Community Payback Orders

 

Community Payback Orders

Last updated | 31/05/2011

The Community Payback Order (CPO) is a sentence that applies to offences committed on or after 1 February 2011. This will replace the previous sentencing options of community service orders, probation orders and supervised attendance orders. Offences committed prior to 1 February 2011 will continue to dealt with as before and will be unaffected by the introduction of the Community Payback Order.

You can visit  the Scottish Government website for detailed information about the different community sentencing options including community payback.

Each Community Payback Order can consist of a range of requirements. Those imposed will be dependent upon the offence committed and the underlying causes of offending. The requirements are:

• Unpaid work or other activity requirement
• Offender supervision requirement
• Compensation requirement
• Programme requirement
• Mental health treatment requirement
• Drug treatment requirement
• Alcohol treatment requirement
• Residence requirement
• Conduct requirement

Key features of the Community Payback Order are:

• The Community Payback Order will be a sentence - not an alternative to a sentence, as a probation order is.
• The Community Payback Order will be regarded as an alternative to custody; but courts will also be able to impose a Community Payback Order with a restricted range of requirements as an alternative to, or in addition to, a fine.
• Previously, in cases where a short jail term (or more recently supervised attendance orders) would have been imposed on minor fine defaulters, courts will now impose a low tariff Community Payback Order.
• A Community Payback Order including an unpaid work or other activity requirement may only be imposed on an offender aged 16 or above.
• Unpaid work or other activity requirements can be imposed for between 20 and 300 hours. A requirement of 20-100 hours is referred to as a "level 1 requirement"; and a requirement of 101-300 hours as a "level 2 requirement". Where an unpaid work or other activity requirement is to be imposed in a Justice of the Peace court, it will be limited to a "level 1 requirement";.
• Justice of the Peace courts can select from: offender supervision requirement, level 1 unpaid work or other activity requirement, residence requirement, conduct requirement and compensation requirement.
• Orders can be made for a period of between 6 months and 3 years unless they consist solely of an unpaid work or other activity requirement. An unpaid work or other activity requirement must be completed within 3 months (level 1) and 6 months (level 2) - unless the court states otherwise at the point of sentence.
• An offender supervision requirement is mandatory when an order is imposed on an offender aged under 18 years. It is also mandatory when a court imposes any requirement apart from an unpaid work or other activity requirement.
• A further offence committed during the order is not a breach of the order.
• A court may schedule discretionary periodic review hearings to check on an offender's progress at any point within the duration of the order.
• A court may schedule discretionary periodic review hearings to check on an offender's progress at any point within the duration of the order.
• A court can decide to discharge an order early, in circumstances where an offender has made highly positive progress
• If an offender breaches a Community Payback Order, the court can vary the order to impose new or different requirements. It can decide to impose a restricted movement requirement (electronic monitoring). Ultimately it can decide to revoke the order and impose a custodial sentence, or any other disposal which it could have used at first instance.
• The local authority must carry out an annual community consultation on the types of activities to be carried out locally by those subject to an unpaid work or other activity requirement.