Windsor and Maidenhead YOS rated ‘good’ by inspectors

A report by Marc Baker, director of operations at HM Inspectorate of Probation, following the inspection which took place through “off-site analysis of case files and phone and video conferencing” due to the Covid-19 pandemic, said “practitioners are motivated and knowledgeable, and participate well in the youth offending team’s (YOT) integrated model of working.

“Children have access to a good range of personalised services and interventions that take account of the views and needs of victims and the community.”

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It rated Windsor and Maidenhead "outstanding" for both joint working and assessment of young people on probation based on reports from two out-of-court disposal proceedings.

The report states: “Practitioners used their professional curiosity to gain a thorough understanding of the needs in both cases and took a fully collaborative approach with the police to implement the out-of-court disposals. However, aspects of planning, and implementation and delivery of services, and interventions were not sufficiently robust.”

However, inspectors also said the YOT would benefit from stronger partnerships with children’s social care professionals when working on post-court cases.

Baker said in his report: “The YOT maintained sufficient focus on managing and reducing risk of harm and considered the needs and wishes of victims. However, there was inconsistency in the quality of joint work with children’s social care services and a need for more focused planning to support desistance.”

The service was rated across three areas: the arrangements for organisational delivery of the service, the quality of work done with children sentenced by the courts, and the quality of out-of-court disposal work and on 12 standards including assessment, joint working and organisation and planning.

In a series of recommendations, Baker said the service would benefit from strengthening its arrangements to support desistance, making sure that plans reflect the best interests of the individual child and provide sufficient detail to help them understand the work to be completed and making sure that written plans are updated to reflect changes in circumstances in a case.

He also advised YOT bosses to:

• strengthen the YOT’s partnership with children’s social care services and the probation service to provide an effective, collaborative approach to case management. 

• develop its understanding and strategic oversight of the Equality Act 2010 and scrutinise the YOT’s contribution to meeting the requirements of this legislation.

• scrutinise out-of-court disposal data and processes to provide the best outcomes for children and the wider community.