What a Fiscal Work Order is
A Fiscal Work Order (FWO) is an alternative to prosecution, where a person over 16 can agree to complete a period of unpaid work instead of facing court proceedings.
The Procurator Fiscal can offer the person an order to complete between 10 and 50 hours of unpaid work in the community within 6 months.
If the person successfully completes the FWO, they will not be prosecuted or get a criminal conviction for that offense.
The FWO aims to:
- extend the measures available to prosecutors when dealing with people who do not need a court hearing
- provide an opportunity for people accused of relatively minor offences to be dealt out with the court system
- enable those accused of offences to carry out community work to ‘pay back’ for their behaviour and avoid re-offending
- benefit victims and communities through faster and more appropriate resolution of cases
- reduce the demands on the court system and backlog of cases, by removing those that do not need to be taken to court from the process.
More information
If you want to find out more or discuss what services are available to you, contact our justice social work service by: