Inspectors praise combined youth offending service

Following a visit last month, the Inspectorate of Probation said that Dorset Combined Youth Offending Service was "sufficiently well resourced" to enable it to undertake good initial assessments and tailor interventions to the individual needs of children and young people.?

?Inspectors said there was also evidence of good relationships with statutory partners and that information was shared appropriately.

The report also noted other key strengths as staff using practical ways to support children and young people to achieve their objectives, while most interventions contained an element of practical reparation.
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The combined service was created in July 2015 following the merger of Dorset YOT with Bournemouth and Poole YOS. ?

"Staff and managers had a good understanding of the children and young people they supervised and aimed to provide services to meet their specific diverse needs," the report said.

"Caseloads were manageable with staff having the time to work intensively with children and young people when this was appropriate.

??"The YOS was well integrated with statutory partners in each of the three local authorities they covered, with good access to a range of services to tackle offending."

However some areas for improvement were identified.

??Inspectors said that case managers should review their assessments and plans as circumstances develop and line managers should develop a systematic quality assurance process to ensure cases have been reviewed appropriately. ??

They also said that cases assessed as presenting a medium or high risk of serious harm to others should have a clear risk management plan that identifies potential triggers to escalating risk.?