Inspectors praise youth justice service’s co-creation of support with children
Joe Lepper
Thursday, August 3, 2023
Northumberland youth justice service has been praised by inspectors for its work with children and families to design support and ways to tackle reoffending.
In handing Northumberland YJS an overall rating of "good" probation inspectors said they are particularly impressed by its “whole-family approach to tackle reoffending” and that “planning is co-designed with children with realistic and achievable targets”.
It adds that this approach is having “a positive impact on tackling repeat offending of poor behaviours”.
“Northumberland YJS is going the extra mile to help children under their supervision to change their behaviour, recognise the impact they are having on victims of crime and deter them away from reoffending,” said chief probation inspector Justin Russell.
“While some improvements can be made, we saw a service that is enthusiastic about giving children the opportunity to move away from a life of crime and get back into the community.”
In addition, the performance of staff in delivering “a high quality personalised and responsive service for all children” has been rated "outstanding" by inspectors.
Another area to receive their highest grade is the planning and implementation of support for young people whose cases are dealt with out of court, such as through cautions or community resolutions. This is “well-informed, analytical and personalised, actively involving the child and their parents or carers”, said inspectors.
Also praised by inspectors is the service’s use of restorative justice to work with victims of crime “to assist children in reflecting on their actions and repairing relationships with victims”.
One young person told inspectors that the support they received “has been amazing”.
“They are very supportive and motivating. At the beginning I felt really intimidated and they helped to boost my confidence. I can now do things I would have found too hard to do before,” they added.
However, the YJS’s reviewing of community sentences "requires improvement", according to inspectors. They found that the quality of reviews to keep children safe was “variable” and did not consider issues such as deteriorating personal relationships.
“Practitioners failed to respond consistently and effectively to keeping other people safe in half of the inspected cases,” said inspectors.
Inspectors have called on the service to ensure “robust contingency plans are in place for all children which addresses their safety, wellbeing and risk of harm to others”.
“I am delighted that the ambition, commitment and young person-centred approach of our staff, partners and leaders has been recognised in this report,” said Guy Renner-Thompson, Northumberland’s cabinet member for inspiring young people.
“We welcome and will implement the recommendations for further service improvement.”
