Westmorland and Furness 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: “Despite its ‘Requires improvement’ rating, Westmoreland and Furness YJS has made impressive progress since its establishment in 2023. The service is being guided by an inspirational manager and a knowledgeable board chair, who have prioritised staff wellbeing during a period of massive organisational change, and staff are committed to achieving the best for the children they work with.”

The report found gaps in partnership services, with limited healthcare provision and no seconded or specialist mental health service worker linked to the service. This resulted in too many children not having their emotional and wellbeing needs met. Inspectors also found case managers having to advocate for children and bridge gaps in partnership provision to ensure children received the support they needed.

Some high-quality work was found in the assessing, planning and delivery of interventions to support children’s desistance. However, there were inconsistencies in the assessment and planning work for children subject to out-of-court disposals, where the potential risks to keeping other people safe were sufficiently analysed in only a quarter of the cases inspected and sufficiently planned for in one third of the cases inspected.

Mr Jones continued: “While I am sure the service will be disappointed with their overall rating; it is still a maturing organisation and one we found to have a clear vision and strategy for the future. We trust that the recommendations made in our report will assist the service as it continues its development journey.”

The Inspectorate’s report makes eight recommendations, including one for the chair of the Westmorland and Furness management board to develop its members’ knowledge and understanding of the youth justice context to drive service developments, and four for the YJS management board, including to improve the healthcare provision for YJS children.

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 04 March 2025 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 December 2024.
7. For media enquiries, please contact Head of Communications: media@hmiprobation.gov.uk (E-mail address)