Community Payback Orders: Commenced
type: Dataset
description: Community payback orders (CPOs) replaced probation, community service and supervised attendance orders. They were introduced for offences committed on or after 1st February 2011. CPOs are now by far the most commonly issued social work order. This data is derived from an annual return made to the Scottish Government by local authority social work departments and gives the number of CPOs commenced in each year from 2011-12 by age group and gender. More data which shows the number of different social work order types (encompassing drug treatment & testing orders and fiscal work orders as well as CPOs and their predecessors) back to 2004-05 can be found in the datasets [Social Work Orders Commenced](http://statistics.gov.scot/data/social-work-orders-commenced) and [Social Work Orders Terminated](http://statistics.gov.scot/data/social-work-orders-terminated) on this website. Further data on CPOs at local authority level can be found on the Scottish Government [website](https://www.gov.scot/collections/criminal-justice-social-work/).
issued: 2026-08-13T13:04:45.607346
modified: 2026-08-13T13:05:59.811308
version notes: Data for previous years are revised annually as a result of revised information being received from local authorities. The original figures for 2020-21 for Renfrewshire were estimated but was replaced by actual data as the data has since been received. When the data was updated in January 2025, the age groups 16-17 and 18-20 were merged to become the new 16-20 age group.
contact point: Kind
contact point: Organization
theme: Crime and Justice
accuracy: These statistics are considered of good quality as they come from recording systems which local authorities use for case management and internal monitoring. The data has, in addition, been quality assured by the Scottish Government via extensive accuracy checks, including identifying any major differences between the current year and previous years.
comment: Community payback orders commenced in each year from 2011-12 by age group and gender.
completeness: This data brings together age and gender breakdowns for all years in the one place. The age groups match those which are used throughout the published criminal justice social work bulletin.
confidentiality: The data on Community Payback Orders Commenced does not contain any directly identifiable personal information.
consistency: Community payback orders were introduced for offences committed on or after 1st February 2011. Numbers were not collected for the year 2010-11 due to the small numbers (estimated to be 300) involved. However, data collected from 2011-12 onwards were collected on a comparable basis.
geographical coverage: S12
geographical coverage: S92
license id: uk-ogl
next update: 2026-01-01
quality management: Extensive quality assurance is conducted to ensure the data received from local authorities is as accurate as possible. Part of this involves the data loading system putting the data through a number of checks and identifying issues with the data which local authorities then need to look at and fix. Checks are also made by the Scottish Government to ensure there is consistency across the data for different years for every individual order.
reference period: PeriodOfTime
  end date: 2024
  start date: 2011
timeliness: It is always aimed to publish criminal justice social work statistics as soon as possible after the end of the financial year in question, As a large volume of data is collected at unit level for both community payback orders and drug treatment & testing order, these statistics are normally updated in January.
uniqueness: Not assessed
update frequency: annual
validity: These statistics help provide trends related to the workload of community payback orders and the type of orders which local authorities deal with. For example, while criminal proceedings data provides details of community payback orders given by court, this only covers those given as a penalty of first disposal and not those which are given as, for example, a penalty for fine default or orders given as a result of an appeal to the original penalty.
will be updated: true

community-payback-orders-commenced.csv
type: Distribution
description: Data file for Community Payback Orders: Commenced
format: CSV
issued: 2026-08-13T13:05:59.851373
modified: 2026-08-13T13:05:59.835561
table schema: Schema
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: GeographyName
  column: Column
    datatype: int
    name: Value
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: Gender
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: DateCode
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: Age
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: GeographyType
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: Units
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: Measurement
  column: Column
    datatype: text
    name: GeographyCode
access URL: https://admin.data.gov.scot/resource/54916623-62c6-4ae0-bc66-fc120b1cdc86/download
comment: Community payback orders commenced in each year from 2011-12 by age group and gender.
dictionary: Column
  column: DateCode
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: Measurement
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dictionary: Column
  column: GeographyName
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dictionary: Column
  column: GeographyType
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dictionary: Column
  column: Value
  type: int
dictionary: Column
  column: Gender
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: Units
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: GeographyCode
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: Age
  type: text

Scottish Government
type: Agent

Crime and Justice
type: Concept