminal misconduct.
Need assistance?
In practical terms, the guidance urges drafters to specify within the relevant agreement exactly what can still be said, to whom and for what purpose. Doing so is not a statutory requirement, but it is presented as best practice because uncertainty will be construed against the party seeking confidentiality.
For advice on ensuring compliance with the new requirement, contact us.
The full guidance can be read here >>
Author
Founder and Managing Director Anne Morris is a fully qualified solicitor and trusted adviser to large corporates through to SMEs, providing strategic immigration and global mobility advice to support employers with UK operations to meet their workforce needs through corporate immigration.
She is a recognised by Legal 500 and Chambers as a legal expert and delivers Board-level advice on business migration and compliance risk management as well as overseeing the firm’s development of new client propositions and delivery of cost and time efficient processing of applications.
Anne is an active public speaker, immigration commentator, and immigration policy contributor and regularly hosts training sessions for employers and HR professionals
