Policy background Community Sentences Strengthening supervision powers for probation practitioners
There is currently a lack of clarity in legislation around a Responsible Officer’s ability to instruct an offender, who is subject to a community order or a suspended sentence order, to attend supervision appointments. This is problematic in scenarios where additional appointments are required to address non-compliance with a requirement of the court, or where possible public protection concerns have arisen, including post-completion of a requirement of the court.
	In order to rectify this, section 149 clarifies the scope of supervision powers available to Responsible Officers. This will be achieved by creating a power which will provide Responsible Officers with the ability to require offenders to attend appointments at any stage of a community order or during the supervision period of a suspended sentence order.
	The measure will also place a duty on offenders to comply with requests for additional appointments given by their Responsible Officer, failure to do so will result in enforcement action.
	In order to achieve this in legislation, the Act amends the Code by strengthening the existing "keep in touch" duty.