Nearly 280,000 hours of community service work were effectively written off in 2023, newly released data has revealed.
Figures from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) show the quantity of incomplete unpaid work handed out to criminals was three times higher last year than five years ago.
Since 2019, more than 1.3 million hours of community work went incomplete after suspended sentences expired.
The Labour Party, whose research uncovered the data, claimed the figures meant criminals were let off from the equivalent of more than 30 years of community service in 2023 after their suspended sentences expired.
Shabana Mahmood MP, the shadow justice secretary, claimed victims had been abandoned under the Conservatives’ watch in Government, and that “the public have no faith that justice will be done”.
Suspended sentences are usually handed out to criminals when their offence warrants less than two years’ jail time.
Judges instead impose conditions such as community payback which, if broken, can result in imprisonment.
Community payback work often includes things such as removing graffiti, clearing wasteland, painting railings or decorating public places. Offenders are supervised and wear orange vests while they work.
According to the MoJ, suspended sentence orders cannot legally be extended beyond “the length of the operational period of the order” which is set by the judge.
An order ends when this period “expires”, meaning that any unpaid work remaining no longer needs to be completed.
In a separate parliamentary question from Labour, ministers revealed the total quantity of community payback work being avoided reached a 10-year high in 2023.
Criminals on suspended sentence or community sentence orders avoided more than 19,000 pieces of community work, meaning more than third of all community work was avoided last year.
This figure was higher than any other years since 2014, though a larger proportion of work in previous years was incomplete.
However, some of the work may not have been completed for reasons other than expiration of the order.
This could include offender deaths, deportation, orders revoked and resentenced, successful appeals and the possibility a criminal was sent to prison after breaking the conditions of suspended sentence.
Ms Mahmood told the PA news agency: “A functioning justice system is the foundation of any democracy, but under the Conservatives the criminal justice system is in chaos.
“Victims expect sentences to be completed and community payback work to be carried out, but Rishi Sunak’s government can’t even get the basics right.
“Under the Conservatives, victims have been abandoned, and the public have no faith that justice will be done. Nothing could be more damning for this Government.”
She added: “Through rolling out community and victim payback boards to oversee community service in their local areas, Labour will make sure that criminals carry out their sentences, complete their payback, and are fully rehabilitated and reintegrated. A Labour Britain will be a safer Britain.”
Responding to Labour’s questions, justice minister Edward Argar said: “The disruption caused by the pandemic added to a backlog of unpaid work hours.
“The Government is investing an additional £93m in community payback over three years. This will allow us to increase delivery of community payback back to pre-Covid levels of delivery.
“We have launched a national campaign to recruit more than 500 additional community payback staff to bolster resources in every probation region and new staff are arriving in post. The additional staffing will enable us to boost delivery of community payback to pre-Covid levels.
“There will be a particular focus on delivering more outdoor projects that improve local areas, sustainability focused and allow the public to see justice being done.”
Mr Argar also said the number of incomplete hours should be viewed in the context of complete community payback work, which he said totalled “over 4.7 million hours” between April 2022 and March 2023.