Sefton youth offending team - good in some areas but requires improvement

The team responsible for tackling youth crime in North Merseyside is delivering an inconsistent service, according to a new report.

HM Inspectorate of Probation conducted a routine inspection of Sefton Youth Offending Team (YOT) in February. Inspectors found staff and senior managers were committed to delivering high-quality services, but more robust systems and processes are needed to support this ambition.

The Inspectorate has given Sefton YOT a ‘Requires improvement’ rating – its second-lowest grade.

HM Chief Inspector of Probation Dame Glenys Stacey said: “Sefton YOT does have some areas of strength, including a skilled and committed workforce supporting young people to turn away from crime.

“However, we would have liked to have seen greater progress since our last inspection in 2013. The YOT needs to gain a deeper understanding of the children and young people that it works with, and use its own data to improve performance.”

Inspectors found many children and young people involved with the YOT had been excluded from school or had special education needs. In a sample of cases, more than half of children and young people had specific education, employment or training needs – senior leaders should have been aware of this fact but it was only uncovered during the inspection.

To make matters worse, education and employment representatives were missing from the YOT’s Management Board. For the past 18 months, there has been no education representative from the local authority, and the attendance of the employment and learning lead has been sporadic.

Sefton YOT’s work with children and young people subject to court orders or who were being dealt with outside the court system was mixed.

Inspectors found staff did not always assess cases thoroughly to analyse the safety and wellbeing of children and the risk of harm they could pose to others. Assessments were only completed to an adequate standard in around half of the inspected cases. The YOT should do more to involve other agencies, such as the police and children’s social services.

In one case, an inspector noted: “The planning to keep a child safe did not involve the young people’s social worker enough. The plan didn’t go far enough in terms of ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the child, so if it was implemented, it would have been unlikely to make a difference.”

Specialist services were under pressure, with children and young people facing 18-week waits for mental health services. Inspectors reported better provision for substance misuse referrals, with most children and young people seen within five days. There was also good support from the YOT and Catch22, a not-for-profit organisation, for those involved in serious organised crime.

While inspectors were pleased to see the YOT had an improvement plan in place, they were less impressed with the poor level of detail to monitor and track progress. The YOT will now use the outcome of this inspection to set out concrete actions.

Dame Glenys said: “Sefton council is going through a period of reorganisation, which will affect many services including the YOT. Staff and partners feel positive about the developments, particularly the opportunities to prevent children and young people coming to the attention of the YOT in the first place.

“I hope this report and our recommendations will help Sefton YOT to make improvements and deliver a more effective youth offending service.”

ENDS

 Notes to editor

  1. The report is available at justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation on Thursday 09 May 00.01.
  2. HM Inspectorate of Probation is the independent inspector of youth offending and probation services. The Inspectorate rates individual aspects and the overall performance of services using a four-point scale: Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement and Inadequate.
  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. Sefton YOT is run by Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council, one of five local authorities in Merseyside.
  5. For media enquiries, please contact Head of Communications Catherine Chan on 07889 405930 or media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address)