Written by David Nicholson, Director at Nornir Social Enterprise and Criminal Justice Lead at Co-operative and Mutual Solutions (September 2025)

Employing people who have committed criminal offences might sound unnecessarily risky; but read on.

Breaking the cycle of re-offending with Community Payback

People caught up in a cycle of re-offending are a significant and costly problem – for the people themselves and their families, for victims and others affected by their behaviour, and by the wider community and all of us who bear the indirect costs through higher taxation.

As an alternative to a short prison sentence (which is expensive and of questionable value), courts can order an offender to undertake unpaid work of benefit to the community (Community Payback), ranging from 40 – 300 hours. The idea is that the offender is making some reparation to the community, whilst potentially acquiring some employment related skills, including timekeeping and working constructively with others,  which will help them break the cycle of re-offending by getting a job.

It involves

• unpaid work groups removing graffiti, clearing wasteland and decorating public places and buildings such as a community centre; or
• unpaid work with charities in fund raising events and placements in charity shops.

The Justice Secretary has recently proposed to introduce an important variation to this “Standard Community Payback” scheme.[1] This involves adding ‘paid’ work placements with private employers, to the existing options of unpaid work with not-for-profit agencies, with the salary being paid towards the benefit of victims rather than the offender.

This will create the opportunity for those private businesses who wish to help in this way to take part in Community Payback. But with an enhanced approach already being developed in Greater Manchester, the scheme could be made to work even better – for offenders, victims, communities and employers alike.

Enhanced Community Payback

The GM scheme involves finding employers in the private, public or third sector who are willing to treat a placement under Community Payback as a work trial. The premise is that after successfully completely the placement of a specified number of hours of unpaid work, the offender is at least guaranteed an interview for paid employment.

This approach has the important advantage that the unpaid work being undertaken by the offender provides the incentive for them to use it as an opportunity to achieve something as well as pay back towards the benefit of victims. This might include building relationships, showing commitment, and earning praise. All of these are things which repeat offenders have often not done successfully in the past, but which are known to play a part in their breaking out of the cycle of reoffending in the future.

A second feature of the GM scheme involves the employer concerned making a charitable donation towards the benefit of victims equivalent to the monetary value of the unpaid work undertaken by the offender. This payment, and the willingness to treat the placement as a work trial can be part of an employer’s commitment to delivering social value and can further demonstrate their Corporate Social Responsibility.

Everybody wins

For offenders, this approach provides something more significant than just serving out the unpaid hours as a sentence. There is a chance of a break, and of a source of income, but it depends on them.

Victims and communities benefit through the payments towards the benefit of victims, and the less direct benefit of reducing levels of offending.

For employers, taking a risk such as this may seem counterintuitive, but there are good and well-established examples of businesses building a workforce from ex-offenders – Timpsons being the best known. A person obtaining employment in this way gets not just a job, but an opportunity for a new start. Ex-offenders can show higher than average levels of loyalty.

Other advantages for employers include the reduced recruitment costs, reduced staff absences and increased staff retention rates, which have all been shown  to result from employing offenders.

Seeing individuals serving out a community sentence with a known local or national employer, particularly in a customer-facing role, sends a powerful signal. It shows an employer contributing something to their community, and to the offender concerned. It shows a level of risk-taking, yes, but also one of building trust and hope. A group of like-minded employers working collaboratively along these lines could impact significantly on the lives of offenders, their victims and the communities against whom they have offended.

Want to find out more and come on board?

Contact Dave Nicholson at david.nicholson@cantab.net

Cooperative and Mutual Solutions Ltd www.cms.coop

[1] Independent Sentencing Review, May 2025