Stockport Youth Justice Service (YJS) has received an overall rating of ‘Requires improvement’ following an inspection by HM Inspectorate of Probation.

Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said: “Despite the overall rating of ‘Requires improvement’, we did see positive work with children who have been involved in crime in Stockport and efforts to deter them from committing further offences. However, they must improve how they manage children at risk of exploitation and those not attending full-time education.”

The inspection found Stockport YJS needs to be more consistent when working with children who have been through the court system, particularly in supporting their safety and wellbeing. In addition, inspectors noted that too many of the YJS’ children had been excluded from school and reversing this should be made a priority.

However, we found the service has high quality prevention and diversion programmes in place for children and has a good health provision which includes a medical screening for each child at the YJS. We also inspected the quality of resettlement – arrangements for when children are released from custody – which was separately rated as ‘Good’.

The report makes seven recommendations to Stockport YJS, including that they should improve how they share information with local police forces, boost school attendance, and have arrangements in place to capture the views of children under their supervision and their families.

ENDS

Notes to editor

1. 1. Stockport YJS works with children aged 10 to 17. The majority of children under their supervision are aged 15 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). It also rated the quality of resettlement work as ‘Good’.
   4. The report is available on the HM Inspectorate of Probation website on 01 November 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 July 2022.
   7. For media enquiries, please contact Head of Communications Diane Bramall media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address)