Community Payback and unpaid work in England and Wales

The intended audience for this page is Community Payback Placement Co-ordinators, Operations Managers, Heads of Unpaid Work and others involved in sourcing and delivering unpaid work through HM Probation Service in England and Wales.

Why FixASB can be useful for Community Payback

Good Community Payback projects need to be purposeful, credible and capable of delivering a tangible benefit to the community.

That is also what many FixASB issues are about.

Residents might identify a repeatedly graffitied alleyway, a littered public space, an overgrown route, a neglected communal area or a location affected by persistent fly-tipping. Individually, these can sometimes appear relatively minor. Collectively, and when allowed to persist, they can make people feel that somewhere has been abandoned.

FixASB helps turn those concerns into structured, place-based evidence that can be considered as a possible Community Payback project.

This closely reflects the Probation Service's own approach. Current Community Payback guidance says placements should be credible and demanding, provide tangible benefits to local communities and allow local communities to nominate work.

Isn't there already a Community Payback nomination scheme?

Yes, and FixASB is intended to complement and amplify it.

The government already encourages members of the public to nominate Community Payback projects. Its examples include graffiti removal, clearing wasteland and alleys, litter picking, grounds maintenance and improving public or communal spaces.

FixASB can help generate and route such nominations swiftly and efficiently to the right people.

An issue on FixASB can also provide evidence about why the location matters, whether the problem is persistent, photographs and updates, community support and, where possible, information needed to help secure permission from the relevant landowner or organisation.

That can make promising nominations easier to assess and progress.

We aren't asking you to accept every FixASB issue

A report appearing on FixASB does not mean that it should automatically become a Community Payback project.

Community Payback teams retain their existing responsibilities for deciding whether a project is suitable, safe and deliverable. Probation guidance requires assessment of the individual before placement and a health and safety risk assessment of Community Payback work placements before work begins.

Some FixASB issues will not be suitable for unpaid work at all. Others may require action by a council, police force, housing provider, landowner or utility company instead.

Our role is to make potentially suitable opportunities easier to find and assess, not to make the assessment for you.

Does this risk replacing paid work?

It shouldn't.

Community Payback projects must benefit the local community and must not take paid work away from somebody else or generate a profit for someone. Those principles are expressly reflected in the government's public nomination criteria.

FixASB does not suggest that Community Payback should become a substitute for properly resourced cleansing, maintenance or environmental services.

Instead, we are particularly interested in the additional, accumulated and persistent work that can otherwise remain undone: the neglected alleyway, repeated graffiti, badly littered open space, overgrown community asset or small environmental improvement that has fallen between organisational responsibilities.

There is no shortage of places that would benefit from additional attention.

What about privately owned land?

Ownership is one of the things that needs to be established before work goes ahead.

FixASB can help identify the relevant council, housing association, community organisation, business, managing agent or other landowner and seek appropriate permission where necessary.

Permission alone does not make a project suitable for Community Payback. The project must still satisfy the Probation Service's requirements, including community benefit and the prohibition on displacing paid employment or undertaking work for private profit.

But resolving ownership and consent early can remove a practical obstacle that might otherwise stop a worthwhile project progressing.

The kinds of projects FixASB can surface

Examples may include:

• removing graffiti and tagging from appropriate walls, structures and street furniture

• clearing litter from neglected public and shared spaces

• clearing alleys and pedestrian routes

• tackling appropriate fly-tipping sites

• grounds maintenance and vegetation clearance

• improving communal or community spaces

• painting and minor environmental improvements

• restoring the appearance of places repeatedly affected by anti-social behaviour

These are not novel uses of Community Payback. Government guidance already identifies graffiti removal, litter picking, clearing alleys and wasteland, gardening and improving public places as examples of suitable work.

The Probation Service has also incorporated rapid-deployment work tackling anti-social behaviour into normal Community Payback delivery across all 12 probation regions. This has included fly-tipping clearance, litter picking and graffiti removal.

What FixASB can provide

Community-backed project leads

FixASB can identify places where residents have recorded a persistent problem and explain the community benefit likely to result from tackling it.

Structured information

Where available, we can provide the location, photographs, nature of the problem, suggested work, accessibility information, ownership or beneficiary details and other information that can help with an initial assessment.

Help obtaining permission

A regular challenge can be securing the permission of property owners in some locations. FixASB can help secure such consents in a timely and documented manner, unblocking one of the issues that can stop clean-ups in their tracks.

An ongoing pipeline

Not every proposed job will prove suitable. By providing a continuing flow of local issues, however, FixASB can help Placement Co-ordinators find alternatives rather than relying on every individual nomination succeeding.

Evidence of community priorities

FixASB can also provide useful evidence when Community Payback teams consult local partners about what unpaid work should address. Probation policy requires annual liaison with local forums such as Police and Crime Commissioners and Community Safety Partnerships as part of the duty to consult.

Visible results

When work is completed, a FixASB issue can be updated to show that the problem has been addressed, including before-and-after photographs where appropriate.

That creates a simple public record of Community Payback delivering something residents can actually see.

Working with FixASB doesn't transfer responsibility

FixASB does not allocate people on probation, supervise unpaid work, undertake probation risk assessments, determine suitability or make decisions about compliance.

Those responsibilities remain where they belong.

Nor do Community Payback teams need to investigate the underlying anti-social behaviour recorded on FixASB. In most cases, what matters for a placement assessment is straightforward: is there useful work here that can safely and properly be done for the benefit of the community?

Where the answer might be yes, we want to make it easier for you to find out.

Why engagement matters

One of the strengths of Community Payback is its visibility.

A neglected space being restored creates a direct connection between a community sentence and making good harm that may have been caused in a locality. It can improve the local environment, demonstrate that concerns have been heard and make justice visible in a practical way.

The Probation Service itself describes the purpose of unpaid work as both punishment and reparation through projects benefiting local communities.

FixASB can help identify more of those opportunities and help you demonstrate the positive impact of your work.

Get FixASB projects for your area

If you coordinate or manage Community Payback in England or Wales, get in touch.