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Ministers back down on vests for offenders working in charity shops
By Eve Critchley, Third Sector, 13 January 2009

Fears that customers and volunteers might stay away prompt relaxation of rules

The Ministry of Justice has relaxed its rules on making offenders working in charity shops wear high-visibility Community Payback vests.

The move follows resistance by the Association of Charity Shops, which warned that the vests could deter customers, put people off volunteering in the shops and "undermine rehabilitation".

The ministry said the Probation Service was expected to enforce the instruction that offenders subject to community orders must wear the Community Payback vests. But it also said there should be "a risk assessment for exceptional cases where the high-visibility jacket may not be appropriate".

An Oxfam spokesman said each shop had to make its case for exemption to local probation officers, but it understood that the arguments would be accepted and that a blanket agreement had, in effect, been granted.

The vests are part of the Government's rebranding last month of community service, designed to show justice being done in local communities. About a third of offenders on community orders work in charity shops, according to the National Association of Probation Officers.

The union said that organisers of 39 out of 52 placements had so far been opposed to the vests, usually on the grounds that they "demean the individual, introduce unnecessary risk or deter customers from charity shops".

In a letter to justice secretary Jack Straw last month, the Association of Charity Shops, which has more than 300 member charities, said: "Some public perceptions - however unfair these may be - will mean that customers will be deterred from shopping in charity shops if they encounter recognisable rehabilitating offenders.

"Non-offender volunteers in charity shops are normally very supportive of their colleagues. However, we also believe these volunteers may be deterred from offering their services, given such public perceptions and the unfair pressures these can create."

Offenders would in effect be "singled out", it said, and their rehabilitation could suffer.