CYP Now - Youth offending services: Inspections Clinic

Recent assessment of youth offending services shows more than half needing improvements, yet inspectors also found many teams providing good support to young people, writes Jo Stephenson.

Russell: “Staff and managers were really committed to trying to keep the service going” during the pandemic

The latest annual report on youth offending services (YOS) in England and Wales from HM Inspectorate of Probation found more than half needed to make improvements.

Of the 16 services inspected in 2019/20, eight were rated “requires improvement” while Cardiff YOS was rated “inadequate”.

Chief inspector of probation Justin Russell says it was disappointing to find the overall quality of services was worse than those inspected the previous year.

Speaking to CYPNow before the latest Covid-19 restrictions were imposed, he says a key message from the annual report was the importance of leadership and management in delivering good youth offending services.

Nine of the 16 services inspected were found to require some improvement in leadership and governance.

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