Offenders ‘paid back’ over 50,000 hours to the community in Sandwell in 2009 in projects ranging from decorating public buildings to clearing up litter, fly tipping and graffiti.

Low risk offenders carry out unpaid ‘Community Payback’ work – wearing distinctive orange jackets – as part of community sentences received in court. They are closely supervised on the tasks by Community Payback supervisors from West Midlands Probation Service.

The total number of Community Payback hours carried out in Sandwell between January 1 and December 31 2009 was 50,617.

In monetary terms, if calculated at minimum wage, this would equate to almost £300,000 worth of work.

Councillor Simon Hackett, Sandwell Council’s cabinet member for safer communities, said: “In Sandwell, we are taking a hard line on the small minority of people who break the law or cause nuisance to others.

“Here, offenders receiving a community sentence have to carry out unpaid work in public wearing an orange Community Payback jacket, putting something back into the community where they committed their crime in a very visible way.”

Martin Walton, manager of the Sandwell Community Payback Unit, said: “Supervised offenders have carried out projects referred to us by a wide range of Sandwell organisations as well as local people.

“Many of our referrals have come from the Safer Sandwell Partnership’s tasking groups, where the police, council and other partner organisations come together to act upon local people’s priorities.

“From unpaid work decorating community centres to removing graffiti to helping clear litter and fly tipping from alleyways, parks and open land, low risk offenders are involved in a growing number of projects to serve both their sentence and the needs of the local community.”