Redbridge Youth Justice and Targeted Prevention Service (YJTPS) has received an overall rating of ‘Requires improvement’ following an inspection by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation.

The service was inspected and rated across three broad areas: the arrangements for organisational delivery of the service, the quality of work done with children sentenced by the courts, and the quality of out-of-court disposal work. The quality of resettlement policy and provision was also inspected and separately rated as ‘Requires improvement’.

Chief Inspector of Probation, Martin Jones CBE said: “Redbridge YJTPS has many of the components needed to deliver high-quality youth justice services, and staff and volunteers are highly motivated, passionate and dedicated to improving outcomes for children. However, the Service needs to focus on immediate improvement to ensure all current and new risks to and from children are identified and appropriately responded to.”

The Inspectorate’s report highlighted the Service’s strong relationships with a wide range of partners which enhanced service delivery, its clear focus on securing appropriate education and training for children, and the valuable support available for staff in terms of professional development and progression. It also raised the need for the management board to have greater oversight of operational practice to ensure it is consistently of high-quality, robust, and reflects the direction of the strategic partnership.

Desistance practice was noted as a strength across the Service’s assessment and planning activities and in the delivery of interventions. This was particularly evident in the work with children who were given out-of-court disposals.

However, this was not found to be the case for work to keep children and other people safe, and there were also shortfalls in recognising and responding to the safety of actual and potential victims, which need to be address across all aspects of work delivered by the service.

Mr Jones added: “It is evident Redbridge YJTPS values the voices of children and families, there is strong strategic commitment to addressing disproportionality across the partnership and, in terms of casework, we saw some examples of high-quality, culturally sensitive approaches. However, the offer for victims also needs to be strengthened and mechanisms need to be developed to ensure victims’ views are heard and responded to strategically.”

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).
4. The report is available on the HM Inspectorate of Probation website on 10 May 2024 at 00.01.
5. HM Inspectorate of Probation is the independent inspector of youth justice and probation services across England and Wales.
6. Fieldwork for this inspection took place in February 2024.
7. For media enquiries, please contact Head of Communications media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address)