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Contents

1. National Standards
2. Compliance
3. Recording
4. Enforcing Compliance
5. Breach Process
6. Breach Report
7. Warrants
   
   Appendix 1: Community Penalty Breach Warrant Team

1. National Standards

National Standards set out the minimum requirements for relevant organisations providing youth justice services.

Every effort must be made to support the child or young person to successfully complete their order and manage compliance and enforcement consistently in line with National Standards.

We are required to report on how well we perform in respect of certain National Standards:

• In respect of Referral Orders - hold an Initial Youth Offender Panel meeting within 20 working days of the court hearing in order to agree the contract.
• In respect of Youth Rehabilitation Orders (YRO), Referral Orders, and the community element of Detention and Training Orders (DTO) (and Supervision Order and APO's) - must be supervised in line with Scaled Approach contacts:

Intervention Level	Minimum Contacts per month for the 1st 12 weeks	Minimum Contacts per month after the 1st 12 weeks
Intensive	12	4
Enhanced	4	2
Standard	2	1

• In respect of YRO's, Referral Orders, Reparation Orders, Supervision Orders and Action Plan Orders (APO):
  • Follow up failed contacts within 1 working day
  • Record failed contacts as acceptable or unacceptable
  • Issue a formal written warning within 24hrs of an unacceptable failed contact
  • Initiate Breach Action within 5 working days of a third unacceptable failed contact

2. Compliance

Case Managers must ensure that the requirements of orders and the consequences of non-engagement are made clear to young people.

All young people subject to orders managed by the YOS must have the Supervision Contract explained to them by their case manager and sign a copy of the contract to confirm that they have understood it and agree to abide by it.  Parents/carers should be involved in this process and encouraged to help support the young person to successfully complete the order.

In order to encourage compliance, young people subject to orders managed by the YOS must have individually tailored Intervention Plans.  Young people should be involved in the process of devising the Intervention Plan and their views should be taken into account in jointly setting targets.  Copies of the Intervention Plan should be given to and signed by the young person and their parents/carers.

In addition, young people and their parents/carers should be provided with a Schedule of Appointments which clearly sets out all their statutory appointments.

3. Recording

The Supervision Contract, Intervention Plan and Schedule of Appointments must be created and stored in Careworks.

All Contacts must be recorded on Careworks.  If it's not recorded it didn't happen!

Contacts need to specify whether the appointment is Statutory or Client.  Statutory contacts are those which are a requirement of the order and count towards the level of contact (as determined by the Scaled Approach). 

4. Enforcing Compliance

Failed statutory appointments must be followed up within one working day by telephone, home visit or letter by the worker with whom the appointment was with.

The purpose of the follow up is to determine whether the reason for the failure is acceptable or unacceptable.

All unacceptable failed statutory appointments must be discussed with the case manager's line manager.

If the explanation of a failure to attend is deemed unacceptable a First Formal Written Warning must be given within 24 hours by the case manager or their manager.

A further unacceptable failure to attend within a twelve month period must result in a Final Formal Written Warning being given.  At this point a Breach Panel should be considered. 

Where a first and final formal warning are given within a twelve month period and a further unacceptable failure to attend takes place, Breach Action must be initiated within five working days (or two working days in the case of a young person assessed as high risk of serious harm to others).

Breach action can consist of convening an emergency panel meeting, breach meeting or an immediate return to court.

Breach action can only be stayed in exceptional circumstances with the authorisation of a YOS manager.  The reason must be recorded.

Breach proceedings can be instigated at any point outside of the warning process if the young person's failure to comply is of such a nature as to require immediate action.  This should only be considered in exceptional circumstances and must always be agreed and recorded by a YOS manager.

All cases where a return to court or Breach Action is being considered should be discussed at the YOS Case Discussion Meeting so that a suitable proposal can be agreed.

All attempts should be made to support young people to successfully comply with their order.

Where a return to court or Breach Action is initiated, the young person should be given the opportunity to continue with the order.

5. Breach Process

1. Where a return to court or Breach Action has been agreed, the case manager must complete an "Information" form and a "Summons" form.  In exceptional circumstances it may be necessary to apply for a Warrant, in which case a Breach Pack must be prepared and available from the date that the Warrant is applied for. 
2. These forms must contain all the necessary information:
   • Young persons name, d.o.b., address
   • Details of the order including date made and at which court
   • Details of the original offence, including dates
   • Full details of the failure to comply - i.e. those failures that have led to the issuing of warnings and final warnings and the initiating of breach (there should be at least 3 dates!)
   • The date of the Breach Hearing - this date should normally be between five and ten working days from the date that the forms are presented to the court, bearing in mind that a Breach Pack must be prepared for that hearing date
3. Two copies of these forms must be available for the court duty officer to take to court.  
4. The court duty officer will give one copy of the forms to the court so that a court file can be prepared for the appropriate court day.
5. It is responsibility of the case manager to ensure that the Summons is served on the young person - this should be done by Special Delivery or by hand.
6. The Summons should be accompanied by a letter advising that legal advice should be sought for the breach hearing.
7. We are required to prove to the satisfaction of the court that the young person has failed without reasonable excuse to comply with the requirements of the order.  This means that we must have evidence that can be proved in court if the breach is contested.
8. We are required to provide full disclosure of the circumstances surrounding the breach by way of a written statement(s) - Breach Pack.  The Breach Pack is our evidence to prove our case.
9. The Breach Pack must contain the following:
   • Copies of the information form and summons (including proof of service).
   • A copy of the court order and evidence that it has been served on the young person.
   • A signed copy of the supervision contract (if available).
   • Copies of all relevant letters/instructions, including schedule of appointments and warnings.  Particularly those relating to the information provided to the court when applying for breach.
   • A Breach Report (see below).
   • A copy of the original PSR or Panel Report (if available).
   • A copy of the CPS Case Summary (to provide the court with details of the original offence).
   • Previous Convictions (either from PNC or Careworks).
10. The case manager is responsible for ensuring that 6 copies of the Breach Pack are available for the day that the breach is listed to be heard in court.  The Breach Pack must be gate kept by a manager prior to going to court.
11. If there is a possibility of the breach resulting in a custodial sentence being imposed then it is the responsibility of the case manager preparing the breach to ensure that a Placement Alert with all the necessary documentation is sent to the YJB Placements Team the day before the court hearing.
12. A Warrant should be prepared in advance of the Breach Hearing for issue on the day if the young person fails to attend.

6. Breach Report

The Breach Report must be completed in Careworks using the template available in Assessment and Documentation (Other Reports).

The Breach Report consists of five sections:

1. Front Sheet - providing basic details
2. Details of the Failure to Comply
3. Progress and Achievements (in relation to the requirements of the order)
4. Details of the Original Offence
5. Proposal

7. Warrants

If the young person fails to attend court in response to the summons then the court will issue a warrant.  It is the responsibility of the case manager to ensure that an additional information sheet is completed and faxed or e-mailed to the Community Penalty Breach Warrant Team on the same day that the warrant is issued (see Appendix 1: Community Penalty Breach Warrant Team).

Appendix 1: Community Penalty Breach Warrant Team

Community Penalty Breach Warrant Team

Telephone: 020 7805 6740/1 Fax: 0207805 6742 E-mail: gl-cpbwadmin@hmcourts-service.gsi.gov.uk

The Additional Information Sheet can be found in the Shared Drive, Breach Forms folder.

End