Community Payback

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01273 263043

payback@worthing.gov.uk

Community Payback - offenders making amends to our community

Community Payback - offenders making amends to our community

Anyone in Worthing can use this system to nominate a project that could benefit from the labours of our offenders. Please read this entire article before suggesting projects, as it's important that you understand the few conditions that apply.

Community Payback means unpaid work. It is a sentence that courts can hand down to convicted offenders who are considered to be low risk. It requires them to work for anything between 40 and 300 hours for no renumeration, either on a single placement or as a part of a group on a larger project. They are required to work at least one 7 hour day each week, on any day of the week. It is intended not only as a punishment by taking them away from their normal lives, but also as a means by which offenders can make some amends to the community for the harm they have caused.  

Community Payback is organised and run by the Surrey & Sussex Probation Trust. They provide the supervisors, paper work and risk assessments. Normally it is they who accompany the offender on project work. 

Worthing Borough Council, has agreed to help with the initial project research. We are actively looking for projects that Community Payback teams could help with and we will do the initial analysis to see if suggested projects are viable.

You can be involved too. We need members of the public, people from Worthing who want to see their town improved, to suggest potential projects to us. Projects that can benefit from a hard working, supervised and unpaid work force. Anyone can suggest one, so long as it fulfills the following criteria.

Projects must adhere to the following criteria

1. The work would not normally be done by people in paid employment.
2. Outdoor projects must be on land in public ownership or to which the public have regular access.
3. Projects must not cause a danger to either the offenders or the public. They must satisfy a risk assessment and all Health & Safety requirements. There must also be access to toilet facilities, shelter from the elements and if necessary secure overnight storage for tools and products.
4. Projects should not require specialist or heavy equipment or require specialist training or experience.
5. There must be an identifiable beneficiary such as the local community or a charitable organisation.
6. Any organisation which benefits from this work must provide and pay for any materiels to be used. For example paint, paint brushes, dust sheets, cement, cleaning products and so on. Tools such as shovels and wheelbarrows may sometimes be available but should also be provided by the beneficiary where possible.
7. The project must be in the Worthing area. (If you are outside Worthing, then either use one of the links at the bottom of this page, contact the local council for the area you are in or you can ask us for contact details by email. See the link at the top of this page.)

Other useful criteria for Community Payback projects are those of time and qualifications:

• We are looking for long term projects primarily, ones that will last for months rather than days or weeks.
• If an offender can come out of the sentence having gained a qualification then you have helped to reduce the chance of re-offending. If you think an offender could improve him/her self during your project, please let us know in your application.

About the offenders

Of course, it's only natural for you to wonder what sort of people these offenders are. Who could you get working on your doorstep?

Unpaid Work is punishment given to low or medium risk offenders, it is not a suitable sentence for high risk offenders. Typically the sort of crimes committed by the members of the groups you see on your streets will be motoring offences, minor thefts, public disorder, frauds or other dishonesty. They will be aged from 16 upwards, as long as they have no physical disabilities that would impair their work, and come from all walks of life.

All offenders are overseen by trained supervisors and are not normally let away from the team without being accompanied. (Single placements are usually unccompanied.) They are carefully assessed before they are allocated to each work project to ensure your safety. They wear orange high visibility jackets marked "Community Payback" and there will be signs in the area to inform the public that they are working there.

What happens if an offender breaks the rules?

If an offender breaks the rules of their community order, by failing to turn up or being dsruptive in any way they are sent back to court. There they may recieve an increase to their existing penalty or, in some cases, this could mean being re-sentenced and being sent to prison.

Examples of work CP offenders could do

The types of work thay can be done are many and varied. Larger groups of offenders can do work such as:

• Painting and decorating
• Clearing rubbish
• Digging and landscaping
• Forestry
• Fencing

Smaller groups or single placements can be involved in work such as:

• Caterers
• Charity shop assistants
• Handymen
• Warehouse staff

The only limitations are that they are not allowd to work at height or use equipment that requires specialist training.

Applying to have a project considered for Community Payback labour

If you believe that you have a potential project for the Community Payback team, and you have read and understood the criteria mentioned above, then you can apply in a variety of ways.

1. Send an email to payback@worthing.gov.uk with as much inormation as possible.
2. Call 01273 263043 and ask for an information pack. This will contain an application form with a freepost address.
3. Write to the following address and ask for an information pack to be sent. This will contain an application form with a freepost address. Do not forget to include your address.

Community Payback
Worthing Borough Council
Adur and Worthing Council Services Depot
Commerce Way
Lancing
West Sussex
BN15 8TA

The application will be examined by the payback team and provided it appears to meet the criteria there will be a site visit. If there is need for more information the original applicant will be contacted first to clarify any points that needed.

On this site visit there will be confirmation that the criteria are indeed met and a safety risk assessment will be carried out. Photographs will also be taken.

Once cleared the application will be passed to the Probation Service where a final decision about how many offenders can be used, when it can be scheduled for and so on. The applicant or an other agreed representative of the benefiting organisation will be contacted and final arrangements made.

If for any reason the application is considered not to be suitable the original applicant will be written to and an explanation given.

Useful links

Note: The links below lead to websites outside of our control. We cannot guarantee the content of any such site once you leave ours. 

• Community Payback.com, the Probation Service website
• Sussex Probation Service page for Community Payback
• Criminal Justice Board - Sussex
• Direct.gov.uk - community sentencing
• Why not consider becoming a Magistrate?

If you know of a site that is related to Community Payback and it's not in our list of links, please pass it on to us and we will consider adding it.

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