Policy paper

Sentencing Bill: probation community measures factsheet

Published 3 September 2025

Background

This Government inherited a prison system in crisis, putting the public at grave risk. Prisons were on the brink of collapse, with capacity dangerously close to being exceeded. Although we are building prisons at an exceptional rate, we cannot simply build our way out of this crisis. Without significant reform, demand for places will outstrip supply by 9,500 in early 2028. That is why we commissioned the Independent Sentencing Review, led by David Gauke, to ensure no Government ever finds itself in this position again. The Sentencing Bill implements many of the Review’s recommendations to reduce reoffending, protect victims, and restore public confidence in the justice system.

The Government is building prisons at an exceptional rate to tackle the capacity crisis – but we cannot build our way out, as the prison population is rising too fast. That is why we are introducing this Bill: to implement most of David Gauke’s recommendations from the Independent Sentencing Review. This includes seeing more offenders serve their sentences in the community.

Our community sentences must be robust and command public confidence. They must punish offenders, support our victims, and provide a genuine path to rehabilitation. To support this, our measures will enable practitioners to focus their efforts where they matter most – on high-risk and complex offenders.

That is also why we are introducing measures to make unpaid work tougher, ensuring the public can see that justice is being delivered in their communities. We are also expanding the Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle prolific and persistent offending.

We are also introducing measures to incentivise offenders to comply with their community sentences and unpaid work requirements. The scheme was inspired by the model in Texas and mirrors the reforms we are bringing in for prison sentences. Offenders will have to earn their way out. For community sentences, they will have to earn an earlier end date to their order or supervision period by completing their sentence plan, including all court-ordered requirements. Incentivising better engagement and progression helps reduce reoffending and supports probation teams in delivering sentences which will help reduce crime and protect the public.

The Government is backing these measures with an investment of up to £700m by the final year of the spending review period, around a 45% increase in funding.

Recruitment and training of staff remain high priorities for the Probation Service, to ensure we have a sufficient workforce to safely supervise and manage people in the community. 

The Probation Service exceeded our 2024-25 trainee target of 1,000, successfully onboarding 1,057 trainees and we have committed to onboarding a further 1,300 trainees in 2025/26. We have secured £8 million in the Spring Statement to invest in new technology for front line staff.
We are also introducing new tough restriction zones which will restrict offenders to a specific geographical area. These will be electronically monitored and are intended to serve not just as a punishment, but as an important tool to protect victims. 

Electronic monitoring can be imposed on anyone receiving a Community Order or Suspended Sentence Order. We are increasing investment in tagging as an essential tool to cut crime and protect victims.

Summary of Community measures

The Bill includes five measures to:

• incentivise compliance with community sentences including unpaid work requirements
• streamline processes to enable probation to focus their efforts where they matter most to protect the public
• provide for the publication of names and photographs of offenders undertaking unpaid work
• provide greater flexibility to target activity based on an offender’s risk and need

Community Sentence Progression Scheme

Background

Community-based sentences play a key role in the criminal justice system for public protection, punishment, and rehabilitation. They include community orders and suspended sentence orders.

A community order is a non-custodial sentence served in the community and can include one or more order requirements imposed by the court. A suspended sentence order is a custodial sentence that is suspended for a specific period, on the basis that no further offences are committed and order requirements are complied with. The Probation Service is responsible for the management and enforcement of community orders and suspended sentence orders.

Probation practitioners should complete a sentence plan within 15 days of the beginning of the offender’s sentence. It forms part of their initial assessment and is completed in collaboration with the offender. A sentence plan should cover the whole of the sentence, should be clear about how the aims of the sentence will be achieved and the specific commitments of all those involved, including the offender. This includes how all court-ordered requirements will be met and activities related to these, as well as all other activities intended to address offender-related behaviour and needs. A sentence plan is monitored, assessed and updated throughout the sentence.

What are we going to do?

This measure will establish a community sentence progression scheme to incentivise offenders serving community sentences to engage with probation and their court-ordered requirements.

The Government will incentivise offenders to comply with their sentence plan and court-ordered requirements by:

• For offenders on a community order: completion of the court ordered requirements and all other objectives in the sentence plan will result in the community order ending early.
• For offenders on a suspended sentence order: completion of the court ordered requirements and all other objectives in the sentence plan will result in the supervision period being terminated early. The operational period (i.e., length of time for which a sentence is suspended) will remain unchanged. This means further offending can activate the custodial sentence. The court will determine the penalty for the breach of the operational period.

This will allow the Probation Service to encourage early engagement, compliance with sentence requirements, and completion of rehabilitative activities, and to support offenders who demonstrate good progress and take steps to turn their lives around and change their behaviour.

By terminating the cases where no further interventions are needed and removing them from Probation’s caseload, these measures will also enable the Service to focus on more serious and complex offenders, to better protect the public and reduce reoffending.

How are we going to do it?

The Bill will introduce a measure enabling community orders and the supervision period of suspended sentence orders to terminate once an offender has completed all their court-ordered requirements and all other objectives in their sentence plan.

The courts will continue to set the length of the order and the requirements at the point of sentencing. We understand that sentencers and the public will need confidence in the new regime. To ensure community sentences are delivered promptly and effectively, we will conduct significant operational work on improving sentence planning quality, including training and guidance for practitioners.

Practitioners will work with offenders to complete the objectives set out in the sentence plan and mark these as completed once they have been met. The sentence plan will be kept updated and under review throughout the sentence. Once all court-ordered requirements have been completed and all other objectives in the sentence plan have been completed, the practitioner will mark it as complete, and the order will then terminate.

Like with the prison sentences reforms, offenders will need to ‘earn’ an earlier order termination. The length of any prohibited activity requirements or exclusion zones will not change and these will continue to be enforceable for the full duration set out by the court. Offenders will not be eligible for early termination of the order until these requirements have been completed. Offenders must also complete all other objectives set for them by their Probation Officer, including those connected to risk of reoffending and public protection.

Only the supervision period of SSOs will end early under the scheme. The operational period will continue, and the suspended sentence can be activated throughout the full period of the originally sentenced order length.

The only exclusion to the early termination scheme will be for orders subject to oversight from Intensive Supervision Courts. Otherwise, the scheme will apply to anyone who is subject to a community order or a suspended sentence order issued by a court in England or Wales and supervised by the Probation Service in England or Wales at the time these measures come into force.

We will retain the existing right for an offender to apply directly to court for early revocation of their order on the grounds of good progress so a judge can decide whether it should be terminated early.

Reduction in Unpaid Work (UPW) hours as an incentive for good behaviour

Background

Offenders can be sentenced to UPW as a way to pay back to the community for their crimes, under both community orders and suspended sentence orders. The delivery of an UPW requirement is known as ‘Community Payback’ and is the responsibility of the Probation Service. Examples include picking litter, scrubbing graffiti, or decorating a community centre. All offenders are required to complete all the hours they are sentenced to.

Although offenders can be penalised if they do not attend UPW placements without good reason, there is currently no incentive for offenders to complete their hours earlier than the end of their sentence. The Government will incentivise offenders to complete their hours earlier by offering a discount in sentenced hours to recognise sustained compliance with their UPW requirement. This will encourage good behaviour, motivate offenders to complete their hours more quickly, and support the Probation Service by increasing rates of UPW delivery.

What are we going to do?

The courts will continue to set the number of UPW hours an offender is required to complete at the point of sentencing.

This measure will introduce an earned automatic reduction in the number of unpaid work (UPW) hours sentenced as part of a community order or suspended sentence order, where offenders demonstrate sustained compliance with their UPW requirement.

An offender will only be eligible to earn any discounted hours after completing 25% of their sentenced hours and can only earn credits for as long as they demonstrate sustained compliance. Failure to do so means they will not be able to earn more discounts, and could result in enforcement action, including being sent back to court and resentencing.

How are we going to do it?

To start earning the reduction under this scheme, offenders will need to complete a qualifying period without incurring an unacceptable absence or being sent home for failing to comply with the supervisor’s instructions.

The maximum discount offenders can receive under this measure is 25% of their original sentenced hours. Following the qualifying period, offenders will still need to demonstrate sustained compliance; failure to do so will result in offenders being unable to earn further discounts under this measure.

Repeated instances of non-compliance will continue to be addressed by probation through existing enforcement proceedings, which could see the offender returned to court for resentencing or additional penalties.

Only offenders who demonstrate sustained compliance can benefit from this measure. Offenders who receive additional Unpaid Work hours as a penalty following a breach of their Community Order or Suspended Sentence Order will not be eligible to earn a reduction on these penalty hours.

Removing the 12-month delivery restriction for Unpaid Work (UPW)

Background

An UPW requirement is one of the requirements that can be imposed by the court as part of a community sentence on a person aged 18 or over who is convicted of an offence. When an unpaid work requirement is imposed, the court has to specify the number of hours in the order an offender is required to undertake – this can be no less than 40 hours and no more than 300 hours of unpaid work which currently must be completed within a period of 12 months.

If the sentenced UPW hours are not completed within 12 months of the order, probation is currently required to apply to the court to extend the period within which the hours can be completed.

Extension applications are often subject to delays due to court-listing capacity constraints. These delays can lead to community sentences expiring with outstanding hours, necessitating further court appearances for extensions, causing significant backlogs. Presently, no unpaid work can be undertaken after the 12-month period expires until the court grants an extension.

What are we going to do?

Remove the requirement for offenders to complete unpaid work hours within a 12-month period from sentence. The offender will instead be required to complete their hours of UPW within the overall time frame of their community order. This will mean that staff are no longer required to apply to the court to extend the period of time within which the hours can be completed.

The aim of the legislative change is to eliminate inefficient processes and the administrative burden of returning cases to court for extensions to delivery times.

How are we going to do it?

This measure will amend the definition of an UPW requirement in the Sentencing Act 2020, by removing the requirement for delivery to occur within the first 12 months of a community sentence.

The period of time an offender is required to complete their unpaid work hours will align with the length of their community order. This will be consistent with other community order requirements.

Publishing the names and photographs of individuals subject to an unpaid work (UPW) requirement

Background

Offenders can be sentenced to an UPW requirement as a way to pay back to the community for their crimes, under both community orders and suspended sentence orders. UPW is the most-used punitive requirement set by the court. The delivery of an UPW requirement is known as ‘Community Payback’ and is overseen by the probation service.

An UPW requirement can be imposed for between 40 and 300 hours and requires to offender to undertake visible demanding projects that directly benefit their local community. Examples include picking litter, scrubbing graffiti and maintaining local community spaces.

Currently, those undertaking an UPW requirement are required to wear high-visibility jackets with ‘Community Payback’ branding to show the public that justice is being done. Examples of the work completed by individuals completing unpaid work are often promoted via regional probation social media sites, however the names and photographs of these individuals are not routinely published.

What are we going to do?

To build confidence in community sentences and increase the visibility and transparency of community payback we will publish the names and photographs of individuals subject to an unpaid work requirement.

How are we going to do it?

Provide probation practitioners with a legal power to take and publish the names and photographs of individuals subject to an UPW requirement.

During their initial appointment, practitioners will assess whether an individual’s circumstances pose a risk to themselves or others that justifies an exemption. Exemption criteria will be set out in legislation.

Enforcement processes will apply if an offender refuses to comply where not exempt, which could include being sent back to court to face a harsher sentence.

Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR) Reform

Background

The RAR is currently the most used community requirement that can be attached to a Community Order or to a Suspended Sentence Order. When sentencing a RAR, the court sets the maximum number of days of rehabilitation activity to be delivered at the point of sentence, although it is not a statutory requirement for probation practitioners to fulfil the maximum number of days set by the court. As part of the RAR, probation practitioners are required to deliver rehabilitative activity days alongside separate supervision appointments which can also help to address the thinking and attitudes of offenders.

In line with recommendations from the Independent Sentencing Review, the Bill will make changes to legislation to replace the RAR with a new simplified Probation Requirement. This measure will mean probation practitioners will be afforded greater flexibility to decide the volume and intensity of rehabilitation activity that an individual sentenced to a ‘Probation Requirement’ should complete, in place of the courts setting maximum activity days.

The replacement of RAR with a ‘Probation Requirement’ is a move to a new model that will enable supervision and intervention decisions to be better led by practitioners’ professional assessment of the evidence linked to the risk and need of an offender. This will help to ensure probation resource is targeted where it has the most impact on reducing reoffending and protecting the public.

What are we going to do?

Replace the RAR with a new ‘Probation Requirement’ which will provide probation practitioners with greater flexibility to decide the volume and intensity of supervision and rehabilitation activity based on their professional assessment of an offender’s risk and need.

Recent evaluation found the RAR has not been achieving its full potential. This measure will address this by removing court-set RAR days to enable probation resource to be better targeted towards where the evidence shows it will have the most impact on protecting the public and reducing reoffending.

Offenders will be required to comply with the instructions of their responsible officer and failure to do so could result in enforcement action, including being sent back to court which can set a more onerous sentence.

How are we going to do it?

This measure will amend the Sentencing Act 2020 to replace the RAR with a broader requirement. The court will decide to sentence an offender to this requirement, but instead of setting the maximum volume of rehabilitation activity at sentencing before probation determine what intervention is needed, this provision will enable probation practitioners to determine this directly following a thorough assessment of risk and need.

The Probation Service will therefore use their professional expertise after sentencing, to determine and tailor both the volume of rehabilitation activity and intensity of supervision required.