Annual Report: inspection of youth offending services (2019-2020)
This HMIP report highlights that whilst it is positive that the number of children entering the youth justice system for the first time, through a conviction or caution, continues to fall and the numbers entering custody fell dramatically in 2020, it is concerning that the support offered to those leaving custody remains poor. The Inspectorate found that 9 of the 16 regional services inspected fall below the required standards.
Details
The report is published by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) and summarises the aggregate findings of inspections of youth offending teams (YOTs) between November 2019 and October 2020. The report identifies a number of positive developments but also identifies a number concerns, in particular that 9 of 16 regional services fall below the required standards.
YOTs work with children and young adults (from 10 to 18 years of age) who come into contact with the criminal justice system. These young people have either been bailed or sentenced by a Court or have come to the attention of the police but have not been charged. The YOTs role includes: delivering preventative interventions to help children make different life choices; assisting children at police stations and Court; supervising children whilst they are subject to community orders; monitoring children whilst they are in custody and supervising them upon release whilst they reintegrate back into the community.
The key findings in the report are summarised below:
- Youth Justice Trends: the number of children entering the youth justice system for the first time, through a conviction or caution, continued to fall and the numbers entering custody fell dramatically in 2020 as youth Courts closed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Whilst caseloads of YOTs shrunk, they have become dominated by violent offences which made up 30% of proven offences by children which in turn impacts the risk of harm to others, including violence against parents which heightened during the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Quality of Support: the inspection of the quality of support offered to children leaving custody had not improved in the five years since HMIP last inspected this issue. HMIP will be introducing a specific new standard into local inspections on the quality of resettlement work from custody from spring of 2021 to address the issue.
- Reoffending Rates: youth reoffending rates remain high and of those who do reoffend, the frequency of reoffending rate is now the highest it has been in the last 10 years. Of the cases inspected by HMIP, the cases represent some of the most damaged and vulnerable children in our society who are high risk in terms of their own safety and that of other people they come into contact with.
- Out-of-Court Disposals: HMIP found a decline in the quality of supervision for out-of-Court disposals and found the quality to be worse than that provided to children sentenced by the Court. HMIP saw creative and innovative interventions programmes delivered by a number of YOTs that are provided in a vacuum of national guidance and evaluation. This has resulted in a ‘postcode lottery’ in the use and quality of out-of-court disposals.
- Overall Rating of Youth Offending Teams: HMIP rated one service (Camden) ‘outstanding’ and six services (Brent, Bury and Rochdale, Leicester, North Yorkshire, Oxfordshire and Southampton) ‘good’. The remaining 9 of 16 services visited fell below the required standard with eight services (Birmingham, Bradford, Croydon, Gloucestershire, Leeds, Luton, Medway and Nottingham) rated ‘requires improvement’ and one service (Cardiff) rated ‘inadequate’. HMIP found some services had experienced challenges in terms of leadership and management. The key weaknesses identified by HMIP related to:
- lack of scrutiny applied to partnerships by management boards;
- limited understanding of the needs of children at a strategic level;
- staff not being aware of strategic priorities and their role in achieving them; and
- partnerships, including education, not sufficiently or meeting the needs of youth offending service children.
Commentary
This report highlights the crucial role that YOTs play in the youth justice system and stresses that YOTs often deal with some of the most challenging and vulnerable children in our society. The report identifies a number of wider social issues and a disconnect with partnerships such as education and social care, including poor access to education and IT equipment, and lack of support for the increased numbers of child on parent violence during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Whilst diverting children from Court is welcome, it is concerning that the quality of supervision for diverted children remains of poorer quality than that that given to those going through the Court system. If diversion from Court is going to be truly successful in assisting children and young people to find alternative paths and break destructive patterns then services in this area need to be prioritised. The findings by HMIP show that there is significant room for improvement by YOTs and, in particular, in the effectiveness of the governance and leadership of YOTs.
Written by
Victoria Morton, Associate, Paul Hastings (Europe) LLP