Two thirds of YOS are "good or outstanding"
HM Inspectorate of Probation has today published its Annual Report 2021: inspections of youth offending services (YOS). The 2021 annual report details the findings from inspections of 33 YOS – two-thirds of the services we inspected were rated as ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ – none were rated ‘Inadequate’.
Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell summarised the report:
“Caseloads may be falling, but the needs of children in the criminal justice system certainly are not and have become more acute as a result of Covid-19. It has been equally challenging for staff and leaders, but services should be heartened – more than half were rated ‘Good’ and five ‘Outstanding’ in the past year. I pay credit to the resilience and commitment they have shown, as we hope for less challenging times ahead.”
He went on to say:
“Some aspects of YOS work, including the quality of leadership and staffing as well as the quality of case management for children subject to out-of-court disposals we have rated higher this year than last. Though an increase in children who have committed violent offences, and in the complexity and needs of the caseloads being supervised, is proving a challenge for some services.”
The impact on the pandemic
The pandemic has meant record reductions in the number of children coming into the youth justice system as arrests and court volumes plummeted and the number of children supervised by youth offending services in 2021 fell by 28 per cent on the previous year.
The effect is a higher concentration of children entering the system who have committed a violent offence – these children made up 49 per cent of the court cases of the 33 services we inspected in the last year, and 42 per cent of out-of-court disposals (cautions and community sentences/resolutions). Nearly 80 per cent of children sentenced to a court order were assessed as presenting some form of risk to others, and 29 per cent were considered to present a high or very high risk of harm. And as in previous years, inspectors found high levels of educational and health needs with significant numbers of children missing from full time education, training or employment.
A variable response
Local YOS continue to adapt to the impact of Covid-19. Until recently, services were required to work in and out of pandemic-related restrictions and their response to this varied.
Additionally, getting children into education, training and employment (ETE) was hampered by a lack of entry-level jobs, due to closures in the hospitality sector, digital exclusion, and getting children who were already disengaged from the education system to return to it.
Also, while some services had kept offices open, others could only accommodate a small proportion of staff in an office. It meant some had to find new ways of communicating, and being in contact, with children – vital for successful YOS supervision.
Again, in the Chief Inspector’s words:
“Frontline staff and managers were clearly fatigued but determined to maintain face-to-face contact with children. A pre-pandemic trend towards taking services ‘out to the child’ rather than relying on being in an office, proved helpful, with a wide variety of community venues and outdoor spaces being used and a return to home visits in places.”
Black, Asian and minority ethnic children
The Inspectorate has stepped up the work it does around diversity and racial equality over the past year. Staff and managers told inspectors that the majority of black and mixed heritage boys they worked with had experienced multiple adverse childhood experiences. They also had high levels of need, such as special educational needs (SEN) and mental health difficulties Sixty per cent of the boys in the case sample were, or had been, excluded from school, the majority permanently. In half of the cases inspected there was evidence that the child had experienced racial discrimination.
Almost all the black and mixed heritage boys inspectors spoke to described positive relationships with their YOS workers, whatever that worker’s ethnicity, stating that they felt listened to and understood. But they were not always clear about the role of the service or what support it could offer them, nor did they feel very challenged by YOS about the underlying causes of their offending.
Despite the positive relationships reported, inspectors found significant deficits in the quality of casework being delivered to black and mixed heritage boys in both post-court and out-of-court cases. Overall, less than half of the inspected cases were sufficient in terms of the quality of assessment and planning.
Resettlement after custody
Children sentenced to custody are some of the most vulnerable, as well as presenting a risk of harm to others, and their needs are often complex. The annual report includes ratings for seven services inspected on resettlement. Three of these YOS were rated as ‘Good’ and four as ‘Requires improvement’. None were found to be ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Inadequate’. The inspectors highlighted resettlement as an area needing improvement.
Quality of court and out-of-court casework
This year inspectors looked at 362 court cases and 315 out-of-court cases. The quality of work undertaken with 70 per cent of cases , to identify what is driving young people’s offending and their underlying social and welfare needs, was found to be strong. Though other areas of practice were weaker.
In addition to inspecting individual cases, HM Inspectorate of Probation introduced a new standard in July 2021 which rates the policies and practice adopted by each YOS in relation to out of court disposals. Of the eight YOS inspections that included this new inspection standard, two areas were graded as ‘Good’, five were rated as ‘Requires improvement’ and one was ‘Inadequate’. Again, this is an important area with the growth of youth diversion schemes across the country.
Given the recent critical annual report by the inspectorate on the Probation Service, it is heartening to hear that Youth Offending Services are improving – despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic.
Thanks to fangirl for kind permission to use the header image in this post which was previously published on Pixabay.