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6. Probation Orders with a Requirement of Unpaid Work (Charts 19 to 21 and Tables 37 to 42)
6.1 Information is presented separately on Probation Orders with a Requirement of Unpaid Work for the first time in 2005-06. This represents a subset of the data presented on all Probation Orders in section 5.
6.2 A total of 2,692 POs with a Requirement of Unpaid Work were made in 2005-06. This represents a decrease of 2 per cent from the 2004-05 total of 2,757 orders.
Chart 19 Number of POs with a Requirement of Unpaid Work, 2001-02 to 2005-06
6.3 The incidence of POs with a Requirement of Unpaid Work was 7.4 per 10,000 population in 2005-06. This rate was highest in Shetland Islands (18.3) and Orkney Islands (14.6), and lowest in Moray (1.6) and Inverclyde (3.1). The rate varied similarly across Community Justice Authorities with the highest in Glasgow (9.7) and the lowest in Fife and Forth Valley (6.2).
Chart 20 Number of POs with a Requirement of Unpaid Work per 10,000 population by Local Authority, 2005-06
6.4 Male offenders accounted for 88 per cent of Probation Orders with a Requirement of Unpaid Work and tended to be younger than female offenders. Thirty per cent of males compared to 26 per cent of females were aged 20 or under.
6.5 The incidence of POs with a Requirement of Unpaid Work was highest amongst 18 to 20 year olds (27.2 per 10,000 population) and was also relatively common amongst 16 to 17 year olds (19.6) and 21 to 25 year olds (17.9).
Chart 21 Number of POs with a Requirement of Unpaid Work by Age and Gender of Offender, 2005-06
Orders per 10,000 population
1. Includes a small number of orders relating to offenders aged under 16 years.
6.6 The average length of the unpaid work condition was 139 hours in 2005-06, a slight decrease from 142 hours in 2004-05. On average, males (139 hours) received longer orders than females (132 hours).
6.7 As discussed in paragraphs 4.6 and 5.7, the employment status of offenders provides an indication of their availability. Sixty-three per cent of POs with a Requirement of Unpaid Work were for offenders who were unemployed or not seeking employment. This proportion was higher for females (77 per cent) than males (61 per cent).
Breach Applications of Probation Orders with a Requirement of Unpaid Work
6.8 There were 1,110 breach applications made to the Courts in 2005-06 in respect of POs with a Requirement of Unpaid Work, an increase of 20 per cent compared to the 2004-05 total of 925 applications. Again, this may be driven by the increase from 106 to 165 breach applications reported by Glasgow in this period, believed to be due in part to a change in recording practices. In other areas there were smaller increases or relatively little change reported. In 2005-06, the condition of unpaid work was breached in 51 per cent of these 1,110 cases.
6.9 Males accounted for 88 per cent of breach applications. Fifteen per cent of breach applications resulted in the original order being revoked and custody being imposed, 10 per cent resulted in the order being revoked and a new probation order imposed, 2 per cent in the order being revoked and a community service order being imposed and 9 per cent in the order being revoked and some other action taken. In 14 per cent of applications, the original order was continued and no further action taken by the court. The outcome was not yet known in 30 per cent of applications.
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