ABERDEEN CITY COUNCIL. Social Care and Wellbeing Adult Services Sub-Committee

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1 ABERDEEN CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE Social Care and Wellbeing Adult Services Sub-Committee DATE 9 th December 2010 DIRECTOR TITLE OF REPORT REPORT NUMBER: Fred McBride Community Payback Orders and the new National Standards for Criminal Justice Social Work SCW/10/ PURPOSE OF REPORT The purpose of this Report is to inform Members about new legislation and guidance that will have a significant impact on the Criminal Justice Social Work Service, specifically the implementation of Community Payback Orders (CPOs) and the new National Outcomes and Standards for Criminal Justice Social Work. 2. RECOMMENDATION(S) That the members note the content of the report. 3. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS Community Payback Orders will be funded from the Section 27 grant from the Scottish Government via the Northern Community Justice Authority. It is anticipated that CPOs will result in a considerable increase in workload which, added to the reduction in timescales from 12 to 3/ 6 months to get people through community service/ unpaid work, and the loss of Council subsidy for the service, will put a huge strain on resources. 4. OTHER IMPLICATIONS As part of the preparation for the implementation of CPOs and managing the reduction in budget, an internal review of CJSW resources is ongoing. Furthermore we will neither know what our Section 27 Grant allocation will be until January, nor the scale of the workload increase brought about by CPOs, until later in It is however likely that all of these factors will result in a change in the skills mix and a redistribution of resources over the next year. 5. BACKGROUND/ MAIN ISSUES

2 5.1 The Scottish Government's new approach to community-based sentencing Scotland s Choice, the report of the Scottish Prison Commission ( 2008) highlighted two principles: That custody should only be used when it is needed, to reflect the seriousness of the offence, and for those individuals who pose a serious risk of harm. Therefore community sentences should be the default choice for less serious offenders. That sentences served in the community should involve 'payback', i.e. that those people who have damaged their communities by their offending should make reparation to the community and thus, indirectly, to those people whom they offended against. The report considers that short-term prison sentences are over-used, and advocates the introduction of a new community sentence structure which will provide the courts with a punishment for offenders which will also address areas they require to change in their lives. The intention is that these community sentences will principally be a punishment, and not merely a 'supportive intervention'. 5.2 The Community Payback Order The Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 introduces the Community Payback Order (CPO) which will replace probation, community service and supervised attendance orders with a single order consisting of one or more requirement. The court may select from the range of requirements below in deciding on the make-up of the order and these can be tailored specifically to each offender. o Unpaid work or other activity o Supervision o Compensation o Programme o Mental Health Treatment o Drug treatment; o Alcohol treatment o Residence o Conduct The commencement date for CPOs is 1 st February 2011 The Act also introduces the presumption against prison sentences of three months or less 5.3 Key Features of Community Payback Orders

3 The community payback order will be regarded as an alternative to custody, but courts will also be able to impose a community payback order with a restricted range of requirements as an alternative to, or in addition to, a fine. Where the law would previously have imposed short jail terms (or more recently supervised attendance orders) on minor fine defaulters, courts will now impose a low tariff community payback order Unpaid work (previously community service) or other activity requirements can be imposed for between 20 and 300 hours. A requirement of hours is referred to as a "level 1 requirement"; and a requirement of hours as a "level 2 requirement". Where an unpaid work or other activity requirement is to be imposed in a Justice of the Peace court, it will be limited to level 1. Up to 30% of a level 1 unpaid work requirement and 30 hours of a level 2 requirement can consist of activity other than unpaid work. Other activity is intended to be used to address other areas of an individual s life which, although not directly related to their offending will, if addressed, reduce their risk of reoffending. E.g. literacy, drug/ alcohol counselling, problem-solving, confidence building, skills training, employability. Speed, immediacy and visibility are three of the guiding principles underpinning CPOs in general and unpaid work in particular. Orders should be signed at court and work placements begun as soon as possible after the CPO has been imposed ideally within 24 hours but no later than 7 working days, should be managed rigorously and unpaid work should be seen to have been done. Orders can be made for a period of between 6 months and 3 years unless they consist solely of an unpaid work or other activity requirement when they must be completed within 3 months for Level 1 and 6 months for Level 2 - unless the court states otherwise at the point of sentence. An offender supervision requirement is mandatory when an order is imposed on an offender aged under 18 years. It is also mandatory when a court imposes any requirement apart from an unpaid work or other activity requirement. A further offence committed during the order is not a breach of the order. A court may schedule discretionary periodic review hearings to check on an offender's progress at any point within the duration of the order. A court can decide to discharge an order early, in circumstances where an offender has made highly positive progress. If an offender breaches a community payback order, the court

4 can vary the order to impose new or different requirements. It can decide to impose a restricted movement requirement (electronic monitoring). Ultimately it can decide to revoke the order and impose a custodial sentence, or any other disposal which it could have used at first instance. The local authority must carry out an annual community consultation on the types of activities to be carried out locally by those subject to an unpaid work or other activity requirement. 5.4 CPO Implementation Planning for implementation of the community payback order is under way. The Scottish Government has published guidance on the operation of the community payback order and Criminal Justice Social Work Staff have been trained. On a local level we are working on a CPO implementation plan to ensure that we are as ready as we can be by 1 st February We are currently reviewing our skills mix and our allocation of resources across CJSW services in order to make best use of our skills, knowledge and funding. 5.5 National Outcomes and Standards for Criminal Justice Social Work New standards have recently been introduced to provide practitioners with Guidance on the main aspects of Criminal Justice Social Work practice. The format of the new NOS is based on a set of high level principles focusing on the four Rs Reparation, Rehabilitation, Restriction and Reintegration - which overarch all areas of practice. These are supplemented by a series of specific Practice Guidance documents, of which those on Community Payback Orders and Criminal Justice Social Work Reports and Court- Based Services have been published thus far. 6. IMPACT The intended impact of the implementation of the CPO and the National Outcomes and Standards is more appropriate targeting of prison sentences, improved supervision and management of offenders and enhanced public protection. 7. BACKGROUND PAPERS Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 National Outcomes and Standards for Criminal Justice Social Work 2010

5 The Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research Briefing Paper No.02/2010, Community Payback and the new National Standards For Criminal Justice Social Work by Fergus McNeill 8. REPORT AUTHOR DETAILS Lesley Simpson, Service Manager, Criminal Justice Social Work Service Exchequer House