Community Payback Orders and unpaid work

Community Payback Orders let people give something back to their community through unpaid work and activities. Orders range from 20 to 300 hours and are usually completed within three to six months. We aim to support communities while helping people gain confidence and work experience.

What a Community Payback Order involves

If someone is given an unpaid work requirement, they will start within seven days. Depending on the Order, up to 30 percent of their hours can be used for activities that support learning, wellbeing or skills development.

We also have a legal duty to work with local organisations, Police Scotland and other partners to decide the types of projects that unpaid work should support in South Lanarkshire.

What we do in South Lanarkshire

Each year, we organise more than 500 unpaid work placements. These can include:

• environmental or conservation work
• helping community or voluntary groups
• supporting charities with ongoing tasks
• providing short‑term help to people in hardship, such as laundry support
• practical work in our workshop

Unpaid work can also help individuals build routine, learn new skills and prepare for future employment.

Ask for unpaid work support

You can ask us for help with a project if you are a charity, community or voluntary group, or a local resident. Your project must:

• benefit the community
• not replace paid work
• not replace core work done by South Lanarkshire Council, businesses or voluntary organisations
• be something you cannot complete on your own

Please also note:

• we are not a skilled workforce, but we will always do our best
• we provide tools, but you may need to supply materials
• we cannot use specialist equipment or work at height
• we cannot dispose of waste or move white goods

To make a request, complete our Unpaid Work request form. We will respond within seven days.

If we have supported your project, please fill in our customer survey.