There are two levels of enforcement action available for the senior community work supervisor/probation officer to use in response to non-compliance. Dependant upon the level and/or history of non-compliance, the senior community work supervisor/probation officer may respond either by:
Sanctions are to be used in response to low level and first time instances of non-compliance. These are:
Legal enforcement actions available to the senior community work supervisor (with probation officer delegation)/probation officer are:
An application to court should only be considered where community work (CW) is no longer suitable and all other available enforcement actions have been explored.
If an offender fails to comply with any of the requirements of their sentence they may offer an excuse. The senior community work supervisor/probation officer will be required to determine whether or not the excuse is reasonable. If it is not reasonable, then enforcement action should be taken.
Note: All information relating to any excuse offered by the offender, and the senior community work supervisor/probation officer’s response to this, should be recorded in IOMS casenotes.
When issuing the offender with a formal verbal or written warning, the senior community work supervisor/ probation officer should clearly inform the offender of the consequences of any further non-compliance.
Examples:
If an offender is failing to comply with the requirements of the sentence at an agency placement, and initial steps to address this have been taken, e.g. formal warning(s) issued, then the offender should be instructed to report to the community work centre (CWC) for centre placement to continue serving their sentence.
Requiring an offender to attend extra work days could be an appropriate response to non-compliance. If requiring the offender to attend extra days, the senior community work supervisor/probation officer must be mindful of section 64 (4) of the Sentencing Act 2002 which states:
the times at which the offender is required to report, and the periods during which he or she is required to do community work, must be such as to avoid interference, so far as practicable, with the offender’s attendance at any place of education or employment, or with his or her religious observances.
If the offender is not complying satisfactorily with the sentence, part (5%), or all of the possible, 10% remission of hours may be withdrawn.
The following should be recorded in IOMS casenotes:
Reference: Volume 3a, Part VI, Chapter 3, Section 3c, Remission of Hours. ( please refer to the related links section on this page)
If the offender is failing to carry out work to the satisfaction of the senior community work supervisor/probation officer, there is provision in the legislation for hours to be not counted, and penalty hours imposed.
Note: This applies to offenders serving their sentence of CW at the centre only.
Reference: Volume 3a, Part VI, Chapter 3, Section 3d, Not Counting Hours. ( please refer to the related links section on this page)
If an offender is disruptive, threatening, intoxicated or abusive while undertaking CW, it may be appropriate that he/she is sent home.
Where an offender is sent home they should only be credited with the hours they were on site. This action should be recorded in IOMS casenotes. Other sanctions may also be considered in this situation, e.g. formal warning.
On some occasions it may be appropriate to use more than one enforcement tool at a time.
There may be times where it appropriate to use breach and application to cancel when an offender has breached the conditions of the sentence/order and has failed to comply with the requirements of the sentence.
This may include cases where the sentence is no longer manageable due to the breach.
Examples:
In exceptional circumstances it may be appropriate to deviate from the guidelines provided. This should only be done with the approval of a service manger unless otherwise specified. For offenders on the offender warning system (OWS), this should only be done with the approval of an area manager.
Any deviation should be explained in detail in IOMS casenotes.
Specific details of the non-compliance and the response taken, e.g. formal verbal/written warning issued, should be recorded in IOMS casenotes at the time of the event.
Any discussion with the senior probation officer or service manager relating to non-compliance and action taken, or not taken, should also be recorded.
Where the senior community work supervisor/probation officer is unsure of the appropriate enforcement action to take, this should be discussed with the senior probation officer or service manager.
Important: All legal enforcement action must be checked by the service manager before being lodged at court.
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