Corrections
Is a community sentence just a warning with paperwork?
No. In one system the statute lists fifteen kinds of requirement a court may attach — unpaid work, curfews, exclusion, residence, treatment, electronic monitoring of compliance and of whereabouts — and the order is whatever combination the court imposes.
In short
A community order is not a single sanction. It is a container: the court makes an order and attaches requirements to it, and what the sentence actually consists of is whichever requirements were attached. Two community orders can therefore have almost nothing in common beyond the name.
Why it exists
AnalysisA single non-custodial sanction would have to be either too light for the serious end of its range or too heavy for the light end. Building the sentence from components lets one legal form cover the whole span between a fine and custody, and lets the court address what the case actually calls for rather than choosing the nearest available shape.
How it works
Section 201 of the Sentencing Act 2020 sets out the community order requirements table. The requirement types it lists are: unpaid work; rehabilitation activity; programme; prohibited activity; curfew; exclusion; residence; foreign travel prohibition; mental health treatment; drug rehabilitation; drug testing; alcohol treatment; alcohol abstinence and monitoring; attendance centre; electronic compliance monitoring; and electronic whereabouts monitoring.
The table is not static. The drug testing requirement was inserted into it on 28 June 2022 by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 — which is a reminder that the menu of community requirements is a policy instrument a legislature adjusts, rather than a fixed feature of the sentence.
Availability is bounded at both ends. A court must not make a community order unless it is of the opinion that the offence, or the combination of the offence and associated offences, was serious enough to warrant one — and the fact that it may make such an order does not require it to do so.
The upper bound is the custody threshold, and it is expressed in terms of this sanction: a court must not pass a custodial sentence unless the offence was so serious that neither a fine alone nor a community sentence can be justified. The community order is therefore not merely an alternative to custody; it is one of the two things a court must have ruled out before custody becomes available.
Common misconceptions
Widely held beliefs that do not match how the system actually operates.
Common belief: A community sentence means no real consequences.
In practice: The statutory requirement types include unpaid work, curfews, exclusion, residence, foreign travel prohibition and electronic whereabouts monitoring. These are continuing restrictions on liberty, imposed outside a prison rather than instead of consequence.
Common belief: A community order is one sanction.
In practice: It is an order with requirements attached from a statutory table of sixteen entries. What the sentence consists of is whichever requirements the court imposed.
Common belief: Community requirements are all about rehabilitation.
In practice: The table mixes three kinds: requirements that take something away, requirements that address a cause, and two electronic monitoring requirements whose function is to make the others verifiable.
Common belief: If the offence is serious enough for a community order, the court should make one.
In practice: Section 204(5) provides that the fact the court may make a community order does not require it to do so. Passing the threshold makes the sentence available, not obligatory.
Common belief: The list of available requirements is a permanent feature of the sentence.
In practice: It is amended by statute — the drug testing requirement was inserted on 28 June 2022 by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.
How this varies between jurisdictions
A required section on every guide. Arrangements differ between countries, and we say how.
What the statutory table contains, grouped by what each kind of requirement does.
- Requirements that take something away — unpaid work, curfew, exclusion, residence, foreign travel prohibition, prohibited activity, attendance centre.
- Requirements that address a cause — rehabilitation activity, programme, mental health treatment, drug rehabilitation, drug testing, alcohol treatment, alcohol abstinence and monitoring.
- Requirements that make the others verifiable — electronic compliance monitoring and electronic whereabouts monitoring.
Rights and accountability
AnalysisA statutory list is a limit as well as a menu. A court may attach requirements the table provides for, which means a person subject to a community order can identify what has been imposed on them and by what authority, rather than being subject to whatever an administering body considers appropriate.
AnalysisThe monitoring requirements make that limit practical from the other direction. Where compliance is verified electronically rather than by assertion, both the person subject to the order and the body supervising it are working from the same record.
What we could not establish
- One system’s requirement types are listed from primary text. What each involves in practice, how they are supervised, and what happens on breach were not researched and are not described.
- Nothing here indicates what requirements any case would attract, or how onerous any of them is.
Where to go next
Related: when a court may imprison, what a pre-sentence report is, and probation is three different things.
Related topics
- What has to be true before a court is allowed to send someone to prison?
In one system, a ladder written into statute. A community order needs the offence to be serious enough; custody needs it to be so serious that neither a fine alone nor a community sentence can be justified; and if custody follows, it must be the shortest term commensurate with the seriousness.
- What does “probation” actually mean?
Three unrelated things, depending on the system: an organisation, a status attached to a suspended custodial term, and supervision after release from custody. English supplies one word; the statutes do not.
- Is imprisonment the normal outcome of a criminal conviction?
In the systems whose statutes are quoted here, it is the outcome the law tells courts to reach for last. Two legislatures write restraint into the text — one as a principle of sentencing, one as a rule about specific sentence lengths.
Sources
The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk) · Legislation · 2020 · link verified 2026-08-26
The official revised text, each section read directly. Supports s. 59(1): every court "must, in sentencing an offender, follow any sentencing guidelines which are relevant to the offender's case" and must follow relevant guidelines in exercising any other sentencing function, "unless the court is satisfied that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so"; and s. 59(2): that the duty is subject to an enumerated list of provisions including s. 125(1) (fine must reflect seriousness), s. 204(2) (restriction on community order), s. 230 (threshold for discretionary custodial sentence), s. 231 (shortest term commensurate with seriousness) and the mandatory-minimum provisions mentioned in s. 399(c). Supports s. 30(2): where the pre-sentence report requirements apply and the offender is 18 or over, "the court must obtain and consider a pre-sentence report before forming the opinion unless, in the circumstances of the case, it considers that it is unnecessary" to do so; s. 30(3): the stricter rule for offenders under 18; and s. 30(4): that where a court does not obtain and consider such a report, "no custodial sentence or community sentence is invalidated by the fact that it did not do so". Supports s. 31(1): a "pre-sentence report" is a report made or submitted by an appropriate officer "with a view to assisting the court in determining the most suitable method of dealing with an offender", containing information as prescribed by rules; s. 31(2)(a): that for an offender aged 18 or over the appropriate officer is "an officer of a provider of probation services"; s. 31(4): that the court may accept a pre-sentence report given orally in open court; and s. 31(5): that it must be in writing for an offender under 18 in specified cases. Supports s. 201, the community order requirements table, which lists as requirement types: unpaid work; rehabilitation activity; programme; prohibited activity; curfew; exclusion; residence; foreign travel prohibition; mental health treatment; drug rehabilitation; drug testing (inserted 28 June 2022 by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022); alcohol treatment; alcohol abstinence and monitoring; attendance centre; electronic compliance monitoring; and electronic whereabouts monitoring. ENGLAND AND WALES, extent-marked E+W. It supports nothing about Scotland or Northern Ireland, states no sentence for any offence, and supports no claim about what any guideline says or how often any requirement is imposed.
The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk) · Legislation · 2020 · link verified 2026-08-26
The official revised text, each section read directly at its own page. Supports s. 125(1): "The amount of any fine fixed by a court must be such as, in the opinion of the court, reflects the seriousness of the offence"; s. 125(2): in fixing the amount the court must take into account the circumstances of the case including in particular the financial circumstances of the offender so far as known or apparent; and s. 125(3): that this applies "whether taking into account the financial circumstances of the offender has the effect of increasing or reducing the amount of the fine". Supports s. 204(2): the court must not make a community order unless it is of the opinion that the offence, or the combination of the offence and associated offences, "was serious enough to warrant the making of such an order"; s. 204(3): the court must take into account all available information about the circumstances including aggravating and mitigating factors; and s. 204(5): the fact that the court MAY make a community order "does not require it to do so". Supports s. 230(2): the court "must not pass a custodial sentence unless it is of the opinion that" the offence, or the combination, "was so serious that neither a fine alone nor a community sentence can be justified for the offence"; and s. 230(3): that the section does not apply where a mandatory sentence requirement applies. Supports s. 231(2): a custodial sentence "must be for the shortest term (not exceeding the permitted maximum) that in the opinion of the court is commensurate with the seriousness" of the offence or combination, subject to stated exceptions for sentences fixed by law and required life sentences. Sections in force 1 December 2020 (S.I. 2020/1236). ENGLAND AND WALES, extent-marked E+W. It states no sentence for any offence and supports no prediction of any outcome.