How many hours of community work did West Yorkshire offenders complete last year?

Offenders working in West Yorkshire communities completed tens of thousands of hours in 2017 after being sentenced, according to the latest figures.
Those ordered to take on unpaid Community Payback work complete in a range of manual tasks, including removing graffiti, litter picking and clearing parks.Those ordered to take on unpaid Community Payback work complete in a range of manual tasks, including removing graffiti, litter picking and clearing parks.
Those ordered to take on unpaid Community Payback work complete in a range of manual tasks, including removing graffiti, litter picking and clearing parks.

West Yorkshire Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC), which is responsible for supervising offenders on Community Payback, said 264,790 hours had been logged in the past 12 months.

With the national wage standing at £7.83 that is the equivalent of more than £2.07m of work delivered, it said.

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Martin Davies, chief executive of West Yorkshire CRC, said: “Community payback provides a tough, effective and visible punishment requiring people to undertake challenging work while giving something back to communities where they live.

“It also provides an opportunity for people to turn their experience into a positive one by picking up new skills that can help them towards paid employment and leading more stable, positive and crime-free lives.”

How Community Payback works

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.

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CRC said all projects combine hard work and the chance for the participant to develop skills, but they are also a punishment as the individual is giving up their time to carry out the work.

Community sentences can be given for crimes including damaging property, benefit fraud and assault.

They are often handed out by judges and magistrates when the offender is appearing at court for the first time or when it is thought such a sentence may be more likely to stop an offender committing crimes than a prison sentence.

Who chooses what work is carried out in the community?

Those ordered to take on unpaid Community Payback work participate in a range of manual tasks, including removing graffiti, litter picking, clearing parks and cemeteries, renovating buildings and work in charity shops.

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The Community Payback Team in West Yorkshire CRC would like to hear about other projects which residents think will make a real difference to their community.

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