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National Objectives for Social Work Services in the Criminal Justice System: Standards - Community Service
CHAPTER 4: WORKING ARRANGEMENTS
Pre-Sentence
26There are 4 sets of circumstances in which as assessment of suitability for Community Service may be provided to the court:
26.1Where the social worker preparing a Social Enquiry Report (SER) initiates consideration of suitability for Community Service;
26.2Where the court requests both an SER and an assessment of suitability for Community Service;
26.3Where the court requests an assessment of suitability for Community Service having received an SER;
26.4When the court only requests an assessment of suitability for Community Service.
27In respect of 26.1 and 26.2 above:
27.1Authors of SERs must consult Community Service Schemes before reporting on Community Service to the court. It is the responsibility of Schemes to offer a view on:
27.1.1the suitability of the offender for Community Service. (section 238(2)(c));
27.1.2the availability of work. (section 238(2)(d)).
The National Standards for SERs require that "reports should be written clearly" and that "care should be taken to distinguish clearly fact from opinion". The application of these requirements to Community Service implies that a clear distinction should normally be made between the assessment of suitability of offenders for Community Service (section 238(2)(c)) and the ability and capacity of schemes to make arrangements for offenders to perform Community Service work (section 238(2)(d)). As assessment that an offender is unsuitable to undertake Community Service should not therefore in itself imply that the Scheme is unable to accommodate that offender on Community Service. In such circumstances, the SER author will doubtless wish to indicate to court (a) the likely consequences of placing an offender assessed as being unsuitable onto Community Service notwithstanding the fact that a vacancy could be made available on the Scheme, and (b) an alternative community based disposal.
27.2Community Service staff will not normally interview offenders pre-sentence, unless, after consultation with report writers or for any other reason, they have continuing doubts about the risk to the agency or to the offender from accepting the offender on Community Service.
27.3It will be a matter for each regional authority to devise procedures to resolve any disagreements between Community Service staff and the writers of SERs about whether Community Service should be recommended.
27.4It will be the responsibility of report writers to include Community Service as one of the options under consideration. A further continuation for a view about Community Service suitability should not normally be necessary.
27.5It is the responsibility of the author of the SER to explain to the offender what Community Service would entail so that the informed consent of the offender to the making of a Community Service Order may be given.
27.6It is the responsibility of Community Service Schemes to make available information to report writers which explains the nature of Community Service and the requirements which are placed on the offender. This information should be given to the offender by the author of the SER when the offender's suitability is being assessed. (See Appendix 2 for suggested content of this leaflet.)
28.In respect of paragraph 26.3 the assessment of suitability for Community Service may be undertaken by either the author of the SER or the Community Service Officer. In the former instance, the procedures outlined at 27.1 to 27.6 will apply; in the latter the Community Service Officer should obtain a copy of the SER and consult the author with regard to the questions of assessment and appropriate recommendation before reporting to the court. In the event of any disagreement between the Community Service Officer and the writer of the SER about the appropriate recommendation, it will be a matter for each local authority to devise procedures to resolve such disagreements.
29.In respect of 26.4 above, standards of good professional practice suggest that the assessment of suitability for Community Service should be undertaken as part of the preparation of a full SER and that the arrangements outlined in 27.1 should also apply. Where a local authority chooses simply to provide an assessment of suitability for Community Service in accordance with a requirement from the local court, the task may be undertaken by a Community Service Officer.
Post Sentence
30.A copy of the court order(s) should be given to the offender by the clerk of the court on the day of the imposition of the order, or alternatively sent be recorded delivery to the last known address of the offender.
31.All offenders sentenced to Community Service are subject to the Order from the point of sentence.
32.All offenders sentenced to Community Service should normally be seen by the Community Service Officer within one week of the date of sentence.
33.The Community Service Officer must explain to the offender in detail the nature of the Order and check that the offender understands his/her obligations and rights. The offender must sign and date the back of 2 copies of the Order to the effect that he/she understands it: these must be countersigned by the Community Service Officer. (See Appendix 3 and paragraph 103.)
33.1The Community Service Officer must also outline the powers of the court in the event of it having been proved that the offender has failed to comply with any of the requirements of the Order without reasonable cause.
33.2The Community Service Officer should also advise the offender that should he/she commit an offence against a placement attended during the course of their order either during the period of the order or within 3 months of its completion the court, in sentencing the offender for that offence, will take into account that it was committed against a placement attended by the offender as part of a Community Service Order.
34.All offenders sentenced to Community Service should normally commence work within 2 weeks and not later than 3 weeks from the date of sentence.
Consecutive and Concurrent Orders
35.Where a court makes more than one order in respect of an individual offender at the same hearing or where an order is already in existence the court will indicate whether the orders are to run concurrently or consecutively. The clerk will then note the order accordingly.
36.In the event that the court's intention is not clear the Sheriff Clerk or Clerk of Justiciary should be asked to clarify whether the orders are concurrent or consecutive and to note the order accordingly.
37.Placing the Offender in Work
38.Responsibility for the allocation of offenders to work placements rests with the Community Service Officer.
38.1In determining the most suitable placement, the Community Service Officer must undertake an assessment of the offender taking into account the following considerations:
38.2The availability of the offender, having regard to employment, educational, religious and inescapable domestic commitments.
38.3The type and location of available work placements
38.4Any risk to the health and safety of the offenders and others.
38.5The trustworthiness of the offender having regards to the present offence and previous convictions.
38.6The length of the Order and the number of hours required to be worked.
38.7Any considerations relating to the physical or mental health/handicap of the offender.
38.8The interests and skills of the offender
39.Before reaching a decision on work placement, the Community Service Officer must:
39.1Outline to the offender the range of available work placements and the rules regarding confidentiality which apply in each case;
39.2Assess the extent to which any proposed placement experience will constitute a challenge to the offender;
39.3Involve the offender in decision-making about the most appropriate placement,
Issuing Work Instructions
40.An offender must be issued with written work instructions by the Community Service Officer to cover all required work sessions. (NB this does not mean that separate work instructions must be issued for each session.)
41.These instructions must detail the date, place and time at which work is to be carried out.
42All changes in date, place and time must be notified in writing to the offender in amended of fresh work instructions.
43.The offender must sign and date the original work instructions and each set of new or amended instructions. The top copy of these instructions and receipts must be retained, duly signed.
44.The signing and dating of work instructions by the offender must normally be witnessed by a member of the Community Service staff who must countersign and date the offender's receipt.
45.Work instruction must provide for completion of the required number of hours within12 months of the date of the Order.
Minimum and Maximum Hours
46.Work instructions should normally be such as to ensure that each Community Service Order requires an offender to work for a minimum of 2 months from the commencement of work.
47.The period of any work session must be sufficient to ensure the completion of worthwhile work and should not normally be less than 2 hours.
21 Hour Rule
48.There is no reason in principle why an offender should not be instructed to work for more than 21 hours in any one week. General regulations governing entitlement to unemployment benefit, national insurance credits and income support must, however, be taken into account where an offender is to be so instructed. Both the offender and Supervising Officer should be fully aware of them. The Supervising Officer must ensure that Community Service work does not lead to infringement of these regulations and thus endanger the offender's entitlement to benefit.
48.1according to the current regulations any offender claiming unemployment benefit, national insurance credits and income support must satisfy with a number of conditions. The two most important of these concern availability for, and actively seeking, employment.
48.2this means that offenders claiming benefit must be willing and able to start work immediately, and must not restrict the work they are willing to do so as to leave themselves with no real prospects of getting a job. They must also take reasonable steps each week to look for work.
48.3benefit claimants taking part in Community Service may not have as much time available as others to look for work and this may be taken into account by Employment Services Advisers when examining an individual's jobsearch according to the conditions stated above.
48.4however, Community Service must not be seen by the offender as an exemption from seeking employment. It must be made clear by the Supervising Officer that entitlement to benefit is still dependent of fulfilment of the conditions irrespective of the extent to which the claimant participates in Community Service.
48.5the offender's own active jobsearch must be encouraged by the Supervising Officer. The officer must arrange for offenders to be temporarily released from their Community Service within 24 hours to attend an interview or to take up a job, and must alter the offender's subsequent work programme accordingly if necessary.
Recording Hours Worked
49.Offenders must be credited for work undertaken as part of the Community Service Order, subject to the following qualifications:
49.1placement agencies must only ask offenders to undertake work as part of their Community Service Order which has previously been agreed with the Community Service Officer, other than in exceptional circumstances;
49.2an offender who reports for work either on his/her own initiative or at the request of the placement agency without prior instructions, may have his/her hours credited at the discretion of the Community Service Officer, subject to paragraph 48 above:
49.3time to assemble equipment such as scaffolding, and to clean and put away tools, will be included in the record of hours worked;
49.4meal or coffee/tea breaks will be included in the record of hours worked but must not exceed one hour in total for each full working day;
49.5the expected standards of behaviour during meal breaks will be the same as those expected during the hours of work;
49.6when travel to and from a placement or reporting point exceeds one hour per day in total the additional required travelling time must be credited in full;
49.7when the offender reports for work as instructed and the work/task cannot commence or a suitable alternative cannot be found, the offender should be credited 2 hours of work;
49.8if the offender reports as instructed, the work commences but cannot continue, and alternative work cannot be found, the offender should be credited with the number of hours worked or 2 hours, whichever is greater.
50.Community Service Officer must maintain a record of the hours worked by each offender in his or her case file. The case file must contain a record of:
50.1the hours worked for each work session;
50.2a record of all absences;
50.3the accumulated total of hours worked by each offender;
50.4comments on attendance, punctuality, behaviour and work performance.
51.This case file constitutes the official organisational record about the offender and must be made available to the offender on request. It will record information contained in the proposed attendance sheet to be completed by placement agencies as per paragraph 21.4.2.
52.Offenders will have access to their case files in accordance with the Access to Personal Files Act 1978, and associated regulations and procedures, without prejudice to their right to inspect any record of hours worked.
Travel Costs
53.Community Service Schemes should provide suitable work placements within the offender's home locality wherever possible. The Scottish Office will advise authorities by means of a Scottish Office circular from time to time of the circumstances determining the payment of travel expenses to offenders and the specific amount payable. The written information given to the offenders prior to sentence must include information about the likely associated costs of undertaking Community Service. The current, 1993, circular is attached as Appendix 5.
Alcohol and Drugs
54.Drugs (unless medically prescribed) and alcohol must not be consumed during Community Service work including break periods.
55.Any offender reporting for work who is deemed by the supervisor to be under the influence of alcohol/drugs must be dismissed from work that day as unable to perform the work satisfactory.
56.It will be for the Community Service Officer to investigate the circumstances of an offender being dismissed from work as outlined in 55 above and to assess the culpability of the offender and decide on what disciplinary action, if any, to take.
Health, Safety and Other Statutory Regulations
57.Local authorities must have a clearly defined and up-to-date Health and Safety policy in operation. Each Community Service Scheme has a duty to ensure that the relevant Health and Safety policy is in operation and is adequately monitored. This will require the maintenance of close operational links between schemes and local authority Health and Safety officer, whose duty it is to ensure that local authorities comply with relevant legislation. Both employees and offenders need to be covered by this policy.
58.Each scheme must establish an accident reporting procedure which meets current regulations.
59.Policy regarding smoking shall be considered in the light of Health and Safety regulations, the policies of the agencies where offenders are placed and the wishes of the beneficiaries of the service.
60.Any offender who refuses to comply with health and safety instructions given by the supervisor will be judged to be failing to perform the work satisfactorily and dismissed from work that day.
61.Any restrictions imposed by the insurance policies relating to Community Service Schemes must be taken into account.
62.Before an offender is authorised to drive a vehicle whilst on Community Service, the Community Service Officer must be satisfied that:
62.1the offender has a valid driving licence for the class of vehicle involved;
62.2the local authority's insurance permits the offender to drive the vehicle.
63.The SWSG circular SW9/1989 "Protection of Children: Disclosure of Criminal Convictions of those with Access to Children: Local Authorities", requires local authorities to check previous convictions with the Scottish Criminal Record Office in respect of those applying to social work departments for a position, paid or unpaid, which will give them substantial access to children. Prior to placing any offender subject to a Community Service Order in a placement likely to involve 'substantial access' to children, local authorities must comply with the procedures and guidance set out in SWSG circular SW9/1989.
Insurance
64.The Secretary of State will meet in full the costs of insurance against any claims arising as a result of an offender carrying out a Community Service Order.
65.The following minimum standards of insurance provision must be agreed between the local authority and their insurers:
65.1all Community Service Order Schemes should be covered by a local authority for Public and Employers Liability Insurance policies. This may be accomplished by the extension of existing local authority Public and Employers Liability Insurance policies to cover the Community Service by Offenders Schemes.
65.2these policies cover the local authority's legal liability arising out of any injury, loss, illness or damage occasioned by negligence.
65.3the policies must cover against claims arising out of negligence on the part of the offender, placement agency or the local authority officer.
65.4the policies must cover the local authority's legal liability arising out of its own negligence and indemnify all third parties against any claim arising out of their negligence. Third parties in this context are the offender, the recipient of the service, placement agency or office of the local authority.
65.5the level of insurance cover provided for offenders undertaking Community Service should be no less than the cover provided to the local authorities' own employees.
66.It will be a requirement for each local authority to intimate formally to SWSG that the insurance arrangements outlined in these Standards have been met in full.
67.To avoid unnecessary delay in settling small claims and to ensure premiums are kept as low as possible, local authorities should not insure against third party claims below £2,000 in value. Any claims below £2,000 should be advised immediately to SWSG by local authorities. The circumstances of the claim should be detailed and SWSG will authorise any payments and refund the local authority in the normal manner. SWSG will require full details of the circumstances giving rise to the incident from which the claim arises.
68.Where a claim exceed £2,000 then the whole cost will fall to be dealt with by the insurers not just that part in excess of £2,000.
69.The Secretary of State accepts responsibility for determining the outcome in respect of all uninsured losses exceeding £2,000 in value arising from the period when an offender in engaged in undertaking part of the specified number of hours stated in the Community Service Order. Any resultant offer of compensation will be of an ex-gratia nature. SWSG must be notified in writing immediately circumstances arise which could result in such a loss.
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