Bristol Youth Offending Team (YOT) should look again at its staffing levels, and do more to support children and young people who have offended to get a sufficient education.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation inspects youth offending and probation services across England and Wales. Inspectors found staff at Bristol YOT were skilled and motivated, but were too stretched to do an effective job. Workloads were “unsustainably high”, leading staff to complete work that was below par.

Inspectors found risk assessments and planning had been rushed or were not completed properly in some cases. This work is crucial to help officers understand whether children and young people pose a risk to themselves or others. Cutting corners could have put individuals and communities in harm’s way.

Inspectors also found too many children and young people who have offended were not receiving sufficient education. Today’s report urges Bristol City Council to make this a priority, as research shows education can help children and young people to move away from further crime and antisocial behaviour.

The Inspectorate has given Bristol YOT an overall rating of ‘requires improvement’ – the second-lowest of four scores.

Chief Inspector of Probation Dame Glenys Stacey said: “Staff and managers at Bristol YOT were trying hard to deliver a high-quality service for children and young people who have offended. However, their efforts were severely hampered because they did not have enough staff.

“Heavy workloads put pressure on every aspect of youth offending work. In some of the cases we looked at, staff did not address safety and wellbeing concerns, pay enough attention to victims’ needs or record vital information.

“For youth offending work to be effective, staff need to build trusting, challenging and supportive relationships with the children and young people they supervise.
We found staff had a clear desire to build these relationships but were frustrated that their workloads sometimes limited them from doing so.

“We recommend Bristol YOT looks at their resources to make sure they have the right staffing in place to support children and young people to change.”

The inspection focussed on three key areas: the organisation’s leadership and delivery of its services; work with children and young people dealt with by the courts; and work with those dealt with out of court, such as receiving a caution.

The Inspectorate’s report makes eight recommendations including recommending the YOT’s management board plays a stronger role in holding the YOT and its partners to account for its performance.

 

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Notes to editors:

1. The report is available at justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation at 00.01 on Thursday 27 September 2018.
2. HM Inspectorate of Probation is the independent inspector of youth offending and probation services in England and Wales.
3. We inspect services against published standards. We use a four-point scale to rate specific aspects of the service’s work and to give the service an overall rating. The ratings are: Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement and Inadequate.
4. Fieldwork for the Bristol YOT inspection took place in July 2018.
5. For media enquiries please contact Catherine Chan, Head of Communications, on 07889 405930 or media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address)