Community Sentences

Probation staff in South Yorkshire supervise over 6,500 new cases every year, working out of offices throughout the area. More than 5,000 people receive a community sentence.

Since May 2005, the most common sentence is the Community Order, although a Suspended Sentence Order is also available. A Community Order can include up to three requirements with which an offender must comply. This may include unpaid work in the community, attendance at group work programmes or help with literacy, numeracy, drugs or alcohol from a partner agency.

Offenders sentenced to crimes committed before May 2005 would commonly receive either a Community Punishment Order (CPO), Community Rehabilitation Order (CRO), a Community Punishment and Rehabilitation Order (CPRO) or a Drug Treatment and Testing Order (DTTO).

Each year, around 2,000 people are also released from prison on licence, with conditions to keep regular appointments with a probation officer, not to re-offend and in some cases as well as restrictions on where they can live and who they can associate with.

Attendance Requirements

Failure to keep appointments or to turn up for work on a community punishment scheme can lead to offenders being returned to court.

When a community sentence is imposed by a judge or magistrate, the court team will notify the offender’s local probation office of the outcome of the offender's court appearance and request reporting instructions for a first interview. An offender will be seen by the duty officer for that day.

During first interview, the offender's details will be verified, the conditions of their order explained to them, relevant forms completed and an appointment card with 12 further appointments issued.

The importance of keeping appointments and acceptable reasons for absence is emphasised, before the case is assigned to a probation officer for the duration of the order.

The offender will usually be required to report weekly for the first three months, as the work to help prevent them re-offending begins. Appointments will then become less frequent and set according to individual needs until the order ends (there is a minimum national standard of at least once a month).

Failure to Attend

A first failure to attend, without an acceptable reason for absence, means the offender receives a final warning letter. A second failure to attend leads to a breach being initiated, and the offender is returned to court.

For more information on community sentences, download this publication:

Cracking a criminal cycle