Renfrewshire Council

The aim of Supervised Attendance Orders Scheme is to reduce the number of people in custody for the non-payment of fines.

Supervised attendance is available to the court when an individual has failed to repay a fine. The unpaid portion of the fine is substituted for a time penalty which provides constructive activity.

In June 2005, the Scottish Government established a two year pilot in the Renfrewshire courts enabling offenders who do not have the means to repay a fine within 28 days to undertake supervised attendance at the outset as a first disposal. This service continued following the pilot period. The number of hours of an order can range from 10 to 100 and reflect the level of fine. No consent is necessary for this disposal to be made. Failure to comply with the requirements of the order will result in the offender being returned to court having breached the order.

The Supervised Attendance Officer attends the Means Enquiry Courts and Justice of the Peace Courts at Paisley to offer advice and information about the scheme and where practical will undertake written assessments regarding an individual's suitability for the scheme. Such an assessment is not required before an order is made.

The programme of constructive activity is delivered by criminal justice groupwork services. Individuals will undertake induction where possible prior to leaving court, and then groupwork consisting of the women's group, lifeskills or employability, community placements may also be used. Individuals are referred to appropriate services such as drug and alcohol counselling if appropriate.

It should be noted that Supervised Attendance Orders relate to individuals who committed offences prior to 1 February 2011, for those convicted on this date or thereafter they will be subject to a level 1 unpaid work and other activity requirement of a Community Payback Order (CPO)