COMMENDEE 2025-26: Gavin is a Community Payback Work Team Leader with East Lothian Council and is Commended for his management and support of colleagues, and for transforming the range of activities on offer to ensure that unpaid work makes a real and meaningful difference to the lives of local residents.

This nomination was drawn up by Ciara Webb – Team Leader, East Lothian Council; and signed off by Stephanie Kerr – Community Justice Lead Officer, East Lothian Council.

Introduction

Gavin Conington is East Lothian’s Community Payback Work Team Leader, and is the brains behind the Big Pick in East Lothian as well as a bicycle repair scheme and an allotment scheme (in development). He has been working in East Lothian for four years, but involved in Community Payback for more than ten years. By creating activity for people completing Unpaid Work as part of their Community Payback Order, this is community reparation and ‘payback’ in its truest form, with a with a direct correlation between the individual and their community which is both visible, beneficial, and highly regarded.

Reasons for the nomination

In East Lothian we noted a disconnect between some of the unpaid work we were delivering and the concept of ‘payback’ to the community. We felt there was a need to identify new areas and types of work. To achieve this Gavin developed a presentation on Unpaid Work in East Lothian, what it is, what we wanted it to be, and dispelling some of the myths around it. The aim was to make the team both visible and approachable – this in itself was a success.

Gavin was approached by Simon Glover of Reuse Scotland SCIO in early 2024, and asked if he could assist in organising the collection, sorting and selling of unwanted clothes donated to collection bins around the county, with money from sales going to local charities. Gavin immediately saw the opportunity to do something innovative with Community Payback, in terms of paying back directly to the communities affected by offending behaviour, by addressing clothes poverty, and reducing our carbon footprint. Ordinarily, around 70% of used clothing ends up in landfill, with used clothes often exported for private resale. The Big Pick interferes with this by taking locally donated clothes, sorting them, and selling them at ‘kilo sales’. There are events taking place every two weeks now in East Lothian, with more than £2500 returned to local charities and community groups since August 2024. The events also support those most affected by the cost of living crisis by making good quality used clothing affordable.

Gavin has also since developed a bike project that repairs bikes that are then given back to the community, as well as an allotment project (in development) which would provide food to service users and the wider community. It feels as though we now clearly facilitate ‘payback’ to the community we are based in.

Support for the nomination

Testimonial from Service Manager Julie Morton:

Gavin joined the JSW service in 2022, following the unexpected death of the previous Team Leader – he had to support the supervisors in their grief and deliver the service in extremely challenging (Covid) times. Gavin used the skills learnt whilst serving in the armed forces to motivate and encourage the team so they could continue to develop the service in line with the pandemic restrictions, focusing on keeping service users, supervisors and the public safe.

As Team Leader, Gavin has instilled a sense of pride in the work completed by those undertaking unpaid work in the community. Gavin has a sound understanding of the vulnerabilities and challenges faced by those with convictions and has worked with supervisors and social work colleagues to get the best from individuals. The Big Pick is an excellent example of community reparation and visibility with Gavin constantly striving for ‘more and better’ whether that be around the venues or the quality of clothing that is donated. Gavin has worked with the Operational Management Team to progress the ’Model for Practice’ which sees the service address key local social factors of deprivation and poverty. The Big Pick addresses clothing poverty and the charities that will benefit from the profits are suggested by those undertaking unpaid work hours and the JSW team – this creates a sense of ownership and pride for all involved.

As a veteran, Gavin brings additionality to the service – his experiences have made him both strong in the face of resistance but also compassionate when working with those in the greatest need. His enthusiasm, warmth, commitment and drive is evident in all he does, with a genuine belief that everyone has the capacity to change and improve their life chances with the right support.

Delivering unpaid work projects and placements is a demanding and, often thankless, activity with the public criticisms around ‘soft justice’ often heard, so Gavin works hard to promote the accomplishments of the service users. He is always on the look out for new opportunities and ways to showcase the work service users complete, with his next project focusing on addressing food poverty by promoting the ‘gardening’ project to increase access to allotments in local communities. Previously, Gavin embedded the ‘bicycle’ project where service users collect, repair, return and/or donate bicycles to those on low or no incomes, so addressing transport poverty and, by default, improving wellbeing.

Since coming to the team in 2022, Gavin has been an advocate and champion for upskilling service users and responding to their needs, whilst reinforcing the importance of Order compliance. His work with the supervisors is to be admired as he continually looks for their strengths and offers opportunities for them to develop and grow in their work – those with the enthusiasm and interest, work alongside Gavin to deliver a service that holds people to account, gives opportunities to learn new skills and, where possible, offer reparation to local communities.

Sign off

Gavin has repeatedly shown his dedication to improving our local communities and improving the lives of people undertaking payback work. He has taken the local sustainability agenda and formed workstreams that allow for people to payback to their communities in a way that highlights our local priorities on poverty and carbon reduction. Gavin’s vision for the service, and his ability to take the team on this journey of change has been admirable. Well done Gavin.

Stephanie Kerr, Community Justice Lead Officer, East Lothian Council