Cardiff Youth Justice Service (YJS) has received an overall rating of ‘Requires improvement’ following a joint inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation and inspectors from police, health, social care and education.

This was a reinspection of the service, after they received an ‘Inadequate’ rating in 2020. The Inspectorate uses a four-point scale: ‘Outstanding’, ‘Good’, ‘Requires improvement’ and ‘Inadequate’.

Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said: “Cardiff YJS is making progress and have made considerable efforts to address the issues we found in 2020. They are now better equipped, in key areas, to deal with the needs of children under their supervision, improve their lives, and protect the local community. While a rating of ‘Requires improvement’ means they still have some way to go, Cardiff YJS is showing signs that they can, and will, continue to develop.”

Inspectors found that Cardiff YJS took a committed approach to making improvements since 2020, and staff at the service spoke of how the last two years have been a positive, albeit challenging, experience for all involved. The report notes that the service now has better governance from senior leaders, who have undertaken a comprehensive restructure and committed additional resources across the YJS partnership. There is a new operational management team, and the service has filled vacancies in key positions.

There have also been improvements to services for YJS children, with better joint working across many of the key statutory agencies and organisations. This has resulted in good quality work within out-of-court disposal cases and resettlement. The YJS have now secured funding for a speech and language specialist to work with the service.

The report makes seven recommendations, encouraging the YJS to focus attention on improving the quality of court disposal casework, supporting the leadership team to drive service improvement and to ensure staff are clear on health pathways, so that children are referred to timely, appropriate, and quality health services.

ENDS

Notes to editor

1. Cardiff YJS work with children aged 10 to 17. The majority of children under their supervision are aged 15 to 17 (74%), male (95%) and white (67%). 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 ‘Good’.
4. The report is available on the HM Inspectorate of Probation website on 02 August 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 January 2022.
7. For media enquiries, please contact Head of Communications, Diane Bramall media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address)