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PERFORMANCE INSPECTION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE SOCIAL WORK SERVICES
Report on Argyll, Bute and the Dunbartonshires' Criminal Justice Social Work Partnership

5. COMMUNITY SERVICE

5.1 Community service orders require offenders to make reparation for their offending by undertaking unpaid work of benefit to the community. The work must be completed within a defined time period (2-12 months). Like probation and statutory throughcare, community service orders are provided within a framework of National Objectives and Standards. These state that community service orders should offer the courts a credible community-based penalty for offenders 'who would otherwise have received a sentence of imprisonment or detention'.

5.2 To be credible, the Standards go on to state that community service schemes must set clear, realistic, but challenging standards of work and behaviour. Absences must be followed up rapidly and sanctions applied for poor standards of punctuality and work effort. At the same time, community service schemes must work in partnership with communities and provide work placements that are seen to be of value to the community, the agency, and the offender. The work should be within the capacity of the offender and be capable of enhancing his or her social responsibility and self-respect. Work placements should also be able to cater for the requirements of particular groups of offenders, including women, the disabled, and single parents.

5.3 Table 14 below shows a fall in demand for community service during the years 1999-2002 and a significant increase in 2002-2003 (68 orders). This increase is accounted for by higher demand in Argyll and Bute and East Dunbartonshire ( Source: Scottish Executive Community Justice Services Division Annual Returns.)

Table 14: The demand for community service in Argyll, Bute, and the Dunbartonshires

Profile data

• Statistics show a rate of 16.3 community service orders per 10,000 population for West Dunbartonshire, 16.4 for Argyll and Bute, and 11.3 for East Dunbartonshire against a national average of 20.4 ( Source: Scottish Executive Criminal Justice Social Work Statistics 2002-03).
• At 12%, the proportion of women on community service across the partnership in 2002/3 was marginally lower than for probation. Both Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire saw a rise in their respective proportions from 5% and 8% in 2001-2002 to 16% and 13% in 2002-2003. East Dunbartonshire had no women on community service in 2001-2002 and 6 in 2002-2003.
• Across the partnership, 4% of offenders sentenced to community service were under 18, 44% were between 18 and 25, and the remainder over 25.
• The unemployment rate of offenders sentenced to community service ranged from 43% in Argyll and Bute, to 52% and 92% in East and West Dunbartonshire respectively.
• The average length of community service orders across the partnership, (including those orders where community service was a condition of probation), was 170 hours for males. The comparable figure for women was 191 (this figure should be treated with some caution because of the low numbers involved).

Organisation of service delivery

5.4 In East and West Dunbartonshire, separate teams based in the central criminal justice social work location in each authority, are responsible for delivering community service. In Argyll and Bute, community service is delivered locally by a variety of staff, none of whom deals exclusively with community service.

Types of work placement

5.5 Offenders undertake a range of environmental projects, internal and external painting and decorating for individuals and organisations, gardening and landscaping, and a variety of individual work placements in community settings. Work placements visited in the course of the inspection included:

Painting and decorating

• an elderly tenant's flat;
• accommodation for a person made temporarily homeless because of a fire;
• a day centre for learning disabled adults;
• a residential unit and separate day centre for elderly people;

Gardening

• clearing paths and creating gardens in the grounds of an adult resource centre and a community education centre;

Assistance

• working as a volunteer in an adult resource centre for the learning disabled;
• working as a volunteer in a community education centre;
• helping with the provision of meals in a Salvation Army day centre;

Construction

• converting a garden area into a cycle track for a child with physical disabilities.

Related qualifications

5.6 West Dunbartonshire has taken the necessary steps to train 2 community service supervisors as SVQ assessors so that some of the skills offenders learn/demonstrate on community service placements can be accredited for the purpose of obtaining a vocational qualification.

The file-reading

5.7 Tables 15 and 16 below set out the main findings of the file-reading exercise for the community service cases included in the sample.

Table 15: Community Service - Performance (1)

Table 16 Community Service - Performance (2)

5.8 The analysis shows that:

• clear work instructions were issued;
• there was evidence of 'matching' offenders' skills and circumstances to placements in most cases;
• evidence that risk issues in allocating to particular placements had been fully considered was lacking in a significant number of cases;
• compliance was identified as an issue in a significant number of individual cases, however;
• the management of compliance was considered to have been well handled in most cases.

Women offenders

5.9 There were 5 women offenders in the sample. In each case it was felt that they had been appropriately matched to a placement and risk issues had been fully considered in 3 of the 5 cases. Every case was judged to have been dealt with either 'well' or 'very well'.

Matching offenders to placements

5.10 An initial screening for suitability for community service was made at the SER stage. Following this, authorities carried out a fuller assessment/induction interview leading to the decision about what kind of work placement was most suitable. Factors taken into account here were employment history, childcare, health, and particular skills and interests. Community service staff across the partnership (all male) appeared confident they could accommodate most circumstances. An example was given of finding a work placement for a wheelchair bound offender; work placements were available during school hours and at weekends; authorities were able to pay for child minding. There was no 'women only' squad provision because of the small numbers of female offenders. Women were accommodated either in squad placements alongside men, or in individual agency placements.

5.11 There were more squad than agency placements. Offenders were allocated to squads depending on the offender's personal interests and skills and an assessment of their suitability for an agency placement. Sex offenders were allocated to placements where there was always direct oversight by a member of the community service staff (one-to-one or workshop,) and, for their own protection, were not allocated to squad placements. Offenders were screened if the placement involved handling money. Staff said they kept a close eye on those convicted of housebreaking. Offenders from rival gangs were not placed in the same group. In the case of agency placements, schemes used placement interviews to assist in the allocation of offenders. They also made heads of agencies aware of offenders with particular problems/difficulties. A vulnerable individual was usually placed with a particular supervisor.

Risk assessment

5.12 The community service manager and organiser in West Dunbartonshire considered they thoroughly assessed the possible risk an offender might pose in and to particular placements using a pro-forma they had designed for this purpose. However they did not have access to the structured risk assessments (LSI-R and RAGF3/4) prepared at the SER stage which could enhance their assessment process. LSI-R/RAGF3/4 risk assessments were available to staff in East Dunbartonshire, and in Argyll and Bute.

Compliance

5.13 A great deal of effort was put into ensuring attendance and following up absences, particularly with those offenders whose circumstances and problems militated against regular attendance. Compliance was actively encouraged and monitored in a number of ways. Work supervisors completed time sheets and oversaw behaviour and work standards. Staff followed up absences within 24 hours, in line with National Standards. Despite this, the file reading showed a considerable amount of absenteeism, which was also reflected in the attendance at some of the sites inspectors visited. In the sample, 11 cases had a second unacceptable failure to comply. Of these, 1 was breached, 7 were dealt with by a formal warning and 3 had no record of action taken.

5.14 Staff were asked about how they exercised discretion with respect to attendance, and in particular, what was an acceptable reason for absence. The main acceptable reasons given were health problems and work commitments. Staff said they did however sometimes accept other reasons depending on the stage of the order and the offender's overall attendance and work record. Obvious illness/incapacity was acceptable without certification. In Argyll and Bute sessional supervisors, where practicable, called immediately at offenders' homes if they failed to attend, to establish why they had not appeared and to collect them for work.

5.15 Medical certification was deemed problematic across the partnership. This had to do with time delays, the unwillingness of doctors sometimes to commit to a diagnosis other than what the offender said he was suffering from, and varying degrees of co-operation.

Site visits

5.16 Inspectors visited a total of 8 community service sites across the partnership. This allowed for an opportunity to meet squad and agency placement supervisors, to observe offenders undertaking community service work, and to talk with them about the experience.

5.17 The picture gained from these site visits was positive. The squad work was purposive and well supervised. Recipients of the services (both individuals and the managers of the facilities benefiting from the work) were grateful for what was being done and had no complaints about behaviour or the standard of work. The supervisors of the agency placements felt that offenders had been appropriately screened to come on the placement and had experienced few problems in supervising them. They were clear about the records they were required to keep on attendance and conduct. They confirmed that community service staff had provided health and safety induction and had supplemented this when necessary. All spoke highly of the support provided by community service staff. In one agency a number of offenders had gone on to do voluntary work at the end of their orders.

5.18 Offenders interviewed said that they found the work worthwhile and were positive about the contact with their supervisors, who they perceived as exercising their authority in fair and respectful ways. For some (those who were employed), the main objective was to complete the required number of hours as soon as they could. One offender said that the experience was helping him acquire new skills. Another commented that his supervisor was always very careful to ensure that offenders were not put at risk and quoted an example of the supervisor taking the squad out of a site where health and safety had been compromised.

The views of beneficiaries

5.19 Using a written pro-forma, placement providers across the partnership were asked about:

• the reliability and standard of work of offenders;
• the provision by community service staff of relevant information about offenders' backgrounds and history of offending;
• the extent to which the issues of re-offending or causing harm in the placement had been addressed;
• the extent to which their had been a matching of the offender's skills with their requirements;
• the speed of follow up by community service staff in the event of problems relating to attendance, behaviour, or work performance.

5.20 26 organisations responded, of which a number had taken offenders on community service placements for several years. The views expressed were almost all favourable. There seemed to be a genuine appreciation both of the work the offenders carried out and the ways in which organisations had been supported by community service staff. The returns showed that organisations felt they had been given sufficient relevant information about offenders' backgrounds including information related to any risk the offender might pose. They also showed that community service staff responded rapidly to any problems they were experiencing.

Conclusions and areas for improvement

5.21 There were many positive aspects to the provision of community service across the partnership, a view confirmed by the appreciative responses of a large number of beneficiaries. The partnership has set itself several targets for the future which include improved training for sessional staff, and the introduction of common induction processes and information leaflets. A check on performance against National Standards is also planned for early next year.

5.22 The main strengths of community service delivery are:

• strong working relationships with work placement providers;
• a good range of placements (although there is a need to consider whether more needs to be done to develop placements for female offenders);
• a good standard of supervision with quick follow up of absences;
• a constructive initiative to train two supervisors as SVQ assessors so that some of the work offenders undertake can be assessed and count towards a vocational qualification.

5.23 The main areas for improvement are:

• better use of information about risk from risk assessments completed at the social enquiry stage;
• achieving better attendance rates;
• consideration of how opportunities for female offenders might be further developed.

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