COMMUNITY PAYBACK

Community Payback – how to get involved

In Merseyside, over a quarter of a million hours of Community Payback are completed every year by offenders on a community sentence. This equates to approximately £1 million of free labour provided to local communities as offenders pay back for the crimes they have committed.

Community Payback projects range from litter removal to clearing dense under growth, and environmental projects through repairing and redecorating community centres or removing graffiti. Offenders usually work as part of a team, monitored by a supervisor, and will work all day with short breaks, although there are some opportunities for individual placements.

To be considered your project must meet the following criteria
· It must benefit the local community
· It must not take paid work away from others
· No one must make a profit from the work
· It must be challenging and demanding
· It must be worthwhile and constructive
· Offenders must be seen to be putting something back into the community.

The Community Payback team will assess the project for suitability and for health and safety implications.
Once the work has been completed a plaque will be displayed with the Community Payback logo, if appropriate. This will indicate where offenders have positively contributed to improving a neighbourhood.

Anyone can nominate a project, so, if you are an individual, member of a club, community group, faith group or voluntary organisation and have a project that fits the criteria above, please let us know and we will consider it. Click here to send an e.mail giving the suggested project, your name and contact details using the form provided, and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Alternative, you can ring: 0151 324 1905 where you can leave a message, giving your contact details, the area from which you are calling and a description of the project.

PUBLIC VOTING RESULTS

Liverpool, Knowsley and St Helens recently took part in a national campaign to let the public have more of a say in the type of work offenders in those areas should be carrying out. Local residents were invited to vote for one of five nominated projects either by telephone or online, and the results are now in as detailed below.

LIVERPOOL - THE WINNING PROJECT Lodge Lane, Toxteth, and surrounding roads This project received over 40% of the votes.
Tiber Street/Lodge Lane prior to the clean-up	Tiber Street/Lodge Lane after the clean-up

Fern Grove prior to the removal of undergrowth, litter and debris	Fern Grove after the undergrowth and rubbish are removed

Grierson St prior to rubbish removal	Grierson St after the rubbish removal

St HELENS - WINNING PROJECT Blackbrook, Sankey Valley This project received over 34% of the votes
Blackbrook, Sankey Valley, prior to graffiti removal	Blackbrook, Sankey Valley following graffiti removal

Bridge at Sankey Valley prior to graffiti removal	Bridge at Sankey Valley following graffiti removal

KNOWSLEY - WINNING PROJECT Langton Road Open Space, Kirkby This project received over 29% of the votes
The open space at Langton Road had suffered years of neglect. Offenders worked for many week to clear the weeds and undergrowth.	The work, now completed, has enabled the local community to enjoy the area, which provides an attractive space within which to relax.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

We want to use unpaid work hours to help reduce crime in your area. For example, the pictures below show a once derelict piece of land, used for criminal activity, now transformed completely by offenders on Community Payback. The initiative (run in partnership with the local council) was so successful that it was visited by the then Prime Minister Tony Blair.

To suggest a Community Payback project in your area, simply click here to send an e.mail. Make sure you leave your contact details, together with a brief description of the project and its location.

A LETTER RECEIVED FROM A BENEFICIARY OF UNPAID WORK

This letter is typical of many we receive in the course of our day to day work with offenders.