Local authorities are required to establish multi-disciplinary youth offending teams (YOTs) in order to fulfil their duty to provide youth justice services. In some areas these are now called the youth offending service (YOS).
YOTs supervise children on out of court disposals (OOCD) and youth sentences. YOTs have a statutory duty to provide appropriate adults for children detained or being interviewed at police stations, and to provide support for children on bail.1
Work performed by YOTs also includes:
- supervising rehabilitation programmes;
- giving and supervising cautions and conditional cautions;
- recommending bail packages;
- placement of remanded children in local authority accommodation;
- recommendations for pre-sentence reports;
- implementation of referral orders;
- supervising youth rehabilitation orders;
- supervising detention and training orders; and
- supervising any licence requirements.
YOTs include:2
- Probation Officers
- Social Workers
- Police Officers
- Health Worker
- Education Officer
- Substance Misuse Worker
- Parenting Worker
- Connexions Worker
- Intensive Supervision and Surveillance (ISSP) Worker
- Positive Activities for Young People (PAYP) Worker
- Early Intervention Team – Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs)
- Court Officers
- Restorative Justice Worker
YOTs can also include other people that the local authority considers appropriate.