Criminal Justice Act 2003

181 Prison sentences of less than 12 months

(1) Any power of a court to impose a sentence of imprisonment for a term of less than 12 months on an offender may be exercised only in accordance with the following provisions of this section unless the court makes an intermittent custody order (as defined by section 183).

(2) The term of the sentence—

(a) must be expressed in weeks,

(b) must be at least 28 weeks,

(c) must not be more than 51 weeks in respect of any one offence, and

(d) must not exceed the maximum term permitted for the offence.

(3) The court, when passing sentence, must—

(a) specify a period (in this Chapter referred to as “the custodial period”) at the end of which the offender is to be released on a licence, and

(b) by order require the licence to be granted subject to conditions requiring the offender’s compliance during the remainder of the term (in this Chapter referred to as “the licence period”) or any part of it with one or more requirements falling within section 182(1) and specified in the order.

(4) In this Part “custody plus order” means an order under subsection (3)(b).

(5) The custodial period—

(a) must be at least 2 weeks, and

(b) in respect of any one offence, must not be more than 13 weeks.

(6) In determining the term of the sentence and the length of the custodial period, the court must ensure that the licence period is at least 26 weeks in length.

(7) Where a court imposes two or more terms of imprisonment in accordance with this section to be served consecutively—

(a) the aggregate length of the terms of imprisonment must not be more than 65 weeks, and

(b) the aggregate length of the custodial periods must not be more than 26 weeks.

(8) A custody plus order which specifies two or more requirements may, in relation to any requirement, refer to compliance within such part of the licence period as is specified in the order.

(9) Subsection (3)(b) does not apply where the sentence is a suspended sentence.