A report by the Probation Inspectorate found that while the YOT was committed to helping children and young people stop offending, it needed to make a number of improvements.
Inspectors found that the YOT often underestimated the level of harm a child or young person they were working with posed to others, and the need to plan to manage this.
Meanwhile work to protect children and young people and reduce their vulnerability was found to be "unsatisfactory".
"Case managers made determined efforts to link with partner agencies and contributed to inter-agency safeguarding processes in order to protect children and young people," the report states.
"However, case managers were not good at assessing the vulnerability needs in their cases and planning to address these."
The effectiveness of governance and partnership arrangements was also found to be "unsatisfactory".
Inspectors said the success of the YOT was underpinned by strong, informal relationships and ambitions rather than the governance, scrutiny and challenge by its management board.
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