Too many offenders are failing to complete community payback orders, Angus Council has admitted.
New figures show that completion rates for CPOs during 2013/14 that involved either unpaid work in the community or supervision fell significantly compared to the previous year and were well below the targets set.
The council has blamed a lack of resources and said it has been finding it difficult to cope with the workload.
Courts can sentence offenders to up to 300 hours of unpaid work. Recent cases in Angus have involved offences including assault, domestic abuse, theft, shoplifting, using counterfeit money and drink-driving.
Offenders have done work such as snow clearing and gritting, beach clean-ups and other environmental projects.
Angus Council had set itself a target of 85% of these orders being completed in 2013/14 but it managed only 73%. That was a drop of 10.6% compared to the previous year.
A report to the social work and health committee said that the number of terminations rose to 292 up from 164, despite the total number of CPOs and the number of hours to be worked remaining fairly stable.
“The number of ongoing orders has had a profound impact on resources and, despite much effort, a long waiting list has never been able to be reduced.
“Furthermore, there has been a 40% increase in the number of orders being breached mainly for non-compliance which has inevitably resulted in more orders being revoked and hence decreased the successful completion rate.”
Planned improvements to try to turn around performance include the setting up of a women-only team, allowing more female offenders to undertake work in the community rather than on individual placements.
An extra Sunday team is also being created to allow more offenders with jobs during the week to complete their hours.
There was also a 14.3% decline in the number of CPOs involving supervision by social workers being completed. The recorded figure of 56% was well below the target of 70%.
Terminations rose to 125 from 91 the previous year.
Again, the council said the number of orders it was required to deal with was putting a strain on the available resources.
“This means that frontline workers are spending less quality time with service users. It is with an understandable regret that there has been a 16.4% increase in CPOs with a condition of supervision being breached.”
The Scottish Government said in February that local authorities around the country had warned the increase in the use of CPOs had led to pressure on the resources available to deliver the unpaid work requirement.
It is seeking further information to try to ensure that demand can be managed effectively.