Community Payback

Introducing com:pact

com:pact has achieved framework status to deliver Community Payback on behalf of the Ministry of Justice. This will be a national service, procured by the end of 2012 and will be competed initially in Greater London.

What is Community Payback?

Community Payback is the scheme, currently delivered by Probation Trusts, through which offenders who are sentenced to an Unpaid Work order carry out their sentence. Offenders undertake work placements in the community for 6-18 hours per week until they have completed their sentenced hours (between 40 and 300 hours). Placements must be demanding and rigorous and must be of benefit to the community whilst not replacing paid jobs. In addition to being a robust and credible punishment, Community Payback can also enable offenders to develop skills which will improve their employability. The sentence can help to instil work discipline, together with skills such as working cooperatively with others and effective problem solving.

What type of partner organisations is com:pact looking for?

com:pact would welcome expressions of interest from organisations who would like to host Community Payback work placements. These will be community organisations that would benefit from Community Payback volunteers to carry out activities that have a positive impact on the community.

The nature of placements will vary to ensure a range of demanding placements that are appropriate for different offender groups including people with disabilities, women and 16/17 year olds. They may be one-off, or an on-going placement. Examples of placements include graffiti removal in a public area, painting a wall in a local school or serving food at a Senior Citizens' lunch club.

If you are interested in hosting Community Payback placements please complete the Expression of Interest form.