This Act enacts measures recommended by the ISR to make changes to legislation relating to rehabilitative activity requirements ("RAR").
	The RAR is currently the most used community requirement that can be attached to a Community Order ("CO") or to a Suspended Sentence Order ("SSO"). In 2023, 75% of all COs and SSOs commenced included a RAR. It is one of the main mechanisms that can be used to supervise and influence behavioural change of offenders.
	When handing down a RAR, the court is currently required to set the maximum number of days of rehabilitation at the point of sentence. Whilst the probation service is not required to deliver all the days up to the maximum set by the court, they are required to deliver a "rehabilitative activity". These activities are distinct from a normal supervision probation appointment, even though supervision appointments are often used to address the thinking and attitudes of offenders.
	This provision in the Act replaces the RAR with a new simplified ‘probation requirement’ and provide probation practitioners (as opposed to the sentencing court) with the power to decide the volume of rehabilitation activity that an individual sentenced to a probation requirement should complete. This is in place of the court sentencing a set maximum number of "RAR days" on which an offender should complete rehabilitative activity.
	The replacement of RAR with a Probation Requirement signifies a move to a model which ensures that any distinction between supervision appointments and rehabilitation activity can be more effectively and pervasively removed, thereby allowing probation greater freedom and flexibility to take a more proportionate approach to supervision and intervention. This will enable supervision and intervention decisions to be better led by the evidence linked to the offender themselves.
Policy background Part 1: Sentencing Rehabilitation activity requirement