Community Payback

If you wish to nominate a project by telephone please call 0116 262 0400, and ask for the Community Payback Co-ordinator. Otherwise you can nominate a project by using our nomination form.

Community Payback provides the opportunity for local people to have their say on how men and women on Probation supervision should make amends for the harm they have caused.

The Community Payback scheme enables the public to select projects of work that can be undertaken by teams of supervised offenders completing unpaid reparation work. The LRPT strives to ensure that its range of work reflects the cultural diversity of our modern society.

Would you be surprised to know that in a recent 12 month period local offenders undertaking Community Payback completed a total of 203,439 hours of work? This labour has benefited communities in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

The range of projects can include:

• graffiti removal
• street clean-ups
• ground clearance
• recycling projects
• building maintenance and landscaping
• improvements to park and community facilities
• environmental preservation programmes
• general gardening projects
• painting and decorating in community centres and meeting places
• making wooden furniture for sale in charity shops.

COMMUNITY PAYBACK IS DEMANDING

Sentencers refer to this particular intervention as Unpaid Work, one of the 12 requirements in the Community Order. Magistrates and Judges can order offenders to undertake a specified number of hours, which can vary from 40 hours to 300 hours. In the past this sentence has been called Community Service or, more recently, Community Punishment.

Offenders are expected to undertake a minimum of six hours a week and to have completed their ordered hours within 12 months. The Probation Service supervises this work and provides opportunities for offenders to work during the week, at weekends - and in evening workshops.

During the last 12 months LRPT has gradually increased the number of offenders who work more than one day a week on group placements. The Probation Trust is currently providing approximately 150 extra days a month.

LRPT’s approach of encouraging offenders, particularly men and women who are unemployed, to complete their Community Payback at a quicker rate is in line with Government policy.

Justice Minister David Hanson MP announced that all offenders sentenced to Community Payback, who were connected to knife crimes, will now have to complete at least 18 hours of work a week. 

In December 2008 LRPT introduced the branded high-visibility jackets, which must be worn by offenders carrying out work on Community Payback projects as part of a Government drive to ensure the public can see punishment being carried out in the community. 

PROTECTING THE PUBLIC

Each offender is carefully assessed before they are assigned to a project of work. This assessment looks at an offender's criminal and personal history, the crimes they have committed - and the risk they pose to the public.

The Probation Service's number one priority is the protection of the public. Men and women who are assessed as being unsuitable for work in the community, are managed in Probation Centre workshops. However, not all offenders in the workshops are high risk, they may have mobility issues.

Small teams of offenders who work in the community are always supervised by fully trained supervisors working for the Probation Service. They are transported to and from the project of work.

The Probation Trust provides the free labour, we ask that the community group or charity provide the materials for the job such as paint, plants or building materials.

The Community Payback campaign has been promoting the benefits to local communities of reparation work. 

These are our rules that govern Community Payback:

• We can only do work that would normally be undertaken by voluntary labour
• The work must provide a service to the community
• No-one must make a profit from the work.
• It must be challenging and demanding.
• It must be worthwhile and constructive.
• Offenders must be seen to be putting something back into the community.

The Community Payback team will assess the project for suitability and for health and safety implications.

NOMINATION

Please use this nomination form on the Community Payback website to suggest a project of work we can assess to see if it is suitable.

NEW WAY TO CONSULT FOR CITY COUNCIL RESIDENTS

The Probation Trust is working with the Leicester City Council to manage the Citizens’ Panels scheme that enables residents living in certain inner-city estates to request additional support from the Community Payback programme.

Members of the public consult with council housing and Probation representatives to identify and prioritize work that supervised offenders can undertake in their neighbourhood to improve public safety and the environment.

On the Eyres Monsell Estate in Leicester, a team of offenders created a paved area and flowerbeds for residents to enjoy. The Probation workshop supplied wooden benches for the local community to use.