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

Chief Inspector of Probation Martin Jones said: “The skilled and knowledgeable staff, managers, and volunteers at Lewisham YJS are passionate about improving outcomes for children, families, and victims. Considerable work has been undertaken by the service since our last inspection.”  

Inspectors were impressed by Lewisham YJS’ TIARRA (trauma-informed, anti-racist, restorative in approach) vision and practice model. This model has enabled trauma-informed, restorative approaches to be embedded across service. This has resulted in a strong commitment to anti-racist practice and addressing of disproportionality which honours the Lewisham community.  

Practice to support desistance was found to be strong and of high-quality. Work to support desistance was supported by collaborative working with children, parents or carers, and partners. Assessing activity for court disposal requires development, as it does not consistently consider all presenting behaviours and factors relating to the safety of children and others. Strengths were seen in the assessing the risks to actual victims, but this work was variable when considering potential or future victims.  

The report also identified that the revision of the partnership board to provide oversight to youth justice and adolescent services has promoted appropriate representation of senior strategic leaders from the statutory sector. If sustained, it will improve outcomes for children, families, and victims. However, the board needs to improve how it analyses, evaluates, and uses performance data. 

Mr Jones added: “Lewisham YJS have a passionate commitment to anti-racist practice, and it is very encouraging to see such improvements in service delivery.” 

The report makes six recommendations. 

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 17 September 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 June 2024.
7. For media enquiries, please contact Head of Communications media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address)