WIREDGOV

An Accredited Official Statistics Publication for Scotland

The Chief Statistician has released part 2 of the 2023-24 justice social work statistics. This includes information on justice social work services, as well as characteristics of the people involved.

The number of justice social work reports submitted (including supplementary reports) rose by five per cent between 2022-23 and 2023-24 to 27,900. This was around the same level as the years immediately prior to the pandemic.

There were 15,100 community payback orders (CPOs) commenced in 2023-24. This was three per cent up on 2022-23 but was the fourth lowest in the last decade. From 2014-15 to 2019-20, annual numbers ranged from 16,500 to 19,500.

In 2023-24, 68.0 per cent of CPOs were issued with an unpaid work requirement. Slightly more (68.2 per cent) were issued with a supervision requirement.

The average hours given as part of CPO unpaid work requirements increased from 127 hours in 2018-19 to 135 hours in 2023-24. The 2023-24 average was the highest in the last 10 years.

The successful completion rate for CPOs in 2023-24 was 71 per cent.

There were 280 drug treatment and testing orders (DTTOs) imposed in 2023-24. This was an eight per cent fall from 300 in 2022-23 and the second lowest in the last 10 years.

The successful completion rate for DTTOs in 2023-24 was 51 per cent.

Background

Full statistical publication

Accredited official statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Justice social work statistics have been split into two parts for the first time this year. The splitting of the publication has allowed the reporting of part of the annual data collection to be provided to users about four months earlier.

This part 2 publication provides statistics on the following areas of justice social work:

• justice social work reports
• community payback orders
• drug treatment and testing orders

All other topic areas were published in the Part 1 statistics in September 2024.

Information is provided for 2023-24 and, where possible, for the years back to 2014-15, in order to show trends over the last 10 years. Tables at local authority area level, which have been updated to include 2023-24, have also been published.

Interpretation of the trend data supplied in this publication needs to consider the impact of the Coronavirus (Covid) pandemic. There were significant public health measures, including two national lockdowns, in place during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 recording years. For example, many courts were temporarily closed early in 2020-21. There was also reduced capacity when courts reopened. This means that statistics for most areas of justice social work were impacted in 2020-21 and 2021-22. Caution is advised in comparing data from these two years to other years.

Further justice social work statistics