Publish date: 15 May 2023
Knowsley Youth Offending Service (YOS) has received an overall rating of ‘Good’ following an inspection by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation.
Our Integrated Health and Wellbeing team at Mersey Care works with local agencies to prevent offending and re-offending by children in Knowsley. We support children to make changes to their behaviours with the overall goal of improving their life chances and ensuring safer communities. Contributing to assessments, planning and interventions with some of the hardest to reach, vulnerable children.
The report states the assessment of children’s needs, which involves tailoring the type of service a child receives to prevent the chances of reoffending, was of a high standard. This work was strengthened by good quality health provision, and services tailored toward supporting victims of crime.
Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said: “Knowsley Youth Offending Service is performing well, and this is to the benefit of the children they supervise and for the protection of the local community. They understand the needs of children and are well supported by Merseyside Police and Knowsley Council. Though improvements are needed – particularly in areas such as education – strong foundations are in place to make the necessary progress.”
The inspection found that leadership at Knowsley YOS is a particular strength, and the report calls the service manager ‘inspirational’ in providing guidance to the youth justice team, support their wellbeing and making them feel valued. This, in turn, is helping staff provide dedicated and compassionate supervision to children with the involvement of their parents or carers.
However, they found that too many children at the YOS have been excluded from school and others aren’t accessing training or employment opportunities – the inspection calls on the Knowsley YOS management board to better understand the cause of this and address it as a priority.
The report makes four recommendations to Knowsley YOS, including that they make sure that the partnership understands the reasons for the over-representation of care-experienced children.
The overall inspection rating was “Good”, but five areas were judged to be “Outstanding” including staff, assessment (both court disposals and out of court disposals), planning, implementation and delivery.
You can find out more about the team here: Knowsley Youth Offending Service