Hull City Council’s youth justice service rated ‘good’ by inspectors
Fiona Simpson
Friday, September 24, 2021
Hull City Council’s youth justice service (YJS) has been praised by inspectors over support offered to young people handed a court order.
HMI Inspectorate of Probation praised the service over its “outstanding” work with children with a court order and “excellent” facilities and support provided at the council’s Kastor Centre, which offers learning and skills workshops to young people.
A report by inspectors states that the YJS team and partners are doing “very effective work” to keep children who have committed mostly low-level offences out of the formal criminal justice system.
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Planning and delivery of services to support children and young people and how case managers support young people are also praised.
Chief inspector of probation Justin Russell said: “The facilities available to children under Hull YJS supervision are outstanding. Staff take a caring and pragmatic approach and ensure there are opportunities for children to improve, learn and reduce the chances of them reoffending.”
Inspectors, who visited it the service in June, also noted that a new director of children’s services at the council Pauline Turner has been in place since December 2020.
She has “reviewed and refreshed the management board, and is re-establishing key partnerships and raising the profile of Hull YJS,” inspectors said.
The inspectorate made a recommendation to Hull YJS to improve their management of high-risk cases and out-of-court disposals.
It also advised Humberside Police to improve its lack of attendance at strategic partnership meetings.
Russell added: “Hull YJS have achieved a great deal over the recent past and their success in improving the service was evident throughout the inspection. Specific areas of their work received an ‘outstanding’ rating, such as their management with children on a court order. Though we have made recommendations for further improvements, they have much to be proud of.”
Pauline Turner, chair of Hull youth justice management board and director of children’s services said: “I am immensely proud of the Hull Youth Justice Team and our partners for achieving such a superb outcome from our recent inspection.
It is testament to the hard work, engagement skills and expertise of the staff team and managers that we were so highly praised by the inspectorate regarding our work with some of the most challenging and vulnerable children in Hull.
“It is clear we have a service which works hard to help them improve their life chances through positive partnerships across the city. I know that myself and the board members are fully committed to progressing our good work even further.”