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

Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said: “There is no doubt that Hillingdon YJS are a service that is changing the lives of local children under their supervision for the better. However, we found that they need to improve in key areas, particularly in managing cases where children pose a risk to others. Though heavily impacted by the challenges of Covid-19, this is a motivated service with a team that shows promise if they can make further positive changes.”

The quality of the service’s work with their partners across youth justice and beyond were commended during this inspection. However, we assessed that not all staff have the level of understanding of risk management work required for complex post-court cases. We also inspected the quality of resettlement policy and provision for children leaving custody, which was separately rated as ‘Good’.

This inspection made four recommendations, which include: working with management board members, so that they understand the needs of children to enable them to advocate on their behalf, and improve the quality of management oversight of casework, specifically in relation to risk of harm work, and make sure staff are supported to undertake good-quality risk assessments.

For more information about this inspection, please see the ‘Our reports’ page of the website.

ENDS

Notes to editor

1. Hillingdon YJS work with children aged 10 to 17. The majority of children under their supervision are aged 15 to 17 (82%), male (89%) and black or minority ethnic (61%). The YJS supervise children with complex needs and some in the care of the local authority.
2. The Inspectorate uses a four-point scale: ‘Outstanding’, ‘Good’, ‘Requires improvement’ and ‘Inadequate’, rating specific aspects of each service and giving an overall rating.
3. The inspection looked at standards of organisational delivery (leadership, staffing and facilities), their management of children serving court sentences (court disposals) and children serving cautions or community sentences (out-of-court disposals). We also inspected the quality of resettlement policy and provision for children leaving custody, which was separately rated as ‘Good’.
4. The report is available on the HM Inspectorate of Probation website on 10 May 2022 00.01.
5. HM Inspectorate of Probation is the independent inspector of youth offending and probation services across England and Wales.
6. Fieldwork for this inspection took place in September 2021.
7. For media enquiries, please contact Corporate Communications Manager Diane Bramall 07929 790 564 or media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address)