A Community Payback sentence aims to punish the offender for their offence and aims to ‘pay back’ to the community. When sentencing an offender a Court can award between 40 and 300 community payback (unpaid work) hours to be completed by the offender. The very low risk service users (offenders) are often placed with non-profit or charitable organisations to complete their unpaid work hours on an individual placement, where the service user acts and is treated as a volunteer for the beneficiary and is supervised directly by the beneficiary where they complete administrative roles, customer service, and general maintenance including cleaning.
In addition to individual placements Community Payback run group placements where 8/10 service users provide the labour to complete a project or required work whilst under the supervision of a trained Community Payback Supervisor. Projects that can be completed include internal and external painting and decorating; grounds clearance, maintenance and conservation, including clearing paths, foliage and roughage, and mowing and strimming. Groups have a diverse skill set and depending on the skill set of the group attending we also build brick walls, lay patio’s and install wooden fences. Other projects can be discussed. All work completed and the service users are monitored and supervised by the Community Payback Supervisor. We supply the labour, the tools and equipment, and if it is required you must supply and store any fuel and the required materials, for example, paint, paint brushes etc
You as the beneficiary detail the work that you want completed, myself or a colleague come and visit the site to complete a risk assessment and then book you in to complete the work. We will require that you meet the group on the day of attending and if you can give feedback to the supervisor during the day they will do their best to ensure your satisfaction in the completion of the project.
All work and placements are assessed for suitability and they must have welfare facilities, the service users that are to be placed in a particular placement are also assessed for suitability. We would remain in regular contact with you to ensure satisfaction and to monitor service user performance and approach.
Community payback already work with a variety of beneficiaries across the County, including schools (Holy Cross Primary, Harlow; Henham and Ugley Junior, Bishops Stortford), local council community projects (The Stow, Harlow; Staple Tye, Harlow), churches (St John’s, Loughton; Radwinter Church, Radwinter), sheltered and supported housing schemes (Tylney Croft, Harlow; Halyday House, Harlow) and publics parks and spaces (Epping Forest).
The advantages of placing Service Users with non profit organisations to complete their unpaid work is that in addition to ‘paying back’ to the community and the direct benefits to the organisations and community of having staffing resources that do not have to be funded, is that the service user gains work experience, training and employment skills. Sometimes service users remain as volunteers and organisations will provide references to future employers, increasing service user employability and reducing the likelihood of reoffending. Many times Service Users haven’t had work experience or have been out of work for some time and so this is a great way to get back in to a work environment and it increases their confidence, often lacking when people have been out of work for a long period.
If you interested in Community Payback or require further information please contact Rebekah Drain rebekah.drain@probation.sodexogov.co.uk