Offenders will be made to do a full five day week of hard work and job-seeking, under new proposals for community sentences confirmed today by Minister, Crispin Blunt.
The work will include hard manual labour, improving public areas by clearing up litter, cleaning graffiti and maintaining parks and other green spaces.
The new instructions will see unemployed criminals forced to work a minimum of 28 hours over four days, with the fifth day spent looking for full time employment. Prior to today’s announcement, Community Payback programmes could be spread out over 12 months with some offenders working for a minimum of just six hours per week. The new, more intensive scheme, will also be delivered more immediately after sentence, imposed on offenders within seven days of sentencing, instead of the two weeks it currently takes following the court appearance.
About 100,000 individuals are sentenced to Community Payback each year across England and Wales with over 8.8 million hours of unpaid work completed last year. The public can nominate jobs for offenders via direct.gov. Offenders can also be required to undertake hard manual labour such as working on a community farm, as in the attached case study.
These proposals for community sentencing are part of the Government’s plans to reform sentencing and tackle the root causes of offending. As well as giving something back to communities affected by crime, they will help bring structure to offenders’ lives. This will encourage them back into the routine of hard and meaningful work, in line with Government plans for Working Prisons for those who receive custodial sentences.
To read the full Ministry of Justice news item click the link below.
