Management information on unpaid work hours

Key Point: The estimated number of unpaid work hours to be progressed in February 2025 was 867,300. This is an increase of 9% on the February 2024 figure of 793,300. Calculated on the same time period as unpaid work hours to progressed, the estimated unpaid hours imposed, followed the same upward trend with at least a 7% increase.

This management information was previously published up to May 2024. Since then, three more management information data collections have been added. The data collected quarterly from justice social work is the total number of hours to be progressed for all open unpaid work or other activity requirements excluding those in which there is a breach.

Due to the nature of the data collection process outlined in the Introduction, the data returned is considered to be estimates. They are subject to revisions and contain statistical approximations when information was not available. These figures give a broad indication at a specific time period. They are also subject to seasonality as illustrated by Chart 1, which shows the number of hours imposed by the court fluctuating throughout the year. This leads to seasonality in the unpaid work hours to be progressed.

There is also a time lag between the data sources in this publication. The management data collection on unpaid work hours is ahead of the published Justice Social Work Statistics by 10 months and from the court’s information on unpaid work hours by five months. With the introduction of the monthly SCTS data on CPOs, an estimated range was created to calculate the 5 months of unpaid work hours imposed for which there are no figures for yet. This provides an estimate of the trend of imposed hours during these five months. For example, if the time to progress requirements was constant and there was an increase in hours imposed over this 5 month period, an increase in the estimation of unpaid hours to progress would be expected. Similarly, if the hours imposed were reduced, it would expect a decrease in the estimation.

Changes between the recent quarters of management information should be treated with caution. Any increases or decreases may be partly due to seasonality. It is better to look at the overall trend than focus on the changes in the last two quarters. The data cannot provide any explanation on unpaid work hours that have been completed or added between data collection points.

Unpaid work requirements are continuously being imposed and, at the same time, existing requirements are being completed. Therefore, there are always unpaid work hours that are being progressed and always outstanding hours in the system due to the time taken to undertake the work.

Chart 3: Increase in unpaid work hours to be progressed since April 2021

Unpaid work hours (excluding breaches) management information including key events during the pandemic, Scotland, May 2020 to May 2024

Legend:

A: Second mainland lockdown – January 2021

B: Community Orders (Coronavirus) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 introduced (reducing outstanding hours in relevant orders by 35%) – March 2021

C: Scotland moved to beyond level 0, when the legal requirement for physical distancing and limits on gatherings was removed. Some protective measures did stay in place such as the use of face coverings indoors – August 2021

D: Extended time limits for unpaid work requirements (under the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020) ended – September 2022

The first lockdown occurred in Scotland in March 2020. This data collection was started in May 2020 to support Scottish Government understanding of the effects of COVID-19 on CPOs’ unpaid work requirements. The number of hours being progressed started to increase as the social distancing restrictions impacted the administering of this requirement. This is also reflected in Figure 2, where we see a reduction in the percentages of unpaid work requirements finishing over 2020-21. During the pandemic years, the number of unpaid work hours outstanding reached around 823,700 hours in February 2021.

March 2021, the Coronavirus (Scotland) Regulations 2021 were introduced. These regulations reduced the number of hours imposed in relevant orders (with exceptions for orders imposed in relation to domestic abuse, sexual offences, or stalking) by 35 per cent. This was to reduce the overall volume of hours to be delivered and ensure the continued effective operation of the community justice system.

After the implementation of the above regulations, the unpaid work hours being progressed reduced to its lowest point (around 577,000) in April 2021. It starts to increase steadily thereafter.

During the year 2023-24, the number of unpaid work hours increased from 780,900 in May 2023 to 793,300 in February 2024. At 1 April 2024, there were 9,107 unpaid work requirements being progressed. The management data collected in May 2024 had about 817,100 unpaid work hours to being progressed. This increased over the next three quarters to 867,300 unpaid work hours to be progressed in February 2025. This is the largest estimate reported since this collection started in May 2020.

There was an increase of about 9% on the previous February 2024 figure of 793,300 to 867,300 in February 2025. Covering the same time period,  the estimate of unpaid hours imposed from February 2024 to January 2025 was in the range of 1.48 to 1.54 million hours. The estimated increase of hours imposed from February 2024 to January 2025 compared to February 2023 to January 2024, lies within the range 7% to 12%. The increase in hours imposed will be a contributing factor to the increase in unpaid work hours to be progressed during this time period