Background

The Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, sections 235-237, provide an alternative penalty for fine default in the form of supervised attendance orders. A supervised attendance order is an order of court requiring a person to attend a designated place and undertake specified activity for a given period of between 10 - 100 hours. There is a 50 hour ceiling where the fine or outstanding amount does not exceed level one (£200).

Orders can be made under section 235 of the Act, with immediate effect where an offender has defaulted on a fine and no further time is allowed for payment. Alternatively, under section 237 of the Act, the court may impose a supervised attendance order while allowing further time to pay. In this case, the order would come into effect only if the offender subsequently defaulted.

The following conditions have to be satisfied:

• offender is aged 18 or older
• the court would have otherwise imposed alternative of custody for failure to pay a fine
• the court considers a supervised attendance order more appropriate than a period of custody
  

Nature of order

A supervised attendance order is in effect a fine on time which offenders require to use for constructive activity. Once made, this order clears the fine.

Local authorities have responsibilities for supervising attendance orders. In Glasgow, there are specialist supervised attendance officers attached to the court based social work unit. These officers monitor attendance and performance, and deal with non-compliance and breach. The activity sessions however are provided by APEX Scotland, a voluntary organisation that specialises in training and preparing offenders for employment.

National Standards

Supervised attendance orders are regulated by the National Objectives and Standards for Supervised Attendance Orders.    These standards include:

• serving the order within seven days of receipt
• organising activity attendance within 21 days of court
• issuing a formal warning for all unacceptable absences, but no more than a total of two before breach
• requiring all absences due to illness to be medically certificated
• breach action within seven days of decision to breach

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Activities

All individuals on orders will take part in a core module that lasts for the first 10 hours of the order. This will include sessions on:

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Supervision

In the event of non-compliance the court can:

• vary the number of hours on the supervised attendance order
• revoke (cancel) the order and impose a custodial sentence currently up to 60 days (District Court) or three months (Sheriff Court)

If circumstances arise which seriously affect a person’s ability to carry out the order, either he/she or the supervised attendance officer can apply to the court for a review of the order. Reasons for review could include a serious illness or a lengthy period of custody. In these cases the court could:

• vary the number of hours
• extend the 12 month period allowed to complete the order
• revoke the order
• revoke the order and impose a custodial sentence of up to 60 days (District Court) or three months (Sheriff Court)

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General

It is important to note that no consent or pre-sentence reports are required before an order is made. Supervised attendance orders cannot be made in respect of default on compensation orders.

Contact details

 For contact information see useful links