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Ministers have dropped plans to photograph, name and shame offenders ordered to complete unpaid community work in England and Wales in the latest U-turn by Labour.
The plans, first disclosed by the Guardian, would have meant people convicted of minor criminal offences having details of their cases and their community work publicised on government websites and promoted through local media.
But after concerns that the material could be used to humiliate the children of offenders, the Ministry of Justice has accepted an amendment to the sentencing bill that will remove the right to publish offenders’ names and photographs.
Keir Starmer is facing criticism from his own backbenchers for a series of policy reversals amid deepening unpopularity.
Offenders can be sentenced to an “unpaid work requirement” under community orders and suspended sentence orders. The work can be imposed for between 40 and 300 hours and requires an offender, usually wearing a hi-vis jacket printed with the words “community payback”, to work on projects within the local area.
Officials said in September that they planned to give probation officers the power to take and publish the names and pictures of individuals ordered by courts to tidy grass verges, litter-pick and scrub graffiti. Nearly 5m hours of unpaid work was carried out in the year to April 2024.
Amid a planned rapid expansion of “community payback”, officials argued that publishing the names and photos of offenders would demonstrate to the public that justice was being delivered.
The powers were written into clause 35 of the sentencing bill, but has faced criticism from senior figures involved in probation. Martin Jones, HM chief inspector of probation, told the Guardian it could result in more offenders dropping out. “If offenders are turning up to do the work I do not see a reason why they should also have their images published,” he said.
Ian Lawrence, the general secretary of Napo, the probation officers’ union, had said the change would bring shame on families of offenders, particularly children. “This proposed policy serves no value to the rehabilitation of offenders but could have potentially devastating effects on innocent family members, namely children,” he said.
James Timpson, the prisons minister, announced that the government would drop the policy as the House of Lords debated the bill earlier this month. He said: “I am satisfied that the current delivery of unpaid work, bolstered by the wider provisions in the bill, means that unpaid work will continue to be tough and visible enough without the addition of this specific measure.”
The Labour government has faced criticism for chaotic mismanagement after watering down plans for mandatory ID cards for working people, offering temporary support to pubs shortly after announcing plans to raise tax rates, and altering plans for a so-called tractor tax on agricultural land.
The bill will return to the House of Commons for final agreement. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The sentencing bill will make community sentences even tougher through increased tagging and restriction zones, with unpaid work ensuring offenders give back to society and benefit the communities they’ve harmed.”
