An unexpected group of people are often drafted in to clear overgrown and litter-strewn patches of land or paint the railings at a children's school or local park. Offenders in hi-vis tops are frequently out and about in supervised groups, carrying out unpaid work as part of their punishment known as community payback.
Individuals and organisations can nominate projects for the scheme but the offenders must not take paid work from anyone or generate a profit, and it must benefit the community. Community payback - usually as part of a wider community order - is a sentencing tool courts use for offences which don't meet the custodial threshold. The requirement can be for anything between 40 to 300 hours of unpaid work.
There are currently around 210 offenders on community payback in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot. Around 160 of those work in groups and the rest are on independent placements in venues like charity shops and sports clubs. The scheme is managed and risk-assessed by the Probation Service.
