Scale Of Problems With Community Service Orders Uncovered

Councils throughout Scotland have admitted to a range of problems in coping with community service orders. Staff and funding shortages have meant long waiting lists, offenders being sent home and credited with hours off their sentences, and failure to report breaches.

Recent Social Work Inspectorate Agency (SWIA) reports have highlighted concerns about the way Community Service Orders (CSOs) are run in Glasgow, Highland, Dumfries and Galloway, Borders, Edinburgh and Lanarkshire. The news comes the day after The Herald revealed that 88 serious and violent offenders were sent home last week from community sentences in Glasgow.

Staff in Glasgow claim offenders, including some convicted of attempted murder and assault, are regularly being sent home and having hours cut from their sentence.

The use of CSOs across Scotland has increased significantly since 2000 but many programmes are failing to deliver a consistent service.

The inspectorate reports highlight a number of concerns about lack of consistency in deciding what constitutes a breached order, and quality of provision.

Only some of the councils have been inspected this year and the most serious concerns about waiting lists and supervision were raised about Glasgow City Council.

Social workers say they are struggling to cope with rising numbers because of a lack of significant investment by the Scottish Executive.

The joint inspection of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and Borders found that seven out of 10 offenders failed to turn up.

In other areas, offenders who should have been completing their orders were sent home because of staff shortages. In Highland, female offenders have been sent home because of shortages in women-specific services, a problem the council is trying to address.

An inspection report of North and South Lanarkshire said that neither authority had sufficient team placements to meet demand. South Lanarkshire has had a waiting time of four months or longer for placements. North Lanarkshire had a similar capacity problem but had tried to cope by over-allocating offenders, resulting in 18 being sent home early on one day.

Many of the councils had already made improvements and had plans in place to try to improve supervision.

Alistair Gaw, depute chief inspector of SWIA, said they still believe community sentences provide a vital service.

But he added: “Service varied across authorities. There were some problems and specifically in relation to provision for women offenders. If done properly, community sentences are still a great untapped resource.”

A spokeswoman for South Lanarkshire Council said: “The council has experienced difficulty in keeping up with the level of demand…within the level of funding available. Added to these increasing levels of demand, those placed on CSOs present increasingly complex and chaotic social situations.”