{"id":3550,"date":"2026-01-21T12:25:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/?page_id=3550"},"modified":"2026-01-21T14:05:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T14:05:36","slug":"sentenced-to-earn-community-payback-on-the-way-back-as-financial-payback","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/sentenced-to-earn-community-payback-on-the-way-back-as-financial-payback\/","title":{"rendered":"SENTENCED TO EARN: COMMUNITY PAYBACK ON THE WAY BACK AS FINANCIAL PAYBACK?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dave Nicholson, Practitioner Researcher in Penal Mutualism and Director of Nornir Ltd<\/em><\/p>\n

‘I believe community punishment must be tougher still. Unpaid work must pay back, so I will shortly bring together business leaders to explore a model whereby offenders work for them, and the salary is paid not to the offender but towards the good of victims.\u2019<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Shabana Mahmood, Lord Chancellor\u00a0<\/span>Independent Sentencing Review – Hansard – UK Parliament<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A striking feature of the government\u2019s\u00a0initial\u00a0response to the Independent Sentencing Review is this\u00a0proposal to bring back financial reparation for victims as an alternative to a short prison sentence for offenders. It proposes to introduce an\u00a0innovative\u00a0 form\u00a0of unpaid work requirement of a Community Order (Community Payback \u2013 CP) whereby people on CP are placed in good jobs\u00a0that\u00a0 pay\u00a0wages \u2018<\/span>not to the offender but towards the good of victims.\u2019<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Financial reparation like this has been a default setting for responding to crime<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>across the world and throughout human history (Harding, 1982; Nicholson, 2021) But a major problem has always been the lack of good<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>jobs\u00a0 to\u00a0make it possible. Early Probation Orders (Bochel, 1976) had\u00a0<\/span>provision\u00a0 to\u00a0do this, but most people on probation then, as now, were in low paid jobs or unemployed and so unable to pay anything back financially towards the good of victims.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The nineteenth century practice\u00a0of\u00a0\u00a0committing\u00a0offenders\u00a0to the custody of\u00a0suitable\u00a0employers went some way to solving this problem by providing a means of paying financial reparation to victims directly from offenders\u2019 wages.\u00a0<\/span>(Bochel, 1976).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The twentieth century went further with schemes like\u00a0The Minnesota Restitution Centre as a\u00a0prototype for the\u00a0return of\u00a0reparation through financial\u00a0payback (Hudson & Galaway, 1974).\u00a0It\u00a0negotiated\u00a0 payback\u00a0agreements between victims and offenders and then enabled offenders to keep to the agreement by securing jobs for them.\u00a0This employment would\u00a0then continue to support\u00a0their\u00a0rehabilitation and reintegration\u00a0once\u00a0they\u00a0had completed\u00a0their\u00a0payback.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0government\u2019s\u00a0 proposal\u00a0to revive schemes like this in the form of paid CP with an employer potentially provides a twenty first century solution to this\u00a0age old\u00a0problem of inability to pay and appears to put the radical but traditional approach\u00a0of\u00a0 financial\u00a0payback firmly back on the policy agenda.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It also potentially restores it to its\u00a0historical\u00a0 role\u00a0as the default setting for the response to most crimes. This promises a\u00a0significant\u00a0 contribution\u00a0to the government\u2019s ambition\u00a0to\u00a0 abolish\u00a0most short prison sentences, which was one of the main recommendations of the Independent Sentencing Review. (HM Government, 2025a)\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is something of a surprise then, not to say a missed opportunity, to see that this appears to be the last we hear of the proposal. The\u00a0subsequent\u00a0Sentencing Bill says not a word about enabling the implementation of financial payback or even anything about the further exploration of its feasibility.\u00a0( HM\u00a0Government, 2025b )<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is even more surprising and an even greater missed opportunity in the light of developments already underway in Greater Manchester. For the past three years an informal collective of charities and social enterprises co-ordinated by\u00a0Nornir\u00a0Ltd and funded by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority Foundational Economy Innovation Fund has enlisted people on CP to develop and strengthen the Foundational Economy across the City Region.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>(GMCA, 2025)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Working with members of\u00a0 the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter they are now proposing to open up employment in the Foundational Economy for people on probation by bringing Greater Manchester business leaders together to explore an enhanced model of CP that builds on the government\u2019s original financial payback proposal and makes good offender employment under the terms of the Charter reparative for victims as well as rehabilitative and re-integrative for offenders. (Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter, 2025)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This involves finding employers in the private, public or third sector who are willing to treat an unpaid\u00a0work\u00a0\u00a0placement\u00a0under CP\u00a0as a work trial. The premise is that after successfully completing\u00a0the placement of a specified number of hours of unpaid work\u00a0for the employer, the offender is at least guaranteed an interview for paid employment\u00a0with them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>(Graffam\u00a0<\/span>et al,<\/span><\/i>\u00a02004)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A second\u00a0feature of the Greater\u00a0Manchester\u00a0scheme involves the employer\u00a0making a charitable donation towards the benefit of\u00a0victims\u00a0equivalent to the monetary value of the unpaid work undertaken by the offender\u00a0for them. This payment, and their\u00a0willingness to treat the placement as a work trial can be part of\u00a0their\u00a0commitment to delivering social value and can further\u00a0demonstrate\u00a0the Corporate Social Responsibility\u00a0required by their membership of the Good Employment Charter.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The role of good employment in successful rehabilitation and re-integration of offenders is well established. (Harrison & Schehr, 2004) The rediscovery of its role\u00a0in\u00a0 reparative\u00a0 justice for victims is an opportunity missed if the government\u00a0fails to\u00a0build on the Greater Manchester initiative or take forward its own\u00a0initial\u00a0response to the Independent Sentencing Review. Not only would this be a missed opportunity, it would\u00a0 be a failure on the part of successive governments to fulfil their own commitment to put justice for victims at the heart of the Criminal Justice System\u00a0(HM Government, 2023)\u00a0and a failure of the present government to fulfil its commitment \u2018to make work pay\u2019 (HM Government, 2024) as well as a failure to \u2018make unpaid work pay back\u2019 as its own initial response to the Independent Sentencing Review promised<\/span>.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Contact: David.Nicholson@smitf.org<\/p>\n

REFERENCES<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bochel, D. (1976)\u00a0<\/span>Probation and After-Care: Its Development in England and Wales.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Scottish Academic Press.\u00a0Edinburgh.(page 4)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

GMCA (2025)\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk\/what-we-do\/economy\/foundational-economy-innovation-fund\/how-nornir-is-reshaping-food-support-and-rehabilitation-in-greater-manchester\/<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Graffam, J.,\u00a0Shinkfield, A., Lavelle, B., & McPherson, W. (2004). Variables Affecting Successful Reintegration as Perceived by Offenders and Professionals.\u202f<\/span>Journal of Offender Rehabilitation<\/span><\/i>,\u202f<\/span>40<\/span><\/i>(1\u20132), 147\u2013171. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1300\/J076v40n01_08<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter, (2025)\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/gmgoodemploymentcharter.co.uk\/blogs\/posts\/2025\/september\/employ-those-with-convictions-it-s-good-for-business\/<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Harding, J. (1982)\u00a0<\/span>Victims and Offenders: Needs and Responsibilities<\/span><\/i>. London. Bedford Square Press.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Harrison, B., & Schehr, R. C. (2004). Offenders and Post-Release Jobs: Variables Influencing Success and Failure.\u202f<\/span>Journal of Offender Rehabilitation<\/span><\/i>,\u202f<\/span>39<\/span><\/i>(3), 35\u201368. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1300\/J076v39n03_03<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

HM Government (2023)\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/victims-placed-at-heart-of-justice-system-under-radical-shakeup<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

HM Government (2024)\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/collections\/make-work-pay<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

HM Government (2025a)\u00a0<\/span>www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/independent-sentencing-review-final-report<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

HM Government (2025b)\u00a0<\/span>www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/swentencing-bill-2025<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hudson, J.\u00a0&\u00a0 Galaway, B. (1974)\u2019Undoing the Wrong,<\/span>\u2019 Social Work<\/span><\/i>, May 1974, pp. 313-18<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nicholson, D. (2021) Giving back by paying back: recasting Community Payback as mutual restitution through financial payback.\u00a0<\/span>British Journal of Community Justice.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Vol 17 (1) 79-91<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dave Nicholson, Practitioner Researcher in Penal Mutualism and Director of Nornir Ltd ‘I believe community punishment must be tougher still. 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