Date
14th August 2026
Issue
The practical issue of monitoring and enforcing new community order requirements under the Sentencing Act 2026.
Summary
The Sentencing Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 22 January 2026, with its first provisions entering into force on 22 March 2026. The Act made several changes to sentencing policy and introduced new requirements for suspended sentences and community orders, though many, including Section 15, have yet to be commenced.
Section 15 is of particular interest, as it allows courts to impose a Public Event Attendance Prohibition Requirement (PEAPR), effectively preventing offender from attending public events. However, without a prescribed monitoring framework, and with serious resource and staffing shortage affecting HM Probation Service (the team responsible for supervising offenders outside of prison) enforcing PEAPRs under Section 15 raises more questions than answers.
Development of the Legislation
The Act's shift toward community- based sentencing was driven by the Independent Sentencing Review of May 2025 (the "Gauke Review"), which found that the prison population had exceeded HM Prison Service's (the agency that manages the people serving in sentences in prison) capacity and identified alternatives to custody—including community rehabilitation—as a route to freeing up spaces in the prison system and reducing reoffending.
While Section 15 itself does not appear to be a direct product of that review, it is noteworthy that the Bar Council of England and Wales recommended in January 2025 that behaviour orders be made available in every case.
In any event, Section 1 of the Act — which introduced a rule that refers suspended sentences for terms of 12 months or less — signals a clear choice to use community sentences over short custodial ones, and Section 15 reads as one of the methods for achieving that shift in practice.
Analysis
Setting aside the intent behind Section 15, a real practical problem arises: how will any of this actually be monitored? The job will certainly fall to HM Probation Service. However, both the Gauke Review and a Public Accounts Committee report showed that the service is suffering from chronic underfunding and a lack of trained staff— while PEAPRs and other new non-custodial requirements may ease the burden on HM Prison Service, this could make it harder for probation officers to manage offenders safely and effectively in the community.
Moreover, unlike Section 17's Restriction Zone Requirement—which requires electronic monitoring—a PEAPR under Section 15 imposes no such safeguard. The same is true for the new Drinking Establishment Entry Prohibition Requirement under Section 16, which stops offenders from entering a pub, for instance. It is therefore no surprise that individuals in the hospitality sector have expressed concern that they may end up carrying the burden of enforcing these measures themselves.
Future Outlook
Section 15, other new community and suspended sentence order requirements will not take effect until later this year. However, the details of how they will work remain unresolved. It is unclear how HM Probation Service will monitor compliance with a PEAPR without electronic monitoring. Will event organisers be given any way to detect breaches themselves? As things stand, enforcement appears likely to depend less on the HM Probation Service and more on reactive detection by event staff or fellow offenders, rather than on any dedicated monitoring system.