This section outlines the principles for guiding enforcement action decisions for offenders on community work (CW). It defines what non-compliance is, and provides guidelines for appropriate enforcement action to take in response to non-compliance.
More detailed information is provided in further chapters about the use of sanctions, breaches, and applications to the court.
Any failure by the offender to comply with a requirement of the sentence is considered to be a non-compliance.
Examples:
Enforcement action is any action taken by the probation officer/senior community work supervisor in response to non-compliance.
There are two types of enforcement action that can be taken. These are:
All instances of non-compliance should be addressed with the offender and some action taken. This action should be taken quickly and decisively. Each situation should be considered on its own merits and in conjunction with the guidelines, the enforcement action taken should consider:
Note: Any deviation from the enforcement guidelines should be discussed with a service manager and clearly outlined in IOMS casenotes.
The first level of enforcement action is sanctions, and is appropriate for use in response to minor instances of non-compliance, such as failing to report as instructed.
CW sanctions are any form of enforcement action for non-compliance with the conditions of CW, which:
Use the appropriate sanction according to the circumstances of the particular situation. Sanctions available for CW are listed below (not necessarily in order of severity):
The second level of enforcement action which may be taken by the probation officer/senior community work supervisor is court action.
This should be used in response to more serious non-compliance, and also when sanctions imposed have not resulted in an improvement in the offender’s response to the sentence.
Legal enforcement action available for community work is:
Note: The full range of CPPS sanctions available to the probation officer/senior community work supervisor should be considered before taking legal enforcement action.
Before making any decision about what type of enforcement action to take the probation officer/senior community work supervisor must consider and balance the following:
In general, the probation officer/senior community work supervisor should take the lowest level of enforcement action considered likely to achieve the required result (usually future compliance). It can be appropriate to repeat the same type of enforcement action, including sanctions, at appropriate interventions if this achieves the desired outcome. If non compliance continues, the level of enforcement action should be escalated.
If it is determined that there is a significant risk to community safety (or the safety of any individual) this will always outweigh the potential benefit to the offender, and legal enforcement action will be taken.
In every instance that legal enforcement action is undertaken, check the enforcement action against the relevant sections of the legislation under which the offender was sentenced.
The probation officer/senior community work supervisor should be aware of which legislation the action is being taken under, and the specific requirements of that legislation. This will be particularly important when legal enforcement action is being taken against offenders sentenced before the 2007 amendments to the Sentencing Act 2002.
Decisions regarding appropriate enforcement action are not always straightforward. When the probation officer/senior community work supervisor is unclear as to the most appropriate response to non-compliance, advice should be sought from a senior probation officer or service manager.
Important: All legal enforcement action undertaken should be checked by the service manager.
Note: Exact details of the non-compliance, the rationale for decisions made, and all action taken with respect to enforcement is to be recorded in IOMS casenotes. This will include a record of any discussion with the service manager where appropriate.
The probation officer/senior community work supervisor is responsible for ensuring that offenders understand the consequences of non-compliance (this should be done both during the induction stage and if/when any non-compliance begins to occur) and for ensuring that the consequences are applied without delay.
Note: For OWS offenders some form of enforcement action must be commenced within one week of the non-compliance.
Non-compliance with any requirement of the sentence is to be treated seriously.
Sections of the legislation relating to CW require the offender to comply with:
The probation officer/senior community work supervisor should ensure compliance with these requirements is maintained.
The probation officer/senior community work supervisor has no authority to choose not to require compliance with the sentence.
If the probation officer/senior community work supervisor considers that compliance with the sentence cannot be achieved, it is their responsibility to make an application to court to address that issue.
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