Powys Youth Justice Service (YJS) has received an overall rating of ‘Good’ following an inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation.

Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said: “Powys YJS serves a large, rural area but supervises a relatively small number of children. This means services for children, and contact with parents and carers, needs to be accessible. In 2020, the service was overhauled, and this has had a positive effect on many areas of their work, demonstrated during our inspection, resulting in an overall rating of ‘Good’.”

Powys YJS work with children aged 10 to 18. The majority of children under their supervision are aged 15 to 17 (83%), male (93%) and white (87%). The YJS supervise children with complex needs, and some are in the care of the local authority.

The inspection looked at standards of organisational delivery (leadership, staffing, partnerships, services and facilities), their management of children serving court sentences (court disposals) and children receiving cautions or community resolutions (out-of-court disposals).

Inspectors noted that Powys YJS had good facilities for staff and children and communicates well with both – a key factor in ensuring the service can run across a wide geographical area. They also commended the management board for being active in ensuring the quality of what they are delivering for children is properly assessed.

However, there were several areas within the service which the Inspectorate felt required improvements. For example, the report notes that while the reorganisation of the service was mostly positive, it resulted in some experienced staff leaving the service.

Mr Russell explains: “While new staff have been recruited, the service lacked resilience. A new management team is now in place, and they must provide new and current staff with consistency and support.”

Children under the supervision of Powys YJS were supportive of the service and commented positively about their experience, particularly in health and mental health support.

Mr Russell continued: “The YJS also needed new education, training and employment arrangements at the time of our inspection, and to ensure children are assessed for speech and language support. All of this is crucial to providing children, under their supervision, with every opportunity to move away from further offending.”

“I welcome the considerable progress that Powys YJS has made in improving services, and I’m sure they will take all of our recommendations on board as that plan for the future. They must strive for continuity and consistency in raising the quality of their work even further, and I look forward to seeing the service develop in the years ahead.”

This inspection made nine recommendations to Powys YJS, including: the development of a  policy and practice guidelines for addressing diversity, equality and disproportionality in the delivery of services; improve management oversight of cases and support for staff; and ensure that services are provided to assess and respond to children’s speech, language and communication needs.

ENDS

Notes to editor

1. The report is available at justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation on 22 March 2022 00.01.
2. HM Inspectorate of Probation is the independent inspector of youth offending and probation services across England and Wales.
3. The Inspectorate uses a four-point scale: ‘Outstanding’, ‘Good’, ‘Requires improvement’ and ‘Inadequate’. The Inspectorate rates specific aspects of each service and also gives an overall rating.
4. Fieldwork for this inspection took place in November 2021.
5. For media enquiries, please contact Corporate Communications Manager Diane Bramall media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address)