A report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation, which carried out a routine inspection of Medway YOT in March, found senior managers “drive the direction” of the service demonstrating a commitment to achieve the best outcomes for children.
Inspectors looked at three broad areas of the YOT’s work including the quality of work done with children sentenced by the courts and its out-of-court disposal work.
They highlighted examples of “excellent case management” and practitioners working well to understand the behaviour of children and their aspirations for the future.
However, despite the improvements the inspectorate handed the YOT an overall rating of "requires improvement" singling out “too much” inconsistency in the quality of its practice, particularly in relation to its work with girls and those at risk of exploitation.
“This left us concerned about the safety and wellbeing of a small number of vulnerable children.
“We also found that service provision was better for children in the community than in custody,” the report states.
The inspectorate said its visit to Medway followed an extended “period of uncertainty” during which the local authority explored outsourcing the service for almost a year but then decided to keep it in-house.
After the decision was taken, the YOT had made efforts to deliver services that met the “intensive” needs of its caseload, the report states.
It outlines how practitioners supervised more than 100 children in 2019 who had been sentenced by the courts, of which knife crime made up 17 per cent of the offences committed by boys.
Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said a rise in local violent youth offending, gang-based drug dealing and incidents involving weapons had made the YOT’s work more complex.
“Its leaders are making more persistent efforts to rebuild the service to support children’s specific needs,” he said.
The inspectorate has put forward four recommendations following its inspection findings which require the YOT’s case managers to advocate for the needs of children in custody and ensure sufficient planning and work is done to support their resettlement.
It also wants the YOT to strengthen work with its partners, particularly children’s social care services, to better support the safety and wellbeing of children, paying close attention to indicators that are at risk of being exploited by others.
The YOT should also develop an evidence-based approach to working with girls that takes into account their distinct needs and translates into effective partnership work to support their safety and wellbeing, and protect other people, it added.
Russell said a fifth recommendation was aimed at the Youth Justice Partnership Board, which oversees the YOT’s work, that needed to develop a more coherent and strategic approach.
“The board is made up of representatives from key agencies that can support children to move away from offending.
“Unfortunately, the board failed to show us that it understood the specific issues affecting these children and had a strategy to address their needs.
“The new chair has made a positive start and must now seize the opportunity to coordinate efforts and drive improvements,” he said.
Plans had been outlined by the YOT to appoint a data and intelligence officer that would help the board to identify its strengths and areas for development, he added.
“Building up a profile of children known to the YOT will help managers to commission the right support and ensure services are based on evidence,” he said.
