Too many Neet young people under Croydon YOS, inspectors say
Fiona Simpson
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Nearly a third of 16- to 18-year-olds worked with by Croydon’s youth offending service (YOS) are not in education, employment or training (Neet), inspectors said.
HM Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) found that the rate of Neet 16- to 18-year-olds under the YOS was 30 per cent compared with just 2.8 per cent in the borough overall.
“The proportion of children and young people who are Neet is too high, and substantially above that for Croydon and London overall. Education and information, advice and guidance practitioners have not worked effectively enough with partners to develop sufficient appropriate post-16 opportunities to meet the needs of the young people they are supporting,” the inspection report says.
Croydon YOS is the biggest in London and the second largest in England and Wales.
Inspectors recommended that the youth crime board, which governs the work of the youth offending services, develops learning programmes that would reduce the number of young people who are Neet in the system.
In 2018, 544 children and young people in the borough were cautioned or sentenced, more than 10 per cent of the total for London. Croydon has the largest population of 10- to 17-year-olds in the capital, 54 per cent of which are from minority ethnic groups. A fifth of the borough’s children come from low-income families.
“There are high levels of vulnerability for adolescents, including child exploitation, domestic abuse and those who go missing from home, care and education.
“Croydon has established a service specifically for adolescents, as a means to safeguard children and young people who are at risk from people outside the family home. These risks are not easily managed by traditional child protection systems,” the report says.
At the time of the inspection - over a two-week period in July, the YOS was supervising 141 children on statutory court orders, 60 on an out-of-court disposal and 10 young people who were in youth custody.
Inspectors rated the service as "requires improvement" but noted this was partly due to inadequate practices in children’s social care.
Justin Russell, chief inspector of probation at HMIP, said: “At its best, joint work provides children and young people with an effective safety net, with professionals taking timely actions to mitigate the identified risks to children and young people. However, in other cases we found that inadequate practice in children’s social care left the YOS in a difficult position in trying to keep them and the public safe, with the YOS having to manage these risks by itself. A range of improvements to children’s social care in Croydon are being taken forward. These need to embed and mature, and this should lead to better service provision.”
However, a recent monitoring visit of children’s services by Ofsted found “concerted and dynamic leadership continues to drive rapid progress in the quality of services for children in Croydon.”
Inspectors praised "thoughtful and persistent child-centred work that is making a difference to their lives" and said "social workers know children well, and speak confidently about their role".
"Concerted oversight by senior leaders and managers has seen a reduction in the number of children on a child protection plan or child in need plan," the reports says, adding "progress is evident in all areas of practice in this service."
A council spokesman said: "We are pleased to see inspectors recognise the commitment and skill of youth offending service staff and their good work with young people, some of which has been judged to be outstanding.
"Since our youth offending service inspection in July, Croydon has continued to make rapid progress in improving children’s social care, with Ofsted noting our accelerated pace of change, and the positive impact on the lives of children and families.
"As a partnership, we continue to strengthen the way we work together to safeguard and support vulnerable young people, adopting a preventative approach and ensuring they get the right help, at the right time, through our new early help service, and as one of London’s first violence reduction networks. We are working to ensure that all our young people aged 16-18 have access to high-quality support to enable them to access and sustain education, employment or training.
"We will continue to drive improvements across the board, and have developed an action plan in response to the findings of the YOS inspection."
