Due to the Covid19 Pandemic and the restrictions that were imposed, the backlog of Unpaid Work became a significant challenge over 2020-21 (and still presents significant challenges). You can read more about this and its implications in our Article COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT ON COMMUNITY PAYBACK ORDERS – UNPAID WORK.
The flexibility, ingenuity and creativity of Glasgow’s Unpaid Work Providers was, and continues to be instrumental in facing those challenges which will remain with us for some time to come.
The relationships and partnership working built up over the years since the implementation of the Community Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 in Glasgow, such as the work we do in the CPO/Unpaid Work Provider’s Forum, was indispensable in the circumstances that were presented. The partners were able to come together quickly, plan, draw on opportunities and available funding and together take both a strategic and practical approach to tackling these significant challenges.
The learning and some of the new ways of working will also stay with us into the future, with plans for hybrid models of digital and face to face delivery for Community Payback Unpaid Work going forward.
Both Sacro and Neighbourhoods, Regeneration and Sustainability share the Community Justice ambition for Community Payback to offer opportunity for rehabilitation as well as reparation for the harm caused. As Community Justice partners, we believe that every interaction with the justice system should be an opportunity to reduce and prevent further offending. The holistic approach that our delivery partners provide, supports those ambitions in Glasgow. You can find out more about the rationale and evidence base for this in our Articles:
- ‘Punishment or Rehabilitation -Balancing the Scales of the Justice System – Rhetoric & Reality’ and
- ‘Hammering Home the Message – CPOs are More Effective at Reducing Re-offending Than Short-Term Prison Sentences’
Commitment to this was clearly demonstrated, with both providers using the time over lockdown to upskill their staff with a more in-depth understanding of the underlying issues and drivers of offending behaviour and in learning how to advise and help link people with the services that might help to address some of these.
A TIME TO LEARN AND DELIVER SOLUTIONS
Service Manager
Sacro’s Community Payback Service (CPS) works with people who have been involved in offending or anti-social behaviour in partnership with Glasgow City Council. Our officers supervise individuals placed on a Community Payback Order, giving them an opportunity to give something back to the community by providing a service of real benefit.
Our asset-based approach ensures optimum opportunity for individuals to successfully complete CPOs; planning and facilitating work that, as well as being reparative, is of clear tangible benefit to the local community.
The restrictions necessary due to the pandemic have made delivery of this extremely problematic as services were suspended across the country due to Coronavirus. When we were unable to deliver Unpaid Work, our staff continued to provide support within communities, using our designated vans to help deliver food parcels, welfare packages and medicines to vulnerable people across the city.
We secured several digital devices and free mobile WIFI through the Connecting Scotland fund which we delivered to digitally-excluded families, providing them with access to learning opportunities, and the means to connect to services, family and friends, positively impacting on their mental health and wellbeing.
Sacro delivers a holistic service, which not only provides opportunities to pay back but also supports service users to reduce offending and tackle underlying causes of offending behaviour. Our staff who were normally overseeing Unpaid Work relished the opportunity during lockdown to gain some new skills and personal development whilst they had capacity to attend more training. The online delivery of training events meant that our team had the opportunity to attend several webinars each, including Gambling Awareness, Hate Crime Awareness, Risk Management and Risk Assessment Skills, Mental Health First Aid and Benefits training. Staff have also undertaken Train-the-Trainer courses to increase groupwork delivery skills, and a Digital Skills webinar to develop skills in digital module delivery.
Through our participation in the Community Justice Glasgow Unpaid Work Providers Forum – which brings together the organisations contracted to deliver Community Payback Orders on behalf of the City Council (SACRO & Neighbourhoods, Regeneration & Sustainability Service (previously Community Safety Glasgow), Criminal Justice Social Work staff and Glasgow Health & Social Care Partnership staff to share good practice and link services into the wider community justice agenda and networks in the City – Sacro’s staff were given the opportunity to attend a certified online Learn to Advise course with the St. Giles Trust, and are now utilising this learning to continue both to improve service delivery, and to support service users.
Sacro’s focus during the periods (where we have been able to deliver a hands-on service) has been on providing safe opportunities for individuals to reduce the Unpaid Work element of their Community Payback Order. The period of suspension for Community Payback Services resulted in a considerable backlog of unpaid work hours nationally and it has become critical that opportunities to address and reduce the number of hours mandated as part of Court Orders are made available safely.
The majority of work placements provided by Sacro have been outdoors within parks and community areas to reduce the risk of cross contamination and indoor transmission of the virus. We increased opportunities to carry out Unpaid Work through working collaboratively with Glasgow City Council to identify suitable areas and work tasks in Tollcross Park, Bellahouston Park, Festival Park and The Western Necropolis Cemetery. These outdoor opportunities were vital, not only to progress unpaid work hours but for some service users to keep them on the right path and in good mental health, to find out more about the importance of this, CLICK ON THE PICTURE LINK BELOW (Figure 1) to watch a short video about the Sacro Garden Project and its 3 step approach (Figure 2), gradually building confidence and skills towards the intended outcome of a positive destination such as an apprenticeship or employment.
FIGURE 1 – VIDEO – THE GARDEN PROJECT
FIGURE 2 – 3 STEP APPROACH
1. GRASS ROOTS
Stability, Breathing Space, Perseverance
2. UP THE ROAD
Mentoring, Skills, Responsibility
3. POSITIVE DESTINATION
Apprenticeship, Job Opportunities, Community engagement
SVQ incentives, achievement certificates
Restrictions meant that we could not transport service users to work sites as we had done pre-Covid, and we overcame this by agreeing with Criminal Justice Social Work Teams that service users would be met by Sacro staff at agreed meeting places within travelling distance from their home addresses to carry out work at pre-arranged sites. The number of places available each day fluctuated to reflect changing guidance from The Scottish Government, however Sacro’s ability to source suitable welfare facilities allowed us to offer up to 117 opportunities per week to safely carry out Unpaid Work.
Additional funding from Glasgow City Council has enabled Sacro to safely deliver a CPO service by increasing staffing levels and ensuring that appropriate equipment and PPE were available. As we were unable to allow the sharing of tools due to the risk of cross-contamination, Sacro purchased extra equipment including hand tools, a fogging machine which is used regularly to disinfect the base, vans and equipment, and installed additional work benches to enable each placement to work individually when indoor work was eventually allowed.
Finally, Sacro’s staff developed a programme of Digital Other Activity and made this available as a credible alternative to Unpaid Work during the period of lockdown. We created a suite of stand-alone modules, which targeted specific areas including:
- Offending behaviour;
- Restorative practices and victim awareness; and,
- The law and relationships with Police.
Further modules available focussed on health and wellbeing, offering a rounded approach to self-improvement. Participants choose modules from a range of available topics and this created a bespoke learning experience which best reflected their specific needs.
BEFORE AND AFTER EXAMPLES OF WORK CARRIED OUT:
The work done by service users during the reporting period has also attracted some external praise and recognition from the community.
Unsolicited Comments from Members of the Community:
“Hi, I walk my dog in the Festival Park frequently as do other dog walkers and had noticed on a number of occasions the guys clearing up over the past few months. What a difference they have made, I always like to thank them and tell them I appreciate what they are doing.”
“It was a very pleasant surprise this morning to see the Sacro team of four doing superb work such as edging the grass and making the park look at its best. I took a few minutes to talk with one of the chaps who explained the work they have been doing recently in the park such as restoring and expanding the trails and working with a local nursery so that infants can enjoy the space. Can you please pass on my thanks to him and the other chaps, including the couple of young gents who were working hard! I hope they got a sense of satisfaction of a job well done as it is very much appreciated by the community in which they were doing such a great day’s work.”
UPSKILLING TO FACE THE CHALLENGES – NEIGHBOURHOODS, SUSTAINABILITY & REGENERATION
Service Manager, Community Payback & Training Resources, Glasgow City Council, Neighbourhoods, Regenerations & Sustainability (formerly Community Safety Glasgow)
Neighbourhoods, Regeneration & Sustainability (NRS) link very closely with the Community Justice Glasgow team and with the partners that make up the Community Justice Glasgow Partnership.
We very much recognise that Community Payback is about much more than simply supervising unpaid work. There is a much broader context around addressing the underlying drivers of offending behaviour in order to reduce the risk of further offending. Neighbourhoods, Regeneration & Sustainability’s (NRS) Community Payback Service cannot achieve this alone, many partners across the Community Justice Partnership either provide direct or indirect support by way of staff training or awareness raising in relation to a cross section of issues that may be driving offending behaviour, ultimately ensuring there is a workforce in place – ready and willing to support a range of underlying drivers experienced by unpaid work clients. For example, this has included Gambling Harms Awareness – co-facilitated by the Glasgow Health & Social Care Partnership and Scottish Public Health Network.
Several sessions concentrated on gambling harms in a justice setting and highlighted that people in contact with the justice system are more likely than the general population to be at risk of, or experience, harm from gambling. As such, the justice system is an important setting for harm reduction interventions. The ongoing review of the primary legislation, the 2005 Gambling Act, and the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms in Scotland were noted.
A multi-agency pathfinder project in Glasgow City to build a shared understanding of gambling harms as experienced by local people and communities and develop a local action plan to tackle gambling harms that reflects local priorities was described. The sessions were part of an action research approach to building a local picture and identifying solutions. Similar conversations were taking place at other touch points in the justice system, and with stakeholders in other relevant policy areas.
Some of the Key Themes of the Sessions included:
- Identifying clients experiencing gambling harm
- Why people gamble
- Opportunity to gamble in local communities
- Knowledge of gambling Harms
- Awareness of help, support, and treatment for a gambling problem
- Gambling culture & legislation
- Exploring Potential Actions
Going forward, we hope to be part of the solution, in identifying those at risk and those experiencing harm from gambling, who are carrying out Unpaid Work, and signposting and/or providing pathways to support.
As with all aspects of normal life, it has been a particularly challenging time for NRS Community Payback Services due to the impact of Covid-19. During the year and in line with the Scottish Government Framework and Guidelines the service was operational from mid-August to mid-January. There has been close communication throughout with Criminal Justice Social Work Services.
Partners within the local authority, such as Parks & Open Spaces as well as local Community Groups have been instrumental in supporting the continued delivery of Unpaid Work placements by providing welfare facilities. This, twinned with a revised delivery model utilising a static work site approach, has allowed over 3,000 placement referrals and over 10,000 unpaid hours spent enhancing areas within local communities. These areas include Glasgow Green, Alexandra Park, Hogarth Park, Maryhill HUB & Ashgill Recreation Centre. The collaborative working approach has been pivotal to reaching these levels of service provision.
CUTTING BACK TO A CLEAR PATHWAY:
A NICER PLACE TO SIT AND ENJOY THE NEW VIEW:
In addition, the service has continued to support projects through its Wood Workshops by refurbishing chapel pews housed within Daldowie Crematorium which have been transformed back to their former glory through the hard work of un-paid work clients and staff. The sense of pride taken in this particular task, knowing that it is a contribution to enhancing the place where many families pay their last respects and say a final farewell to loved ones, has been clearly evident throughout.
For more examples of how the providers have contributed to reducing re-offending and how Community Payback Unpaid Work benefits the City CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW. These will take you to UPW partner articles from our previous Annual Reporter:
