MoJ to pilot rapid deployment Community Payback teams

As part of the six-month pilot, offenders will be carrying out up to 20,000 hours of “hard graft”, ensuring that they are paying for their crimes while giving back to the communities they have harmed, said the MoJ.

The rapid deployment teams – made up of offenders serving Community Payback sentences who will be kitted out in hi-vis jackets – will be sent to communities across the country to carry out local clean-ups within 48 hours of cases being reported to the Probation Service.

Each year, courts hand down more than 50,000 unpaid work requirements to punish offenders for crimes including theft, criminal damage and alcohol-related incidents.

This year marks 50 years since the launch of the first Community Payback project after the first unpaid work placement was ordered by a judge at Nottingham Crown Court on January 2, 1973.

The Community Payback website also will be relaunched early next year, making it far easier for members of the public to report anti-social behaviour and nominate potential projects in their neighbourhoods.

This will work alongside the Government’s new reporting tool that will allow the public to quickly and easily report incidents of anti-social behaviour.

The payback pilot and the new reporting tool both form part of the Government’s Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, published in March. This sets out how the Government plans to crack down on these offences at a local level and give communities a greater say in how justice is served.

Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Alex Chalk KC said: “Anti-social behaviour is a blight on our society and can leave proud neighbourhoods feeling neglected.

“These rapid deployment teams will mean eyesores are dealt with swiftly to restore community pride and ensure convicts are made to give back to the communities they have offended against.”

The scheme will be piloted in the Probation Service regions of Greater Manchester, East of England, Wales and the North East, meaning they will benefit some of the towns known to be worst affected by anti-social behaviour in the country, such as Middlesbrough and Blaenau Gwent.

Last month, a new law also came into effect requiring local probation services to consult annually with specific community leaders, such as charities, victim organisations and elected policing bodies, on the type of unpaid work that would benefit the region.

The Government says it investing up to £93 million into Community Payback, which will see offenders “completing millions of hours of unpaid work each year to improve the environment and revitalise towns and cities”.