• supervision by probation staff
  and
• unpaid work to benefit the local community.

Your supervising officer will work with you to tackle your offending. Your officer will supervise you through both parts of the order. Your success will depend on the effort you make and your attitude towards the order.

What do I have to do?
Your supervising officer will explain how you must behave and what you need to do.

When you are on the order you must:

• keep appointments and allow visits to your home if required
• tell your supervising officer before any change of your address
• attend your initial appointment with your supervising officer and your community punishment interview both within 5 days of the order being made
• start your community punishment work within ten working days and work the hours you are told to.

At the start, you will have weekly meetings with your supervising officer. This may be less after 3 months.

What if I am ill or cannot work?
If you are ill you must provide a sick certificate from your doctor. You must give it to your supervising officer within 5 working days.

If there are other reasons why you cannot keep an appointment, you must tell your supervising officer before you miss it. The supervising officer will decide if it is a good enough reason.

If you cannot work through no fault of your own - maybe long term sickness - tell your supervising officer straight away. You may have to tell the court why you cannot work. The court will then decide what will happen.

What happens if I break the conditions of the order?
You will be returned to court if you do any, or all, of the following:

• Miss appointments with your supervising officer without a good reason
• Change your address without telling your supervising officer
• Turn up late or do not work
• Behave unacceptably.

The court can do any of the following:

• Warn you and let the order continue
• Instruct you to complete the order and impose a fine or extra community punishment hours
• Cancel the order and deal with you in some other way. If the order was made at the crown court, the magistrates will send you back to that court.

Do I have any rights while I am on the order?
You will be treated fairly and equally and you are expected to behave just as fairly towards other people. The service will not allow racist, sexist or other disrespectful behaviour from any person under its supervision.

You can apply to the court for early discharge of the order.

The court will only consider this when you have completed all your community punishment hours and at least half of the rehabilitation order. You must have made good progress and avoided further offending by keeping to all the conditions of the order.

You can make a complaint if you feel you have been treated unfairly or unreasonably.

You should try to talk about this with your supervising officer first or their manager.

If you are not satisfied with the response you get, then you can write to the Chief Officer at:

National Probation Service
Thames Valley Area
Head office
Kinsclere Road
Bicester
Oxon
OX26 2QD

What if I have any questions or problems?
If you have any questions or problems, please get in touch with your supervising officer as soon as possible, who will try to sort things out for you.