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Breach of a community order

Justice, police powers and breaches — practical elements, sentencing links and station notes for accredited reps in England & Wales.

Justice, police powers and breaches

Breach of a community order

Sentencing Code (community order breach provisions)

England & Wales. Elements, mode of trial, maximum and defences — not a charging or outcome predictor.

Triable
See guideline / charging decision
Maximum penalty
Maximum of 112 hours in any period of 7 days

Actus reus

  • Failure to comply with a community-order requirement is dealt with under Sentencing Code Schedule 10. Conviction of a further offence during the order engages s.215. This page is not a single offence with a classic actus/mens split — it is breach process.

Mens rea

  • Schedule 10 failure to comply is without reasonable excuse. A further offence is a separate conviction, not a mental element of “breach”.

Defences

Reasonable excuse for the failed requirement · Requirement not in force / not as alleged · No further offence (if that is the alleged breach)

Sentencing Council

Sentencing Council guideline effective 1 October 2018.

View definitive guideline ↗

At the police station

Get the order and the alleged missed appointments. This is usually a summons/breach list, not a new indictable charge.

When to involve a rep or solicitor

Police station advice is free under legal aid and is not means-tested.

Authoritative sources for this page

Statute plus Sentencing Council (and CPS where listed) are the two primary sources we used for mode of trial, maximum and elements. Case links are from our verified registry only.

More in Justice, police powers and breaches

Back to the full offences index

Sources & further reading

Links are to official publishers (legislation, gov.uk, CPS, LAA, Sentencing Council). Case law on this site is limited to entries in our verified case-law registry. Always confirm the current version before relying on it in live advice.