There is no simple relationship between the number of community penalties passed and their resource impact upon the probation service. The cost of community penalties is related to the number of such sentences, the risk profile of the offenders made subject to them, the number and nature of requirements included in them and their length. The impact of any rise varies with other changes in the mix of probation workload, such as the number of reports to be prepared and the number of offenders to be supervised on release from custody.
New community penalties to be supervised by the probation service rose by 5 per cent. between September 2006 and September 2007. The caseload of such cases under supervision at any one time rose by 3 per cent. over the same period.
An additional £40 million has recently been made available to the probation service for the specific purpose of supporting local plans to promote confidence in the use of community penalties.