Community Cashback
Asset recovery is critical to the fight against all levels of crime and is one of the Government's top priorities for law enforcement. We are determined to stop criminals profiting from crimes which affect the lives of the law abiding majority.
The Community Cashback scheme is an innovative use of recovered criminal assets which will see up to £4 million reinvested locally this year for the benefit of communities – ensuring local people benefit from the money we have taken from criminals and giving them confidence in the criminal justice service and a say in how it works.
Each of the 42 criminal justice areas in England and Wales will have access to around £95,000 to use on suitable community projects suggested by local people, funding around 100 projects.
The public can nominate projects for funding through neighbourhood policing meetings, citizens’ panels, local authority consultation meetings or through other local forums. In addition, we are today launching the Community Cashback website. There the public can suggest projects for funding in their area and have their say on projects nominated by others in their community. http://cashback.cjsonline.gov.uk
Seizing criminal assets delivers a wide range of benefits, from depriving criminals of capital to reducing the incentives for crime and the harm caused by crime, as well as promoting fairness and confidence in the criminal justice system.
There has been a £64 million increase in the value of assets recovered in the last five years with £148 million seized in 08/09. These significant achievements have resulted in the Government setting an ambitious new target to double the amount seized to £250 million by 2009-10.
Projects nominated by local communities will then be put forwarded by the Local Criminal Justice Board for central scrutiny to ensure they are viable and within the intended scope of the scheme. Whilst we cannot pre-empt the outcome, if there is no obvious reason not to approve funding, the proposal is likely to be successful.
The Government has committed to looking at ways communities might be given more of a say in how recovered assets are spent locally commitments (Engaging Communities in Criminal Justice Green Paper) and is seeking views on other ways in which we might give communities more of a say in this issue.