A service that works with troubled children and young people in East London ‘requires improvement’, according to inspectors.

HM Inspectorate of Probation conducted a routine inspection of Newham Youth Offending Team (YOT). Inspectors looked at 12 aspects of the team’s work and awarded an overall rating of ‘Requires improvement’, the second-lowest mark.

Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said: “Newham Youth Offending Team has many elements in place to deliver an effective service. We found a skilled and knowledgeable workforce, and staff at all levels are committed to supporting children and young people who have offended. The YOT has access to a good range of partners and services to help children and young people with their needs.

“However, there are a number of issues that need addressing. We found the handling of both court and out-of-court cases to be below the expected standard. High workloads are also preventing staff from investing more time and attention in cases.”

Newham is the 25th most deprived borough in the country and has some of the highest levels of serious youth violence in the capital. Three-quarters of the borough’s population is from an ethnic minority, and this is reflected in the YOT’s caseload. Many of the 10 to 18-year-olds that the YOT works with come from difficult backgrounds and have complex needs.

Inspectors were particularly concerned about the way the YOT works with children and young people who have committed minor offences. In these cases, children have not been charged and have been given conditional cautions or community resolutions instead. On three of the four performance standards in this area, inspectors rated the YOT as ‘Inadequate’.

Mr Russell said: “There is little resilience in the service and managers clearly struggle to make alternative arrangements when staff are absent. This is particularly evident in the delivery of out-of-court disposals, where we saw lengthy delays and cases reallocated multiple times.

“The YOT has some control over how many community resolutions it delivers. These are voluntary interventions agreed between the police, the YOT, and the child or young person and their family. The YOT should not be agreeing to a voluntary programme that it does not have the capacity to deliver.”

The Inspectorate rated the quality of planning for both court and out-of-court cases as ‘Inadequate’.

Mr Russell said: “YOT staff should work with the child or young person and their families to develop a robust plan that will meet their needs and deter them from further offending.

“We found planning was weak – more than half of the court cases we looked at and almost half of out-of-court cases did not include a plan with specific actions to help individuals desist from crime.

“Planning to support the safety and wellbeing of children and young people, and to manage the risk they might pose to others, was not good enough. As the plans were not up to the mark, it is unsurprising that the delivery and review of subsequent activity was also poor.”

In one instance, it took staff five months to complete an assessment of a child who was being handled outside the court system. Staff absences led to the case being reallocated. Inspectors found the assessment had been completed without the involvement of the child or their family. This was a missed opportunity to hear directly from the child and to check whether the proposed plan of activity would be effective.

The Inspectorate has made six recommendations with the aim of improving the quality of Newham YOT’s work.

ENDS

Notes to editor
1. The report is available at www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation on 13 September 2019 00.01.
2. HM Inspectorate of Probation is the independent inspector of youth offending and probation services across England and Wales.
3. Youth Offending Teams, which deliver youth offending services, supervise 10-18-year olds who have been sentenced by a court, or who have come to the attention of the police because of their offending behaviour but have not been charged and instead are dealt with out of court.
4. Fieldwork for this inspection took place in June 2019.
5. For media enquiries, please contact Head of Communications Catherine Chan on 07889 405930 or media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address)