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

Chief Inspector of Probation Martin Jones said: “We found lots of impressive work at Doncaster YJS, including pleasing examples of efforts to promote desistance with children. However, practice to keep other people safe was not effective and it is essential that the service addresses this as a priority.”

Inspectors were impressed with the “exceptional” health offer at Doncaster YJS which provides children with access to several in-house specialist services including speech, language and communication needs, substance misuse, a counsellor, forensic psychology, and systemic family therapy. These services are effective in supporting the neurodiversity, mental and emotional health needs of YJS children.

The report found work for children dealt with by the courts (court disposals) to be an area requiring improvement for the service. Whilst assessments of desistance were of a high-quality, with practitioners taking a balanced and holistic analysis of the child and their circumstances, information from partner agencies was not used or examined effectively to inform analysis of future behaviour. In many cases, potential adverse outcomes such as exploitation, substance misuse and emotional harm had not been fully explored. These gaps in assessments meant that the nature and context in which future harm could occur had not been recognised and there was an underestimation of concerns.

Mr Jones added “Staff at Doncaster YJS are highly motivated, passionate and are committed to their work with children. However, further work is needed to improve the risk of harm practice for practitioners, managers, and the management board.”

The report makes six recommendations, including to review and expand the offer for victims to ensure their voices are consistently heard and to conduct an immediate review and redevelop risk of harm management processes.

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 12 July 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 March 2024.
7. For media enquiries, please contact Head of Communications media@hmiprobation.gov.uk