People can be sentenced to do unpaid work that benefits the community.
Magistrates or judges can sentence offenders to carry out anything from 40 to 300 hours of unpaid work as part of their order. Community Payback must include a minimum of a day’s work – lasting at least seven hours – once a week.
People can also be sentenced to intensive Community Payback orders, which mean they must complete 28 hours of work every week.
Across Cheshire and Greater Manchester, people on probation complete roughly half a million hours of Community Payback every year. All projects combine hard work and the chance for the participant to develop skills. It is also a punishment as the individual is giving up their time to carry out the work.
Community Payback projects vary from maintaining the grounds of parks; churches; cemeteries; local football; cricket and sports clubs; schools and parks through to helping to run clubs for the elderly and vulnerable adults with learning difficulties. In addition, offenders who have been rigorously risk assessed can also be placed directly with charities and community groups, such as helping to run charity shops.
Members of the public can nominate projects for Community Payback teams to complete. For more details, click this link.