Community Payback Orders (CPO) – Unpaid work statistics: FOI release

Information requested

You asked if there are more up to date figures than those published in the report Community Payback Orders – Unpaid Work or Other Activity Requirements – February 2025 - gov.scot.
 

Response

Information has been collected on the estimated number of unpaid work hours to be progressed as part of community payback orders (CPOs) as at May, August and November 2025. These numbers are as follows in the table below:

Month	Hours to be progressed
May 2025	864,600
August 2025	866,700
November 2025	845,400

Source: Unpaid work hours quarterly collection.

This information relates to only one of the ten requirements that can be imposed for 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 pending hours in the system while requirements are being progressed.

The information supplied are estimates from management information. 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.

The next publication Community Payback Orders – Unpaid Work or Other Activity Requirements – February 2026 will be published in April 2026. This will enable comparative analysis of trends across different data sources, enhancing the interpretation of the management information.

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