Tower Hamlets and City of London 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: “It is clear to us that Tower Hamlets and City of London YJS is not performing to the standards we expect – many areas of their work were separately rated as ‘Inadequate’. The service does not have the stable workforce in critical roles and senior leadership has not been effective. This is resulting in poorer outcomes for children.  There are concerning issues which came to light during our inspection, and they must improve, urgently, if the local community is to be properly protected and children deterred from being involved in further offences.”

Inspectors found that many of the policies the service uses, to manage children properly and help them to improve their lives, were outdated. Additionally, some staff at the service reported to us that they are excluded from important meetings – such as with the child exploitation team – which meant they were missing out on vital information. Staff turnover is also high, and the service was without a permanent head of service for four years.

This inspection found a worrying lack of accurate data being collected by the service. We received statistics from the service which later turned out to be incorrect by significant percentage amounts. Without accurate data, a service cannot know (and therefore properly manage) the exact needs of children. However, facilities available to the service, such as the venues where staff meet with children, were of a good quality and all staff were committed to helping children improve their lives.

There were seven recommendations stemming from this report – mainly to the leadership of Tower Hamlets and City of London YJS – to improve the safety, wellbeing and risk of harm arrangements for children under their supervision, and make sure these are understood by all staff. The Inspectorate notes that the service has taken some immediate decisions and actions to respond to the failings found in this inspection.

ENDS

Notes to editor

1. Tower Hamlets and City of London YJS work with children aged 10 to 17. The majority of children under their supervision are aged 15 to 17 (80%), male (90%) and black and minority ethnic (83%). 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, which was separately rated as ‘Requires improvement’.
4. The report is available on the HM Inspectorate of Probation website on 26 July 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 April 2022.
7. For media enquiries, please contact media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address)