Community Payback
A powerful community sentence
Every year, up to 10,000 service users work around one million hours on one of our 300 projects.
Unpaid Work is a community sentence used by the Courts. Known as Community Payback, it requires people who commit an offence (we refer to them as service users) to undertake unpaid work on a worthwhile and constructive project, to pay back the community for the crimes they have committed.
Service users (both men and women) have to undertake between 40 and 300 hours of unpaid work as part of their sentence, depending on the seriousness of their offence. A typical sentence can be 120 hours.
We are always looking for new projects that Community Payback can support on.
Contact us
Email us: Upw.nominations@londoncrc.org.uk
- You’ll have a team of workers with skills and capabilities that have been matched to your project.
- You’ll progress and finish projects that you didn’t previously have resource or finance for.
- You’ll be supporting your wider community, helping make it a safer, more pleasant environment.
- Service users will be able to work on projects in public spaces, including sports grounds and youth centres, ensuring that they can continue to provide a service to the community.
- Resource-intensive or ‘pipe dream’ projects can become a reality with a dedicated workforce to either drive or supplement efforts.
- Public areas and resources can be restored, manned and run, helping to revitalise and strengthen community pride in the area.
- Service users will be able to put what they’ve learned into practice, developing valuable work-related skills and increasing their chances of employment.
- Research clearly shows that being in employment can reduce a service user’s risk of reoffending.
- Service users will also gain a sense of pride in seeing how their work has a positive effect on their community.
Demanding but meaningful work
Community Payback is a powerful alternative to custody, and therefore our projects require service users to do meaningful and demanding work. Projects can include a range of valuable tasks such as:
- Clearing a public park,
- Building or painting community resources,
- Staffing charity shops, soup kitchens and other voluntary organisations,
- Gardening and maintaining sports grounds,
- And much more.
The possibilities are endless. Email us today to find out more on Upw.nominations@londoncrc.org.uk
Benefitting service users, communities and you
We aim to ensure that all our projects give service users the opportunity to learn new work-related skills, and that some will lead directly to offers of employment.
The work that service users do to create, maintain and support public spaces has a positive impact on local communities. Our teams regularly work alongside community organisations, local authorities, local police teams and residents. Known as Community Action Days, these are positive for both service users who see the immediate impact of their work and local communities who can see and appreciate Community Payback in action.
With our workforce we can also help you deliver community projects and keep community spaces accessible and safe. You can be assured of high standards of work and your deadlines being met, while also supporting service users’ rehabilitation, doing your part to help make your community safer.
Responsible, practical and safe
We take public safety seriously, always risk assessing every project. Before accepting a project we check it on a number of factors including:
- The work can be done safely.
- It will benefit the community.
- It will not take paid work away from others.
Helping you get the job done
Community Payback is a valuable resource that you can tap into, and which ultimately should be benefitting communities, and ensuring that service users are carrying out the sentence of the Court. We will ensure that, wherever possible, service users with particular skills are placed in projects where they can immediately be effective.
We have a team of skilled community payback supervisors who are experienced in overseeing large and complex projects. In working with us, our partners who choose to supervise their own projects will also be supported through any necessary training and guidance. Feedback from our existing beneficiaries is that they feel confident and supported in this role. Your dedicated account manager will continue to support your throughout the process and provide a responsive service.
A versatile work force
Whether you’re looking for a dedicated resource to handle regular unpaid work or you want to bolster an existing team to get a job up and running, we can help.
Find out more by emailing us today on Upw.nominations@londoncrc.org.uk
Working in collaboration with our partners, we are looking to deliver sustainable and innovative projects.
We welcome suggestions for possible projects as long as they meet the following requirements. The project should:
- benefit the local community
- not replace paid employment
- provide basic facilities including toilets and rest area
- be regular and reliable
- endorse principles of valuing equality and diversity
- not involve personal care or supervision of vulnerable adults or children
- follow health and safety standards.
We will be able to help provide materials such as paint and tools.
It might surprise you to know the breadth and range of projects we can help you with. Examples of both end-to-end and ongoing projects include:
- staffing charity shops
- clearing and maintaining community sports grounds
- helping to run community centres, manning food banks and tending allotments
- clearing public parks or local crime hotspots
- building, restoring or decorating community resources
- gardening and litter-picking.
Choose what works for you
We operate over 300 projects across the capital
We can provide flexible, effective working, with resources available during the week or at weekends, for one-off or long-term, rolling projects.
Team supervision
You can choose to supervise the teams yourself whether you’re using a Community Payback team alone or using it to booster your own workforce. We are also able to provide experienced supervisors to manage the job if needed.
We’ll handle all the necessary groundwork and risk assessments beforehand. You can be confident that your job will be done safely and to a high standard.
Support over multiple sites
If your project has a variety of sites, we are able to support you on different projects across them.
We can support you across a variety of sites as required. For instance if you have multiple bases that need staffing or working on, we can manage the logistics of these.
Ensuring you have the people you need, where you need them, and when you need them.
How Community Payback can help you
- Do you have a community space that needs some TLC?
- Does your charity need regular help over multiple sites?
- Do you have a community project you want to get off the ground but don’t have the resource for?
- Do you need a regular workforce to maintain or help run a public service or space?
You might be surprised how Community Payback can help you and your community.
We are always looking for a wide range of Community Payback projects across London, giving our service users exciting and educational new work.
You don’t have to worry about the detail. We’ll do all the necessary groundwork and risk assessments so you can be confident your job will be done safely and to the best standard achievable.
If you’re not sure the job you have would be in scope, get in touch. We’re keen to expand the opportunities we can make available to our service users, and are more than happy to explore it further with you.
Whatever your need, get in touch and see how Community Payback could help you achieve your goals.
Contact us
Email us: Upw.nominations@londoncrc.org.uk
Watch this video to find out how Community Payback can truly transform lives.