Community sentencing: House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee report

1. Community orders

Some convicted offenders receive a community sentence as an alternative to a prison sentence. A ‘community order’ is one type of community sentencing option that courts can impose on adult offenders convicted of certain crimes. A community order combines some form of punishment with activities carried out in the community.^[1] When sentencing, a court will specify one or more requirements that the offender must fulfil in the community. These requirements can restrict an offender’s liberty whilst also providing punishment in the community, rehabilitation and ensuring the offender engages in reparative activities.^[2] The full list of requirements that a court in England and Wales can impose on an adult offender is set out in the Sentencing Act 2020. Offenders can receive:

• an unpaid work requirement made up of 40–300 hours of unpaid work to be completed within 12 months
• a rehabilitation activity requirement to attend rehabilitative appointments or participate in certain activities
• a programme requirement to participate in an accredited programme such as a course designed for people convicted of domestic violence offences
• a prohibited activity requirement to refrain from participating in activities such as possessing, using or carrying a firearm within the meaning of the Firearms Act 1968
• a curfew requirement to remain at a particular place such as their home during specified periods
• an exclusion requirement to ban them from entering a specified place for a particular period
• a residence requirement to oblige them to live at a particular place for a specified period
• a foreign travel prohibition requirement to prevent them from travelling outside of the British Islands on certain days or for a set period
• a mental health treatment requirement to require them to submit to mental health treatment
• a drug rehabilitation requirement to order them to submit to drug rehabilitation treatment
• a drug testing requirement to command them to provide specimen samples to ascertain whether there is any drug or psychoactive substance in the offender’s body during the specified period
• an alcohol treatment requirement to make them submit to alcohol dependency treatment
• an alcohol abstinence and monitoring requirement to require them to abstain from consuming alcohol during the specified period and submit to tests to ascertain whether there is more than a particular level of alcohol in their body
• an attendance centre requirement to oblige them to attend a relevant centre for a specified number of hours
• an electronic compliance monitoring requirement to assess their compliance with other requirements imposed by the community order during the monitoring period
• an electronic whereabouts monitoring requirement such as an electronic tag to submit their whereabouts during a specified period

The Probation Service is a statutory criminal justice service responsible for supervising offenders serving community orders.^[3] An offender who breaches their community order is liable to receive a warning and be sent back to court to potentially have their punishment increased.^[4]

Different community sentence legislation applies in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The other type of community sentencing option provided in the Sentencing Act 2020 is youth rehabilitation orders. Courts can impose these on offenders who are aged under 18 at the time of conviction. In addition to community sentences, there are other types of sentences courts can impose that can be spent in the community, including a suspended custodial sentence and being released from prison on parole.^[5]

2. House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs committee inquiry

2.1 Background

The House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee launched an inquiry in April 2023 on community orders in England and Wales. It sought to explore the use and delivery of community orders and assess trends, barriers and best practices in their use.^[6] The committee also said it would consider how community orders were regarded, their success and their practical availability across England and Wales. The inquiry report, ‘Cutting crime: Better community sentences’, was published in December 2023. Throughout the report, the committee investigated community orders only, and used the terms community sentences and community orders interchangeably.

The committee referred to a “considerable decline” in the use of community orders in recent years. According to data submitted to the committee by the National Audit Office (NAO), the number of community sentences issued by courts in England and Wales had decreased by more than half (54%) between 2012 and 2022.^[7] The NAO said part of this decline had been because the total number of people sentenced over the period had declined by 14%. Despite this, it said the proportion of all offenders given community sentences had decreased significantly. In 2012, 12.3% (151,183) of all offenders sentenced in England and Wales were given community sentences, compared to 6.6% (68,994) in 2022. The NAO said the proportion of people sentenced to immediate custody had remained relatively stable at around 6–8% of those sentenced.

The committee published a call for evidence, held nine evidence sessions and received written submissions as part of its inquiry, amongst other things.

2.2 Key conclusions

The committee said in its report that community orders were currently falling “way short of their potential”.^[8] It noted how prisons had reached operational capacity whilst it was conducting its inquiry. At the same time, it said there had been a “dramatic drop” in the use of sentences served in the community, with their use having “more than halved over recent years”.

The committee described community orders as an “essential tool” in managing the prison population.^[9] It emphasised how an effective community order could support an offender to turn their life around by providing both treatment and punishment.^[10] However, it said such support was “not widely enough provided, or indeed available”. The committee noted that “with the right investment, intensive community sentences can succeed where short prison sentences fail”. It described an “untapped potential” for keeping offenders out of prison and supporting them to avoid reoffending.

The committee reached the following key conclusions and provided several recommendations:

• Whilst custody was necessary sometimes, community orders could also be demanding, which was “contrary to public perception”.^[11] Community orders include a punitive element and can divert offenders away from crime whilst also meeting public safety needs.
• ‘Treatment requirements’ for mental ill-health, alcohol and drug use were effective if tailored to the individual offender. However, investment in such treatments was needed and best practice for their use should be shared more widely.
• Probation Service caseloads were unmanageable, with a “large shortfall” in staff numbers and the service struggling to produce pre-sentence reports (PSR) needed by the courts for sentencing. A PSR is a report produced by the Probation Service on request from the judiciary which provides an assessment of the nature and causes of an offender’s behaviour to assist the court when considering imposing a community or custodial sentence.^[12] To ensure the Probation Service was “fully functional”, recruitment and training of new probation staff should continue until vacancies are filled.^[13]
• Wraparound support offered to some female offenders had proved its effectiveness and should be a model for probation services generally. ‘Wraparound support’ referred to holistic support services such as domestic abuse advisors, educational activities and access to clothes banks, amongst others.^[14] The committee referred to a model of specialised women’s services commissioned by the Ministry of Justice in which offenders received tailored, wraparound rehabilitative support from a single provider in a single location.^[15] It said this model was “dignified, drives down reoffending and costs less than custody”. It recommended the government should explore more options for wraparound support to be made available to all people who would benefit from it.^[16]
• The need for alcohol, drug and mental health treatments “far” exceeded the rate of imposition of community sentence treatment requirements.^[17] Existing efforts to increase the availability of treatment services should be sustained and further investment in treatment services should be a priority.^[18]
• The Probation Service should place greater trust in the expert and experienced third sector organisations which provide treatment.^[19]

3. Previous Conservative government’s response to the committee’s report

The previous Conservative government responded to the committee’s report in February 2024.^[20] It said the Ministry of Justice was committed to ensuring that community orders offered a “robust and rehabilitative alternative” to custody.^[21] It referred to “persuasive evidence” that non-custodial sentences in some circumstances were more effective than short custodial sentences in promoting rehabilitation, reducing reoffending and driving down crime. It said the government was already working to improve the quality of community sentence delivery.

In May 2024, Edward Argar, the then minister of state for justice, referred to a process evaluation that had been launched by the Ministry of Justice in 2022 to assess “what works” in the delivery of unpaid work as part of a community sentence.^[22] Mr Argar said an impact and economic evaluation comparing the effectiveness of unpaid work to other punitive sentences in reducing reoffending would report in March 2025. It has not been stated whether this timetable will be affected because of the recent change in government.

4. Labour government plans to reduce reoffending

Since the 2024 general election, the new Labour government has not announced plans to increase the use of community orders specifically. However, it has committed to reducing reoffending in other ways such as by improving the job prospects of ex-offenders.^[23] It said a Labour government would work with prisons to improve offenders’ access to purposeful activity such as learning, and ensure prisons created pre-release plans. For those leaving prison, the manifesto said Labour would support ex-offenders into work by linking them up with local employers and voluntary organisations.

James (now Lord) Timpson was appointed as minister for prisons, parole and probation on 5 July 2024.^[24] During an interview with Channel 4, Mr Timpson argued that “a custodial sentence is not always the right thing”. He said community sentences enabled offenders to maintain their home, jobs and relationships, which meant they were “far less likely to commit crime again”.^[25]

5. Read more

• Ministry of Justice, ‘Proven reoffending statistics: April to June 2022’, 25 April 2024
• Ministry of Justice, ‘Unpaid work management information main points’, 16 May 2024

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Cover image from gov.uk.