Building a professional, specialist workforce

The aim of the YJRP’s Workforce work strand was to create a bigger, more resilient, and more stable workforce; employ more staff with specialist skills and create a culture change for staff who want to work with children with a focus on rehabilitation. The researchers found:

• Staffing levels increased at every YOI in the study
• The proportion of staff remaining in post for at least 12 months increased after the reforms were implemented.
• Changes are still required to recruitment strategies and workforce and management culture to allow for a more resilient and more stable workforce
• The YJRP was found to have changed the culture of YOIs and STCs to a more rehabilitative environment. Staff members reported taking a more rehabilitative approach to working with children, which contributed to a better relationship between staff and children. The shift to a rehabilitative approach was also reflected in the responses gathered from children, who reported feeling safe, being treated fairly by staff members, and having their needs better understood by staff.

Delivering an individualised approach

The individualised approach has education and wellbeing at its heart and is delivered principally through the Behaviour Management and the Education and Sports work strands. The research team found:

• Results were inconclusive about the impact of the YJRP on child-on-child and child-on-staff assault rates within the YOIs, due to COVID masking any impact of the programme.
• Progress to make sites safer was attained through other means, such as staff support for children, making them feel safer and as though they were being treated fairly. This approach helped children learn from their mistakes and de-escalate challenging situations. Staff and children also reported that the development of consistent relationships facilitated good discipline.
• The Framework for Integrated Care (SECURE STAIRS) and custody support plans (CuSP) generally supported positive outcomes for some children, such as improved and supportive relationships with staff, feelings of safety, and confidence when leaving the establishment. However, children’s feedback in the survey suggested case workers and CuSP did not benefit all children, particularly those with ethnic minority backgrounds.
• The provision of education was hindered by the COVID pandemic, with a lack of face-to-face education. Nevertheless, most children regularly attended the face-to-face classes available and reported a good choice of courses. Many children also reported being involved in various sports and physical activities.
• Further improvements could be made in skill-building for careers; educational level of courses and staff training to deliver all courses sufficiently.

Recommendations

The research team making a number of recommendations including:

• There should be a prioritisation of the Framework for Integrated Care (SECURE STAIRS), conflict resolution, and other behavioural management interventions to focus on improved relationships between children.
• To address current gaps in provision, needs-led multidisciplinary formulation planning and wrap-around provision should be maintained throughout the child’s journey between custody and resettlement.
• A priority should be improving communication with children and their involvement in constructing their plans, including details of proposed care and support and keeping them informed about any changes that impact upon them and reasons for these.
• More priority should be placed on improving the effective management of transitions (particularly transitions to adult settings) to ensure transitional planning is embedded into the children’s overall support and journey.

Thanks to Andy Aitchison for kind permission to use the header image in this post. You can see Andy’s work here