Payback time punishment

ALMOST 54,000 hours of Community Payback was completed by offenders in Oldham last year.

A report by Greater Manchester Probation Trust (GMPT), the organisation responsible for supervising the punishment, shows that a total of 540 people were sentenced by the courts to carry out unpaid work and that there was a 79 per cent completion rate — five per cent higher than the Government’s target and four per cent above the national average.

Where offenders fail to finish their hours, they are returned to court and are resentenced. Sanctions include having the punishment extended, the addition of more punitive elements or even jail.

Offenders carried out 53,909 hours of unpaid work across Oldham, with projects including environmental work, rubbish clearance at illegal sites, decorating, maintaining cemeteries and war graves and running luncheon clubs for the elderly.

GMPT’s report shows that 87 per cent of those carrying out Community Payback were male, and 54 per cent were unemployed.

Across Greater Manchester, slightly fewer hours — 595,801 — were completed than in 2010, when 611,155 were undertaken. This is because courts have passed fewer sentences.



::If people think they have a suitable project for Community Payback they should contact www.gm-probation.org.uk or call 0300 047 8250.