Policy background Community Sentences Increases in maximum daily curfew hours and curfew requirement period
A curfew is a requirement of a community order or suspended sentence order. It requires that the offender must remain for the periods specified at a place also specified. Chapter 2 of Part 9 and Chapter 5 of Part 10 of the Code are concerned with community orders, suspended sentence orders and the imposition of a curfew requirement. The measures in sections 150 and 151 will make curfews more flexible and allow them to be imposed more creatively by courts.
	Currently, a community order or suspended sentence order may specify a maximum of 16 hours curfew per day, providing in practice a weekly maximum of 112 hours of curfew. Section 150 will increase the daily maximum to 20 curfew hours per day, whilst maintaining the seven-day period maximum of 112 hours. Paragraph 9 of Schedule 9 to the Code (on curfew requirements) is amended to reflect a new daily maximum of 20 hours and to operate within the seven-day period maximum limit. The purpose of this change is to allow for a curfew to have a greater impact on specified days. This will also allow for the total hours falling in a seven-day period to be used more creatively and flexibly by decision makers, enabling them to target what could be considered ‘leisure days’ for more punitive hours than is currently available to them.
	At present, a curfew can be imposed for a maximum of 12 months. This section also increases the maximum length of time a curfew can be imposed for to two years, by amending paragraph 9 of Schedule 9 to the Code. This change will increase the punitive weight of a curfew requirement, but also has the potential to support rehabilitation by providing a longer period during which some of the positive effects of curfew could be established, such as deterring criminal associates. It is envisaged that courts will be able to use longer curfews in particularly serious cases, where a sentence served in the community may be more effective in preventing future re-offending, alongside appropriate consideration of a custodial sentence.
	Where an offender is brought before the court on or after the commencement of these provisions in the Act for breach of an order which was made before such commencement, the court may impose a curfew according to the new measures.
	Finally, any changes to the curfew, however small, must currently be approved by the court. Section 151 gives power to the responsible officer (as defined in section 213 and 299 of the Code i.e. probation officers) to vary electronic monitoring requirements within a prescribed range of circumstances limited to such an extent that they do not undermine the weight or purpose of the requirement as imposed by the court. The scope of the power to amend the requirement is limited to two aspects:
a shift in start and/or end times of the curfew periods within a 24-hour period only (this will not make a change to the number of hours imposed); and
a change to the residence of the offender as set out in the order (a change to the residence for the purposes of curfew may not be made if this undermines an existing order for a residence requirement).
	The courts will be notified of the changes to the original order using a variation notice, which will also provide evidence of the consent of the offender. This legislative change seeks to reduce the burden on the courts, freeing up time for other matters and saving probation resource by reducing the volumes of papers prepared for court and court visits. There will also be advantages for offenders, allowing for variations where typically there are alterations to work hours or location that make compliance impossible, or where an offender’s curfew residence address needs to be changed in a timely way.