Guidance on resolving Unpaid Work Requirements and Extensions
Judith Blackman
June 2019
Guidance on resolving Unpaid Work
Requirements and Extensions
Judith Blackman
June 2019
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Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 3
Guidance………………………………………………………………………………………....3
Good Practice…………..………………………………..3
Mandatory action..……………………………………….3
If action to extend, revoke or cancel is not taken........4
Figure 1: Extending the requirement…………………..5
Figure 2: Upon extension of requirement……………..7
Figure 3: Exceptions to extending requirement...........8
Further questions……………………………………….10
Appendix ........................................................................................................................ 11
Appendix A: Letters to re-engage following extension to requirement…..11
Appendix B: Letter information and N-Delius……………………...……….13
Guidance on resolving Unpaid Work Requirements and Extensions
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Introduction 1.1
On 7th March 2019, the High Court (Lord Justice Leggatt) found in favour of an NPS
appeal and confirmed that although an unpaid work requirement is made for a period of
12 months, a community order unless revoked, remains in force until the hours are
completed, as provided in section 200(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (CJA). This
means that:
• An application to extend the requirement can be made after the 12 months have
expired.
• Enforcement action can only be taken if there are outstanding hours meaning that
the order is in force.
Consequently, applications for extension can be made either prior to, or after the 12
month point in order that the requirement can be completed or any necessary breach
action can take place.
Guidance 2.1
For NPS and CRC Offender Management functions:
Good Practice
• It is good practice that applications for extension are identified at the 9-month
point of the order or earlier if needed and presented to the court before the 12-
month expiry date of the requirement.
• Any orders that are identified as being in breach prior to the 12-month point
should have the case listed for breach as soon as possible.
Mandatory Action
• Orders that reach the 12-month point with UPW hours outstanding (either with a
standalone UPW requirement or as part of multiple requirements) MUST have
some action taken, either to:
▪ Extend the requirement or,
▪ Cancel the requirement (appropriate for SSOs with single
requirements) or,
Guidance on resolving Unpaid Work Requirements and Extensions
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▪ Revoke the order (applicable to COs with a single UPW
requirement)
The above actions apply unless breach proceedings are pending that were
commenced prior to the 12-month point being reached.
If Action to extend, revoke or cancel is not taken
• The offender would potentially be in breach of s200(2) CJA obligations to
complete the hours within a defined period (i.e. 12 months); unless they had
reasonable excuse for failing to comply.
• The responsible officer could not direct the offender to undertake UPW once the
200(2) period (i.e. 12 months) had expired. The extension is therefore necessary
to enable UPW hours to be enforceable after the original 12-month period has
expired.
2.2
The aim of this document is to provide guidance to NPS and CRCs for those orders,
with hours outstanding, that have not had the Unpaid Work requirement extended within
12 months of the original date of sentence.
Figures 1 and 2 display guidance for:
• Extending the requirement
• Upon extension of requirement.
Figure 3 details exceptions to the extension process:
• Cancelling or revoking the requirement in the interests of justice.
• Orders that on 7th March 2019 had outstanding requirements that have fewer
than ten hours remaining to be worked.
• Orders that were made over 3.5 years prior to 7th March 2019.
Guidance on resolving Unpaid Work Requirements and Extensions
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Figure 1
Extending the Requirement
Extensions: Community Orders
The court’s power to extend an unpaid work requirement of a community order is
authorised under paragraph 20, Schedule 8 to the CJA. It is not an automatic process
as:
• to extend a requirement to complete UPW hours beyond 12 months, the court
must be satisfied that it is in the interests of justice to extend, having regard to
the circumstances which have arisen since the order was made.
Paragraph 25, Schedule 8 of the same Act also states that the offender must be
summonsed to attend. If he/she does not appear in answer to the summons, the court
can be asked to deal with the request in their absence; although they also have the
power to issue a warrant for arrest. The Responsible Officer (RO) should submit the
request to the NPS for processing as per all other summons requests.
The offender has the right to appear to raise objections. For example, in the case of
applications to extend, the offender may argue that it is not in the interests of justice to
extend the period and that a more appropriate application would be to revoke the
order.
Extensions: Suspended Sentence Orders (SSOs)
Where the defendant has been sentenced to complete unpaid work as part of a SSO,
the position is slightly different to that of community orders. Section 200(4) of the CJA
states that the ‘supervision period’ of a SSO continues until the unpaid work hours are
completed, but that it does not continue beyond the ‘operational period’ of the
sentence.
However, where it is apparent that the UPW requirement will not be completed within
the initial 12-month requirement period, then the case must be returned to court and an
application made to extend the requirement under paragraph 18 of Schedule 12 of the
CJA. A hearing will be necessary so that the application can be considered at court.
Unlike COs, there is no power to summons the defendant to the hearing. The
defendant should however be notified, so that they may attend the hearing. It is
important to note that the duration of the requirement cannot be extended beyond the
operational period of the order. Relevant legislation is contained at s.200 (4) to the
2003 Act:
• The Act states that an unpaid work requirement continues until the offender has
completed the specified hours, but that it does not continue beyond the end of
the operational period. An application may be made by the RO to extend the 12-
month period (as required by s.200(2) within which unpaid work must be
completed), but the work must still be completed within the operational period of
the SSO.
Guidance on resolving Unpaid Work Requirements and Extensions
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Applications for extension
Applications for extension need to be listed in local courts.
• The NPS will work with the local CRC and HMCTS to identify in advance, the
number of applications that can be heard in any one court sitting and then
arrange for listings.
• NPS and CRC will work together to ensure that the number of applications put
through by the CRC are able to be processed in a timely way by NPS. Both NPS
and CRCs are responsible for producing the paperwork in relation to their own
cases. It is the responsibility of NPS to undertake quality and legality checks
before putting in front of the court.
Recording (N-Delius) for successful applications to extend UPW
requirements
Subsequent recording of extensions for Community Orders:
• The date by which one or ALL of the requirement/s are required to have been
completed by should be amended to the new date.
• The length of the initial Order should not be amended.
Subsequent recording of extensions for Suspended Sentence Orders:
• The date by which one or ALL of the requirement/s are required to have been
completed by should be amended to the new date (but cannot continue beyond
the operational period of the SSO).
• The operational period of the initial Suspended Sentence Order should not be
amended.
Guidance on resolving Unpaid Work Requirements and Extensions
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Figure 2
Upon extension of requirement
Re-engage the service user
Where a requirement has been extended at court, the next step is for the RO to
attempt to re-engage the service user.
• This can be done in writing or by personal contact to explain that the hours are
not completed and that there is an obligation on their part to undertake the
outstanding hours or be liable to breach action. Appendix A provides templates
for letters of appointment to re-engage for COs and SSOs (templates ‘NAT
Letter to Re-engage’ on N-Delius).
• Upon re-engagement having taken place, consideration can be made for any
change in circumstances (e.g. health deterioration) that may mean in exceptional
circumstances, it is in the interests of justice to apply for the requirement to be
cancelled (for multi requirement orders or SSOs) or the community revoked for
single requirement orders.
Breach
Where a requirement has been extended at court and the service user has failed to re-
engage, breach action will be appropriate.
• The relevant absence date to mark the reason for breach will be the date given
for the re-engagement appointment. It is important to bear in mind when issuing
dates for re-engagement that the breach clock starts ticking with these
appointments and so they need to be made with a plan for listing any necessary
subsequent breaches (see below).
• Any breach will be processed in the normal way, although in a few areas it may
be necessary for NPS to arrange with HMCTS for additional breach courts to run.
• NPS and CRC must discuss in advance, the volume and flow of breach
applications to be made. This is because both organisations need enough time to
prepare their breaches, the NPS must be able to process them within the
required 2-day period and request the summons within 10 days of the relevant
absence date. It is accepted that the breach hearings may themselves take
some time to list and come to court.
Guidance on resolving Unpaid Work Requirements and Extensions
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Figure 3
Exceptions to extending requirement
Cancelling or revoking the requirement in the interests of justice
Where an offender’s good progress provides the basis for an application, two options
are of relevance here:
Cancellation of a requirement
An application can be made to cancel an unpaid work requirement on the grounds of
the offender's good progress. For example, Schedule 12 to the 2003 Act refers to the
circumstances in which it may be appropriate to cancel the requirement for a
Suspended Sentence Order in the interests of justice, taking into consideration the
circumstances which have arisen since the order was imposed.
Cancelling the requirement removes it from a live order, and is appropriate for:
• Community Orders with multiple requirements.
• Suspended Sentence Orders (which is when the order itself needs to remain
live).
Revocation of a requirement
An application to revoke an order is appropriate for:
• Community Orders with a single requirement, given that removal of the unpaid
work requirement means that there is no other reason in having the order in
existence.
Orders that on 7th March 2019 had outstanding requirements that
have fewer than ten hours remaining to be worked.
For all offenders (unless their most recent OASys indicates they pose a high risk of
serious harm):
• These hours will be deemed to be completed given that any appointment to re-
engage the service user will, in effect, complete the hours anyway.
• For these cases, the offender must be credited with the outstanding hours with
the Delius entry of “Engagement completed, hours credited”, and the
outstanding hours should be reduced to zero.
Guidance on resolving Unpaid Work Requirements and Extensions
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• The order should then be terminated on N-Delius in the same way as a
successful completion, unless there are other live requirements as part of an
order with multiple requirements.
For offenders whose most recent OASys indicates they pose a high or very high risk of
serious harm:
• The process of extension and re-engagement should be followed as indicated
earlier.
Orders that were made over 3.5 years prior to 7th March 2019
Orders that were made more than 3.5 years ago should be considered on a case by
case basis according to the following:
• If the offender is assessed as posing a High Risk of Serious Harm, the order
should be returned to court with a recommendation for extension; and with an
explanation given as to why this is proposed given the length of time elapsed
since commencement of the order.
• If the offender has never appeared in court for further offences since the
order was made, the order should be returned to court with a recommendation
for cancellation of the requirement ‘in the interests of justice’ or revocation of the
order if UW is the sole requirement.
➢ If this is refused, then a proposal should be made for extension of the
requirement to enable the hours to be completed.
• If the offender has subsequently appeared in court for further offences; a
determination needs to be made as to whether it appears that the failure to
complete the UPW hours was taken into consideration at this later sentencing:
➢ If it was taken into account, the older order with an UPW requirement
should be returned to court with a recommendation for cancellation of the
requirement ‘in the interests of justice’, as it had been rolled into
subsequent sentencing.
➢ If it was not taken into account, then the order should be returned to
court with a recommendation for extension, with an explanation given as
to why the failure to comply was not dealt with at the time of the
subsequent sentence.
Guidance on resolving Unpaid Work Requirements and Extensions
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Further questions
Further questions for clarification can be directed to:
Judith Blackman [email protected] for NPS
Tracy Curtis [email protected] for CRC
Guidance on resolving Unpaid Work Requirements and Extensions
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Appendix
Appendix A (i) – Letter to re-engage following extension of requirement (COs)
Date: LETTERDATE
Dear FORENAME SURNAME
As you may recall, you were sentenced to
SENTENCINGCOURTAPPEARANCEOUTCOME on SENTENCEDATE. This Order
required you to undertake a period of Unpaid Work.
Although a Community Order with an Unpaid Work Requirement imposed continues in
force until the all of the unpaid hours have been worked, it should be completed within
12 months of the making of the Order (S.200(2) Criminal Justice Act 2003).
This means that the Community Order remains in force until the number of hours
imposed at court have been completed.
Our records show that you completed enter number of hours here of enter number of
hours here hours of your Unpaid Work requirement. You therefore have enter
number of hours here hours outstanding.
I am writing to ask that you attend the enter office here office on enter day,
DD/MM/YYYY at enter time here.
Please note that attendance is required as part of your Community Order, and breach
proceedings can be commenced if you do not attend.
If you are unable to attend at this time, please can you phone enter contact number
here to re-arrange your appointment.
Yours Sincerely
CURRENTORDERMANAGERNAME
Guidance on resolving Unpaid Work Requirements and Extensions
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Appendix A (ii) – Letter to re-engage following extension of requirement (SSOs)
Date: LETTERDATE
Dear FORENAME SURNAME
As you may recall, you were sentenced to
SENTENCINGCOURTAPPEARANCEOUTCOME on SENTENCEDATE. This Order
required you to undertake a period of Unpaid Work.
The unpaid work hours of your Suspended Sentence Order should have been
completed within 12 months of the making of the Order (S.200(2) Criminal Justice Act
2003).
However, the requirement to complete your unpaid work hours continues until you have
completed all of the specified hours, but it cannot continue beyond the end of Order
itself. This means that you are still required to complete your unpaid work before the
end of your Suspended Sentence Order.
Our records show that you completed enter number of hours here of enter number of
hours here hours of your Unpaid Work requirement. You therefore have enter
number of hours here hours outstanding.
I am writing to ask that you attend the enter office here office on enter day,
DD/MM/YYYY at enter time here.
Please note that attendance is required as part of your Suspended Sentence Order, and
breach proceedings can be commenced if you do not attend.
If you are unable to attend at this time, please can you phone enter contact number
here to re-arrange your appointment.
Yours Sincerely
CURRENTORDERMANAGERNAME
Guidance on resolving Unpaid Work Requirements and Extensions
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Appendix B – Letter information and N-Delius
• The letters in Appendix A are named ‘NAT Letter to Re-engage’ in N-Delius.
• Bookmarks are added in various places in the letter (in CAPITALS) to add several
fields e.g. the author. The Sentence details and Date bookmark will only work
when the document is linked to the event. Sentence details cannot pull through if
linked to the offender level on N-Delius. Nevertheless, the letter is fully editable
and live in N-Delius.
• The letter template has been linked as follows:
➢ Contact Type – CP/UPW Work Instructions Issued ➢ Contact Type – Letter to Offender ➢ Contact Type – Other Appointment (NS) ➢ Event Level – Sentence Level ➢ NSI Level – Breach Request ➢ NSI Level – Court Work Requests
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