Community Order

The Sentencing Council's guideline on the imposition of community and custodial sentences explains what a community order can achieve: 'Community orders can fulfil all of the purposes of sentencing. They can have the effect of restricting the offender's liberty while providing punishment in the community, rehabilitation for the offender, and/or ensuring that the offender engages in reparative activities.' Section 200 of the Sentencing Act 2020 defines a community order by reference to the menu of possible conditions attached to it, and the community order requirements available to the court are set out in a table: 'The community order requirements are listed in column 1 of the community order requirements table (see section 201).'

There is an upper limit on how long a community order can run: 'The maximum length of a community order is 3 years.' Within that ceiling, sentencers are directed towards restraint: 'In general, courts should impose the shortest length of a community order commensurate with the seriousness of the offence.' The Sentencing Council's guideline further indicates the scale of the unpaid work requirement across the three community order levels, ranging broadly from 40 hours at the low end up to 300 hours at the high end, with other possible requirements including exclusion, curfew and rehabilitation activity requirements tailored to the seriousness of the offending and the offender's circumstances.