Community service work

Community service work provides an opportunity for offenders to repay the community for their crimes through unpaid work. 

An offender can be sentenced to perform community service work by a court as part of an Intensive Correction Order or a Community Correction Order. These sentences are served in the community, and are supervised by Community Corrections.

Community service work can include a range of tasks, from the maintenance of public spaces, to preparing meals for community events. Work can be ongoing, seasonal or one-off, and cannot replace the work of paid employees.

Community Corrections has partnerships with community, government and non-government organisations to provide community service work opportunities for offenders. These organisations are known as ‘community service work partners’, and benefit from accessing labour for work that would otherwise be unable to be completed.

The Community service work factsheet (PDF , 1.7 MB) provides an overview of community service work, the benefits of becoming a community service work partner and the positive impact of community service work on the community.

The Community service work FAQs (PDF , 2.9 MB) document provides more detailed information about how community service work operates, the management and supervision of offenders, and how to become a community service work partner. 

For further information or to be connected with your local Community Corrections office, contact communityservicework@justice.nsw.gov.au