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

We also inspected the quality of resettlement work – the key services which need to be in place when a child is released from custody, for example to meet accommodation needs – which was separately rated as ‘Good’.

Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said: “Ealing Youth Justice Service is on the right path. They are a dedicated team with ambitions and talent to succeed. We saw some excellent work with children, by staff dedicated to supporting children to achieve their aspirations.”

Inspectors found that a full review of the way Ealing YJS manages out-of-court disposals is required, and we would like to see the Metropolitan Police work proactively with the service to ensure arrangements are in place to consistently promote effective diversion of children from the formal criminal justice system where possible and appropriate.

The rating of ‘Requires improvement’ also reflects the need to develop how the service identifies, analyses and assess the risks to and from children who are receiving these out-of-court disposals.

We were impressed with many aspects of the YJS’ work with children, not least, the efforts that have been made to ensure most children are in appropriate education, training or employment.

Additionally, children involved with Ealing YJS have access to a wide range of services, that get young people back into the community and build on their strengths and skills. The YJS has been proactive in identifying, understanding, and addressing the reasons why black and mixed heritage children are disproportionately represented in the justice system. This now needs extending to ensure the service fully understands the needs of other children who are over-represented within their service.

We made nine recommendations which we believe will have a positive impact on youth justice services in Ealing. This includes recommendations to the Probation Service to develop better ways of working to bridge the gap between the youth and adult services in the area.

ENDS

 Notes to editor

1. This service works with children aged 10 to 17. 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 rated work on resettlement separately as ‘Good’
4. The report is available on the HM Inspectorate of Probation website on 26 September 2023 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 June 2023.
7. For media enquiries, please contact Head of Communications Diane Bramall media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address)