Key points

This information relates to only one of the ten requirements that can be imposed for Community Payback Orders (CPOs). The unpaid work or other activity requirement (abbreviated to unpaid work) is one of the most common to be imposed. Unpaid work requirements are continuously being imposed, and, at the same time, existing requirements are being completed.  Completing unpaid work requirements takes time, and as a result, there will always be outstanding hours in the system while requirements are being progressed.

During the pandemic, data began to be collected from Scotland’s local authorities on the number of hours to be progressed, excluding breaches. This data is considered management information and not accredited official statistics. It gives a broad indication of the unpaid work hours to be progressed. The quality of the management data is not as consistent as accredited official statistics and should be considered more as an estimate.

• In 2023-24, there were 15,100 CPOs imposed by the courts, which included 1.39 million unpaid work hours imposed as part of unpaid work requirements.
• During the pandemic, there was a reduction in unpaid work requirements being finished within the year they were imposed, or the following year. Pre-pandemic, this was about 92%. This figure is now 85% for those imposed in 2022-23 and finished by end of 2023-24.
• As of the 1st of April 2024, there were 9,100 unpaid work requirements being progressed in Scotland. In May 2024, it was estimated that 817,100 unpaid work hours were to be progressed.
• There has been an increase of 7% in the number of CPOs issued in the first 11 months of 2024-25 ,compared to this period in 2023-24.
• In February 2025, there was 867,300 unpaid work hours to be progressed. This is an increase of 9% from February 2024.
  An estimate of the number of unpaid work hours imposed between February 2024 to January 2025 was in the range of 1.48 to 1.54 million hours. When compared with previous time period this showed an increase of at least 7%. The increase in hours imposed is a contributing factor to the increase in unpaid work hours to be progressed