Community Payback Orders
Community Payback Orders replaced Community Service Orders, Probation Orders and Supervised Attendance Orders.
Courts can impose one or more of a range of requirements as part of a Community Payback Order:
- Unpaid work or other activity
- Offender supervision programme to address offending behaviour
- Conduct requirement (where the courts specify that the offender has to do or not do something)
- Compensation requirement
- Mental health treatment requirement
- Participate in drug treatment
- Participate in alcohol treatment
- Residence - to reside at a particular address
There are currently nine requirements which the Court can impose, which will soon increase to ten. A 'restriction' requirement can be imposed following breach of the Order.
Find out more about Community payback orders on the Scottish Government website.
Unpaid Work
The unpaid work requirement gives the offender the opportunity to repay their local communities for the harm caused by their offending. Unpaid work does not replace paid employment.
Unpaid workers work across Dumfries & Galloway, either in small groups or as individual placements. The work is supervised.
Unpaid work can help people to develop and improve their social skills.
The "other activity" component of unpaid work is used in a number of ways, including to promote health improvement or enhance employability.
The type of work carried out includes:
- Litter picking
- Winter Warmth - logs and kindlers
- Maintaining community walkways, public routes and cycle paths
- Clearing snow
- Community painting projects
- Environmental projects
- Vegetable production and distribution from our workshop units
- Individual placements in public, private and charitable organisations
- Upgrade and maintenance of closed cemeteries, local parks and public open spaces
Unpaid work is for the benefit of the local community. We welcome suggestions of community projects suitable for unpaid workers to take part in.
Find out more about unpaid work on the Scottish Government website.
Individuals subject to supervision as part of a Community Payback Order are supervised by an allocated social worker and may be offered a range of one-to-one or group work interventions. Work will focus on reducing reoffending through developing strategies to make and sustain long-term positive changes. This will include work specific to individuals' offending behaviour and other related areas such as pro-criminal attitudes and beliefs, life skills, problem-solving, anger management, drug/alcohol use, housing, education, employment, and so on.
Find out more about supervision on the Scottish Government website.
Programme Requirement
The programme requirement provides the individual with the opportunity to participate in a structured programme of work designed to challenge pro-criminal attitudes and beliefs and learn new skills to avoid antisocial and criminal and violent behaviour. Programmes usually have between 12 and 24 weekly group sessions. Currently in Dumfries & Galloway our Programme Delivery Team offer 4 programmes:
- Caledonian System
The Caledonian System is an integrated approach to deal with men's domestic abuse and to improve the lives of women, children and men. It does this by working with men convicted of domestic abuse related offences on a programme to reduce their risk of re-offending, while offering integrated services to the women and children affected by the domestic abuse.
Find out more about the Caledonian System on the Scottish Government website.
- Moving Forward Making Changes - Sex Offender Programme
The Programme Delivery Team works with people convicted of sexual offences to help reduce risk of reoffending.
- Constructs General Offending Programme
- Women's Programme
Compensation Requirement
The person can be ordered to pay money to their victim(s) for injuries or distress they have caused, or damage to property.
Residence Requirement
The person can be ordered to stay at a certain living address, for example, with their parents or supported accommodation.
Conduct Requirement
The person can be ordered to do certain things or not do certain things. For example, someone who has been convicted of shoplifting can be ordered not to enter the shop they stole from. Sheriffs can only use this requirement if they consider that it will help stop the person from committing more crimes.
Mental Health Treatment Requirement
If the person has been diagnosed with a mental health condition that plays a role in their offending, they can receive support and treatment. This can include staying in hospital or attending medical clinics. It can also include getting counselling or any other treatment prescribed by a doctor.
Where there is a diagnosed mental health problem and the person is not detainable, a Mental Health Treatment Requirement can be imposed with a supervision requirement; in Dumfries and Galloway this would be undertaken in partnership with the social work community mental health team.
Drugs Treatment Requirement
If the person has a drug problem, they can get treatment under this requirement. They might be ordered to attend a clinic or hospital to deal with the problem.
Alcohol Treatment Requirement
If the person has an alcohol problem which is connected to their offending behaviour, they can be ordered to receive counselling or attend a clinic to deal with the problem.
Where the person has a dependency in relation to alcohol and this is contributing to their offending behaviour, the dependency is susceptible to treatment. Arrangements should be outlined as to the proposed treatment taking place. This would be delivered by a local addiction service provider and supervised by a criminal justice social worker. Would normally be imposed as a direct alternative to custody.
Share this page
