Showing posts with label Community Payback. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Community Payback. Show all posts

Friday 25 November 2011

Community Payback covers council cuts in street sweeping

On top of concerns over unpaid youth labour in supermarkets comes the news that Brent Council is using Community Payback to cover the service gaps created by its street cleansing cuts and the impact of Autumn leaf fall.

The Kilburn and Brent Times this week (p6) reports a council spokesman as saying:
Brent Council focuses its resources on the road which are more affected, such as tree-lined streets, as residents would expect.

In areas of Kilburn, Queens Park and Brondesbury Park wards the council has worked with the probationary service to organise teams from Community Payback to clean up leaves in the area seven days a week for the past four weeks.
Community Payback is the scheme where offenders do community work from 6 hours a week to compensate the community for crimes they have committed.  It is usually done for charities and other causes nominated by local residents.

Looking at the Community Payback website there is no mention of local councils deciding what they should do and certainly nothing about them being used as unpaid labour to make up for council cuts.

Community Payback

The London Community Payback website states::

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.
Is this a misuse of the scheme?

    Monday 6 April 2009


    The churchyard at Old St.Andrew's Church, Kingsbury has been undergoing a big clear-up recently. The work is being done under the Community Payback scheme where offenders do six hours a day unpaid work, rather than serving a prison sentence. Serious offenders are not eligible and most of those serving a community sentence have been found guilt of theft, traffic offences or public order offences. The scheme was recently in the news over proposals to make offenders wear high-visibility vests while at work. The scheme is run jointly by the Probation Service, Safer Neighbourhood Teams and the Local Authority.

    St Andrew's Old Church dates from the 11th century and it is thought there has been a church on the site since Saxon times. It is Brent's only Grade 1 listed building and has suffered from vandalism. The church is owned by the Churches Conservation Trust but the graveyard is the responsibility of the Parochial Church Council of Kingsbury who have worked hard at clearing the churchyard in recent years.

    Today in the Spring sunshine, paths had been cleared and there were masses of violets amongst the graves. The workers are constructing a hurdle type fence around the graveyard constructed from the trees and shrubs they have cut down. They explained that they hoped the ubiquitous ivy would climb over the hurdles and form a solid barrier. It was clear that the work had been done with sensitivity and perhaps even a little enthusiasm - surely better than languishing in a cell.