In Dorset Probation Area, over 85,000 hours of Community Payback are completed every year by offenders on a community sentence. This equates to over £1,000,000 (£one million) of free labour provided to local communities as offenders pay back for the crimes they have committed.
Community Payback projects range from litter removal to clearing dense under growth, and environmental projects through 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.
Community Payback, formerly community service, is one of Probation’s success stories. It came about in the 1970s as a result of the Wootton Report and its aim was to deprive offenders not of liberty but of leisure. It tapped into the accepted wisdom of reparation being a means of righting wrongs. It was formally introduced in the 1972 Criminal Justice Act and pilots started in Nottinghamshire.
Dorset Probation Trust works in partnership with the local community to identify meaningful Community Payback work sites which offer suitable reparation to the community through a range of work which suits the skills and abilities of offenders.
Dorset Probation Trust is committed to identifying Community Payback sites which offer suitable reparations to the local community, and also provide offenders with the opportunity to acquire new skills which will enhance their employability and contribute to reducing their likelihood of re-offending.
During the past four years, Community Payback within Dorset Probation Trust have received ten awards in recognition of the excellent work undertaken. This comprised 4 national awards and 6 regional/local awards, including, on two occasions, local Partnership of the year.
