Number of community payback orders issued by Scottish courts up by a fifth

The number of community payback orders (CPOs) issued by Scottish courts increased by a fifth on the previous year, official statistics have revealed.

Scottish Government statistics on justice social work activity in 2022-23 revealed that 14,700 CPOs had commenced.

The figure is up 20% from 2021-22 when 12,200 were issued. However, pre-pandemic years from 2013-14 to 2019-20 saw figures ranging between 16,500 and 19,500.

Of the CPOs issued, 68% were for unpaid work, compared to 67% as supervision requirements.

Russell Findlay, Scottish Tory justice spokesman, said the failure to impose work requirements on almost a third of CPOs “lay bare the reality of the SNP’s relentless weakening and under-funding of Scotland’s criminal justice system”.

The average number of hours given as part of unpaid work also increased, from 127 hours in 2018-19 to 131 hours in 2022-23.

And the successful completion rate for CPOs terminated in 2022-23 was 73%.

Meanwhile, the figures also showed 4,784 diversion from prosecution referrals, which are an alternative to prosecution, were made – the highest on record.

But the number commenced fell by 2% between 2021-22 and 2022-23 to 2,600.

The official data also showed that 1,100 bail supervision cases commenced last year – the highest in the last decade.

The number of drug and treatment testing orders issued fell to its lowest level in a decade – aside from the pandemic-hit 2020-21 – with 301 issued.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “CPOs are a robust and credible community sentence which make individuals pay back to the community or fulfil other requirements decided on by the court, while addressing the underlying causes of their offending behaviour, helping to prevent further crime and victimisation and keeping our communities safer.

“The rise in CPOs issued in 2022-23 shows that community justice services continue to recover following the Covid-19 pandemic, increasing from the lowest levels in 2020-21 and 2021-22.

“The reconviction rate for those given CPOs in 2018-19 was 30% compared to 52% for those completing custodial sentences of one year or less.”