For the past three years she has also been chair of the Association of Youth Offending Team Managers (AYM), the professional body for heads of youth off ending services and managers in youth off ending teams (YOT) across the nine regions of England. This year marks AYM's 25th anniversary.
Belfield-Smith received an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the King's New Year Honours, an accolade she was “thrilled” by and hopes to use to raise the profile and importance of youth justice.
What is the current picture in terms of the quality of youth off ending services?
We in AYM, and the wider sector, take pride in the role we have played, in reducing the numbers of children entering the criminal justice system (down by 90% from 80,000 in 2009 to 8,000 in 2023) and those serving custodial sentences (down by 85% from just under 3,000 in 2009 to 440 in 2023). These represent a significant saving to public finances; however we do not anticipate these dramatic falls to be repeated to the same degree going forwards, but our hope is to sustain the success and maintain these low numbers. We are anything but complacent.
In order to sustain performance, we are concerned that the prevalence of short-term funding structures needs to be addressed and moved to a multi-year model. Youth justice services are primarily funded by local authorities, partners, regional devolved administrations, police and crime commissioners and grants from central government. We would welcome a move to a multi-year funding model, perhaps for the life of the government, together with a revision of the funding formula used by the Ministry of Justice, as the current formula is outdated.
What are the key challenges for your members?
There continues to be long-term systemic issues that face the youth justice system.
Children from global majority backgrounds, particularly black and mixed heritage boys continue to be over-represented in the system, as do children who are, or who have been, looked after by local authorities. As we have developed our understanding of neurodiversity, delayed language development, early childhood trauma and other special educational needs we are more aware that children with these disadvantages are particularly vulnerable to exploitation. Their neurodiverse conditions can draw them disproportionately into off ending and other activities that put them at risk.
The cost-of-living crisis has undoubtedly increased the numbers of families experiencing disproportionate levels of real deprivation, and we are starting to see a corresponding increase in acquisitive crime. There needs to be a sustained focus on these entrenched issues.
The Youth Justice Board champions the “Child First” concept of a youth justice system. Is that being seen on the ground?
For “Child First” to be operationalised across the system it requires a commitment from all agencies working with children. Some police forces, for example, have embraced the concept enthusiastically at senior levels, but struggle to see it changing operational practice on the front line, especially in contentious areas such stop and search. We would like to see a concerted cross-governmental effort to create and sustain a Child First youth justice system at both strategic and operational levels.
We would welcome clear, evidence-based guidance on improving services in response to the voices of children, be they children who are victims, or children who enter the youth justice system as a result of their offending.
We've seen more tragic cases of young people being killed in street violence incidents at the start of this year. How focused are agencies on tackling youth violence?
While the overall numbers of children entering the system remains much lower than it was 20 years ago, we are seeing increased levels of extreme violence involving weapons, which impacts on victims, who are often children themselves, the public's feeling of safety and their confidence in the justice system. There is no doubt that social media is having an impact in amplifying these concerns.
We welcome the public health approach to violence initially taken in Scotland and adopted by violence reduction units across England and Wales and we welcome the further work to promote understanding of this approach across all authorities.
How shocked were you by the riots in the summer and the number of young people that were charged with off ences relating to that?
Unfortunately, this is not the first time we have witnessed large-scale unrest involving large numbers of children and young adults. The pace and strength of unrest was deeply unsettling and speaks to endemic undercurrents we battle with across the public sector.
Our youth justice services noted the apparent difference in police force responses and sentencing outcomes across regions and spoke to the impact of high-profile media in escalating the profile of children and adults involved.
AYM have been collaborating with the Office for the Children's Commissioner for England to further appreciate the impact of riots and will be keen to reflect on learning.
Should YOTs be involved in the government's planned Young Futures Hubs? Have you had any discussions with ministers about that?
AYM have been active members in stakeholder events with the Department for Education and Home Office. Our experience to date has been positive, in that youth justice services have experience and networks that can enhance the diversionary and engagement ethos of hubs and Prevention Partnerships. Practical delivery plans for hubs remain high level currently, but we anticipate greater clarity from this spring and hopefully the opportunity to collaborate in early adopter models.
Jacqui Belfield-Smith: ‘There is a need for greater consistency in the implementation of diversion programmes’
Are diversion schemes working for the most vulnerable groups and what needs to be done to improve them?
The balance of the workload of YOTs has now tipped in favour of children who have never appeared in front of the youth court. Youth justice managers are reporting that 60-70% of their teams' work is with these children. We welcome this shift as we remain convinced that early intervention based on an assessment of risk and need can reduce the likelihood of future offending.
There is, however, a need for greater consistency in the implementation of diversion programmes. Deferred prosecution schemes, as proposed over five years ago in David Lammy's report, have been patchy, especially so in relation to carrying knives and driving offences. We believe there is scope to deliver on a multi-agency basis, well-researched interventions to satisfy those who make prosecution decisions, and we have seen innovative work in some youth justice partnerships, which are delivering positive outcomes in adopting some of these practices.
An academic study highlights the value of the young adult probation hub in Newham and said the approach should be rolled out nationally. Do you agree?
We note the promising indications with the young adult probation hub model, and we have also received feedback from other AYM members who have similar arrangements within their own authorities.
The hubs operate smaller caseloads and focus on a distinct age range. This has led to reduced reoffending, improved engagement, tangible investment, and commitment across partnerships, which all suggest that hubs should be rolled out further. Many of our partnerships would be interested to drive forward the initiatives but this will require national commitment from partners such as the Probation Service and NHS Executive, along with evaluation and development support.
Recently, the chief inspector said youth offending services should take on young adult cases from the Probation Service. Is there support for such a move?
We would welcome a return to a model of locally governed services which are more closely aligned to local partnerships. Probation colleagues play an invaluable role in youth justice service delivery, through their specialist skills in understanding and managing risk of harm and transitions into adult justice services. There is a real concern that probation is disinvesting in youth justice and focusing on a “reset” model that prioritises core business without sufficient consideration of the system-wide impact and the unintended consequences for local partnerships.
In our view this needs to be addressed with haste, as disinvestment by one partner has a knock-on effect on other members of local partnerships. This stability would also be critical to any expansion into older cohorts of young adults, as all services would need to reconsider age thresholds and links to wider universal services.
What are your plans for the association over the coming year?
This year sees the Youth Justice Board subject to the public body review and the new government finding its feet with priorities and investment in youth justice, and we feel we have a role to play here as experts in the field, who are managing services on the frontline.
Our annual conference has attracted a wide range of stakeholders and expert speakers, we hosted our inaugural Members Day last year to ensure we hear the voice of our members and can share best practice, and we have increased regional representation on the AYM executive, which has included a review of portfolios.
We continue to provide an interface with policy leaders in relevant government departments, key stakeholders, the inspectorate, other sector associations, wider partnership allies and the charitable sector.
CV
JACQUI BELFIELD-SMITH
- June 2022 – present: Chair, Association of Youth Off ending Team Managers
- Jan 2005 – present: Head of youth justice agencies, Stockport Council
- Feb 2004 – Dec 2004: Youth justice manager, Manchester Courts & City
- July 2000 – Feb 2004: Manager, South Manchester Youth Justice Team
- Jan 1998 – June 2000: Project manager residential mental health, Creative Support
- Jan 1997 – Dec 1997: Senior project manager residential mental health, Creative Support
