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Hi Dadworry

In answer to your questions


whilst on a community payback order and supervision, are we able to travel abroad outside the EU? as long as we let his supervisor know? And it doesn't interfere with his unpaid work etc?

Yes community payback is like a community order, he is not on licience, so he can travel as long as it does not interfere with any appointments or unpaid work he has to do, he just has to Liaise with his probation officer.

If he is going away in the UK for a period of 7 days or less (not 4) there is no requirement to inform the police, and he can holiday where he likes, even a holiday park, there is no requirement to disclose to them where he is going

If you are going abroad then as per the requirements of the SOR you have to notify the police of any Foreign travel,as we still have freedom of movement then the EU should not be an issue.


When his order finishes he will be on the Register for a further 2 years, this doesn't stop him doing anything does it? It's just the notification requirements?

Yes that correct he will be on the register for a further two years, and yes the register is just a notification tool. You did not mention if he was given a SHPO if he has and this was also for 5yrs then his conviction will remain unspent for the five yrs the SHPO is in place. This means that is conviction will show on a basic DBS and if asked does he have any unspent convictions he would have to disclsoe. For insurance for work, insurance and Mortgage applications. If he was not given a SHPO then his conviction would be spent 12mths after the 3rs community order was completed.

His offence will always show on a standard or enhanced DBS check due to its nature.

Hope this helps

T and c are policy, policy is not law. The law clearly states that a person on the SOR is only required to tell the police of any travel in the UK if it is more than 7 days. Therefor if your holiday is 7 days or less it is none of th police's Bussiness that you have gon away in the UK.

Speaking from experiance you will face a lot less issues over time if you only give the police the inforamtion they are legally required to be told. If you give them extra information they will use is against you, just because someone is on the SOR, does not stop a person or family enjoying days out to the likes of Museums, zoos and fun fairs or going on holiday in the UK, and i am talking form personal experiance having supported a family member through this.

In regards to the community service your son will need to get permission to miss any set days. My partner was told asking to skip a day for a holiday won't be allowed and if he missed a day he was down as a 'no show'.

So while he had once a week sessions we made sure we went on holiday in the week so he was back for the Sunday. He was allowed to miss one day due to work training. Also give as much notice as possible.

My partner had 200 hours to do over two years but got it 'reduced' to 150 hours as the remaining was training arranged through probation. I think they :'knock off' up to a quarter. Maybe something to consider. Also when he did community service it wasn't always a full day, and they can cancel at short notice. Sometimes they didn't turn up at all and he had to wait an hour, after that time he had to let probation know and he would have only got the hour logged.

So I would highlight that it is hard to say exactly when the hours will be completed.

Hi dadworry

In Scotland you still refer to them as a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) and would advise you look at the paper work as the information you mention about computer usage etc would be documented on this document, a SOPO is an active court order and while active keeps a conviction unspent

Hi

My husband said there had been a session about the SOPO and SOR on the Inform course and Police were present to explain and answer questions. The impression was that though the fundamental purpose is to assess and manage risk it is also an opportunity for the person to access support and maybe identify what help they might need going forwards.e.g. seeking work or training.

Hope this turns out to be the case for your son.

Hello everyone,

It is great to see many of you wanting to support and advise others on this forum around concerns such as travelling whilst being on the Sex Offenders Register. I would just like to take this opportunity to clarify a few things around this topic. Anyone who is registered on the Sex Offenders Register is required to notify the police around all travel abroad at least 7 days prior to departure. They are also required to provide certain details to the police including the destination of travel and details of their accommodation. Further information around this can be found on the Unlock website here: https://hub.unlock.org.uk/knowledgebase/information-sex-offence-notification-requirements/#Travelling%20abroad%20whilst%20under%20notification%20requirements.

Additionally, guidelines around travelling to Australia with a conviction for a sexual offence can be found here: https://hub.unlock.org.uk/knowledgebase/travelling-australia/ and travelling to the USA, here: https://hub.unlock.org.uk/knowledgebase/travelling-america-usa/.

Please be aware that we would never suggest that anyone is dishonest or withholds information from the authorities when applying to travel, an approach that could backfire with serious consequences for the person concerned. It is also a breach of our forum rules to promote unlawful activity.

Another requirement is that the person registered must inform the police if they are planning to stay with anyone under the age of 18 for 12 hours or more. Once the police are notified about the person’s travel plans, they will then risk assess any travel arrangements and take any relevant actions including the possibility of sharing the information with other agencies and countries involved.

I also want to take this opportunity to flag that it is a criminal offence if the person fails to notify the police about their travel plans.

I hope this information has been helpful. If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to call us on our helpline (0808 1000 900). You may also find it useful to seek clarification from Unlock (https://hub.unlock.org.uk/contact/) or NACRO (https://www.nacro.org.uk/contact-us/). I would also advise that your son liaises with his Probation Officer for any specific queries and to remain on the safe side.

Take care,

Lucy

We looked at this a while ago, I needed to go to the US, and ended up going alone. We concluded that it was too risky for him to go while he was on the SOR. Although in theory he could get permission (indeed they gave permission for european trips). And he definately does need to notify any travel with the UK police. It was more the awkardness if someone decided to issue a green notice. It seems unlikely if they give you permission, but it is something they can do. Indeed it may be a different person that decides to do so. As noted above under ESTA you are asked:

> "Have you ever been arrested or convicted for a crime that resulted in serious damage to property, or serious harm to another person or government authority"

Rationally it seems clear to me, that looking at an image does not in itself result in serious harm to a person. Particularly as in most cases the person in the image has no knowledge that the indiviual has viewing it. But I appreciate others will claim otherwise.

The dilemma is that if it is declared, that information will remain permanently with the US authorities and anyone else they share it with. He will have no option in the future to declare. How likely they are to allow him to enter with this type of conviction, I wouldn't know. I assume the worst usually.

Hiya Dad.

To get this sentence etc. What did got to court for ?

Xx

Roughly how many because my hubby is on RUI at the moment and awaiting court stuff.

Did he distributed aswell ?

Sorry for questions hun.

Xx

It would be best your son go through all the conditions one by one to get a full understanding of the restrictions. We have had issues where we didn't fully comprehend all the conditions and it nearly got my partner in major trouble.

It was regarding contact with under 16s. There is a difference between contact and communication.

My partner cannot communicate with under 16s online or over the phone - fair enough and understand.

The contact is to do with being in the presence of an under 16 e.g. family events, friends party/house, work do etc. We thought it meant can't be unsupervised but that wasn't the case. He needed permission from parents AND social services.

I have a cousin who is under 16. We had been to a family party where I made sure my partner was not alone with him, but this was against the conditions.

The police and probation officer should have asked my partner for all possible under 16 contact but they didn't until this situation was flagged- nearly two years after sentencing.

The devices conditions seem a bit bizarre maybe a Scottish thing? But maybe if your son is not given access to the internet through the devices this might help. I have my own phone and laptop which my partner does t have access so the police are happy with that. Also our smart TV is linked to our router- the police have the details to that so if my partner was to do something illegal it would flag through that. He isn't banned from nonaccess to the internet.

Hopefully your son will get clarity sooner, but now than later.

In regards to when the service ends it is weight off my partner's shoulders. It states three years because there may be delays in completing the hours. It took my partner nearly a year to do 250 hours, and that included delays due to the pandemic

Dadworry, I've found that 'he's having a few mental health issues' works well - people generally don't want to pry further.

It is interesting to read a dads perspective on this... my other half is quietly very angry with my boy. I think he 'goes along' with our situation to keep as much harmony as you can in this situation.