Jobless criminals ‘to work five-day week’

Prisons and Probation Minister Crispin Blunt has announced that unemployed offenders will be forced to work a minimum of 28 hours over four days, with the fifth day spent looking for full-time work.

Previously Community Payback programmes could be spread out over 12 months, with some offenders working for a minimum of just six hours a week.

Speaking on a visit to a programme in Croydon, south London, Mr Blunt said the new measures would make for more intensive unpaid work and would help rehabilitate offenders.

Community Payback will also be more immediate after sentencing, imposed on offenders within seven days rather than the two weeks it currently takes.

‘Honest work’

“If you are unemployed and on Community Payback you shouldn’t be sitting idle at home watching daytime television or hanging about with your mates on a street corner, you should be out paying back to your community through hard, honest work,” he said.

“The public want to see offenders giving something back to their communities but they are rightly not satisfied with seeing only a handful of hours a week dished out.

“Decent, law-abiding people can work a full five-day week and so should offenders.”

Members of the public can nominate a community payback scheme via the directgov website.

The Ministry of Justice said that popular nominations include removing graffiti, clearing overgrown paths and tidying up lunchtime.

Any scheme should be constructive and benefit the local community, according to the guidelines. It should also not take paid work away from others.

The new payback arrangements were announced as the Prison Service launched an investigation into claims that two inmates decorated the constituency home of former MP Jacqui Smith when they should have been doing work that benefitted the whole community.