Council consultation: Have your say on Community Payback Orders

The city council wants to know your thoughts on Community Payback Orders (CPO). These alternatives to custodial sentences are given out by the Court as a way for people to pay for their crimes.

In particular, it wants to know what you think about the unpaid work part of a CPO, which replaced community service in 2011. This is when an individual who has committed an offence does unpaid work within the community.

Below are some of the key questions:

• Have you experienced people doing unpaid work in your community?
• Do you believe unpaid work gives people the opportunity to repay the community for their offences?
• Do you have any thoughts about residents, community projects or organisations who could benefit from unpaid work support by individuals completing CPOs?

These questions and a desire to improve service delivery is why the city council has launched it’s annual consultation in line with their commitments to the Scottish Government.

Councillor Val Walker, Culture and Communities Committee Convener, said: “We are taking a dynamic and evaluative approach to Community Payback Orders and the views of our citizens are crucial to this process.

“One major goal of the consultation is to find new areas and opportunities in the capital for unpaid work to be undertaken. Past examples of this work include community clear-ups, repainting community centres and the ‘Brake The Cycle’ scheme, wherein individuals serving CPOs are involved in renovating bicycles, learning new skills and gaining confidence in themselves and their wider community.

“These along with other activities allow key organisations such as charities to receive support whilst simultaneously allowing individuals serving CPOs to give back to their communities.

“Through this consultation and collection of information we want to promote more discussion with communities about unpaid work opportunities. These processes are key to properly understanding how CPOs help not only the individuals serving them in terms of reoffending, but the tangible benefits these brings to communities across our capital city.”

This consultation is open now and will run until 25 September 2022.