A community order is available to a court by or before which an offender is convicted of an offence if—
the offender is aged 18 or over when convicted, and
the offence is punishable with imprisonment by that court.
Subsection (1) is subject to—
subsection (3),
section 203 (restriction on making both community order and suspended sentence order), and
section 37(8) of the Mental Health Act 1983 (community order not to be made in combination with hospital order or guardianship order in respect of same offence).