Commentary on Sections Part 12 - Sentencing Chapter 8: Other Provisions about sentencing Section 300: Power to impose unpaid work requirement or curfew requirement on fine defaulter
647.This section re-enacts, with appropriate modifications to make them applicable for the new sentencing framework, the fine default provisions in section 35 of the Crime Sentences Act 1997.
648.Where a court has the power to commit an offender to prison in default of payment of a fine, subsection (2) provides the court with an alternative power to order the offender to comply with an unpaid work or curfew requirement. Such an order is named a "default order" by subsection (3). Subsection (4) allows these requirements to be subject to electronic monitoring. Subsection (5) provides the Court with a power to postpone the making of a default order until such time as thinks fit. Subsection (6) applies the breach provisions in Schedule 8, the transfer of community order provisions in Schedule 9 and the provisions of Chapter 4, subject to set out the modifications outline in Schedule 31, to the making of default orders.
649.Should the offender pay the whole or part of the sum of the fine originally defaulted, Subsection (7) provides for the number of hours of unpaid work or days of curfew to be reduced by a proportion corresponding to the amount repaid, or for the order to cease to have effect altogether.