Community Payback projects range from litter removal to clearing dense under growth; from environmental projects through to repairing and redecorating community centres or removing graffiti. Offenders usually work as part of a team, monitored by a supervisor, and will work all day with short breaks, although there are some opportunities for individual placements.

• It must benefit the local community
• It must not take paid work away from others
• 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.

Once the work has been completed a plaque will be displayed with the community payback logo, if appropriate. This will indicate where offenders have positively contributed to improving a neighbourhood.

Anyone can nominate a project, so, if you are an individual, member of a club, community group, faith group or voluntary organisation and have a project that fits the criteria above, please complete the form or call your local probation office click here for details .

Community Service was first introduced in the 1970s but has come a long way since then. However, the key components are still the same. Offenders are required to give up their free time to undertake Unpaid Work within their local communities to pay back for the crimes they have committed. In most cases this equates to a day’s work once a week.

• Coastal Motorboat Heritage Trust, Smallgains Marina, Canvey:
  Assisting in the restoration of a World War II boat. Turning the area into a welcoming place for visitors by clearing rubbish and building a decking area.

• Leigh Town Council: 
  Improving the environment by clearing rubbish, cutting back overgrown areas and planting new shrubs.

• Nightshelter Allotments, Chelmsford:
  The Community Payback team in Chelmsford set about creating an allotment which would provide food for a local Nightshelter, while improving life for neighbouring allotment users.
  
  They put together a group of offenders sentenced by the courts to work for the community, and took on an overgrown field, strimming, raking, digging, and mowing it until it was useable, creating several new plots. The offenders then built a shed and a greenhouse. At the end of their allotment plot, they created a ‘Sit-Around’ for local allotment users.
  
  They have so far grown produce for the Chelmsford Nightshelter, including produce such as beans, potatoes and sprouts. In exchange, they receive seeds, and growbags: the Nightshelter’s investment in further crops.
  
  “In a real demonstration of acceptance and respect for what we are doing, other allotment users have donated plum trees, rhubarb, etc. In return, offenders have helped with digging up other patches,” said Jill Richardson, who leads the team of Unpaid Work Supervisors in the Chelmsford area. “This interchange creates a sense of responsibility for others in their community, and acceptance by other allotment users produces a boost in these lads’ self-respect, which can only improve the likelihood of success in preventing more crime.”
  

• Tendring District:
  Where Community Payback has been called in to a variety of projects: ten of them currently, with more planned. The local CDRP will also have a say in prioritising projects.
  
  A massive six-acre churchyard has been receiving attention for the last one and a half years. The vicar of All Saints and St. James in Brightlingsea describes a hefty piece of work, clearing the whole area, and making graves accessible once more.  “I have had numerous favourable comments from local residents,” he says, “and people can find what they’re looking for. It didn’t go unnoticed either, when a family arrived looking for a particular grave, and were helped in the task of finding it by one of the Unpaid Workers. They very much appreciated his consideration.” The group is also working on sanding all the oak benches in the church. “I can trust these groups to do a great job,” says the vicar. “They’re also breathing life back into a dead building – a church hall,” he says. “Its decoration and repair, in a place where there are very few buildings for local residents’ use, is invaluable.
  
  “Replacing lead on our church roof provided a salutary lesson also,” says the vicar. “It was incredibly hard work, and the workers were fully aware that it cost us many thousands more to replace it, than the thieves would have sold it for.”
  
  Work has recently begun on a big project on the sea front at Clacton, upgrading the Memorial gardens, varnishing all the seats, painting the railings and bins, and decorating the seating areas, from the pier to the Martello tower.

• St. Gabriels Church, Pitsea:
  A long-term project. Recently completed an area for wedding photo's; laid paving and created two raised planters using old railway sleepers.

• Merrylands School, Laindon:
  Construction of an outdoor classroom in the school nature reserve. Created an allotment area for children to plant vegetables which are harvested and use in school meals.

A recent study shows that 55% of the offenders under the supervision of the Probation Service have employment, training or education needs. This increases to over 80% for repeat offenders who commit the most crime. Unpaid Work presents an ideal opportunity to use the project or task being completed as the framework to teach new skills and is an effective way to enhance the employability prospects of unemployed offenders.

Learning Basic Skills on-site 

As a component of the hours ordered by the court, offenders can be removed from their work task to spend a limited amount of  time with a tutor learning the basics of numeracy and literacy. Provision is made on-site for individual sessions to take place: another vital step on the employment ladder.