Oldham Youth Offending Service making good progress

Oldham Youth Offending Service making good progress

Oldham Youth Offending Service (YOS) were recently subject to an inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation in July this year.

The findings which have now been published conclude that ‘significant progress’ has been implemented in the period leading up to the inspection and all areas were rated either ‘adequate’ or ‘good’

Each of the nine areas is given a score ranging from 1 “Inadequate” to 4 “Excellent”. Oldham YOS has no judgements of “inadequate”, three areas being graded as 3 – “Good” and six areas graded as 2 – “Adequate”. The report contains around 300 statements, based on the inspection findings, and, of these, 240 are positive.

The Inspection Team spent five days in Oldham assessing the service and the process covers five main areas with nine separate judgements made these are:

Work in the courts (2)

Work with children and young people in the community

children and young people at risk of offending (3)

children and young people who have offended (2)

parents/carers (2)

outcomes of work with children and young people in the community (2)

Work with children and young people subject to custodial sentences (2)

Victims and restorative justice and (3) Management and leadership (3)

The report following the inspection highlighted good working practice as well as areas where improvements need to be made.

Andrew Bridges, HM Chief Inspector of Probation said “Significant changes had been implemented in the YOS in the period leading up to the inspection. These included improvements in the organisation’s performance management arrangements and staff skills developments. The YOS had seen its performance steadily improve over time and the introduction of a ‘risk led approach’ helped to ensure resources were targeted on Risk of Serious Harm, likelihood of reoffending and safeguarding issues. We found an organisational culture that was focused on effective engagement with children and young people. The Board, managers and staff were keen to improve further their services by addressing the recommendations in this report.”

Highlights included: · A broad range of interventions were available to support children and young people in accessing health and education services. ·

• Oldham YOS had developed a specialist resettlement team which supported the Prolific and other Priority Offenders’ Strategy. ·
•  Co-location with education and health services helped to ensure that employment, training and education could be integrated into release plans. There was also fast track access to YOS health services.
• School places were kept open for children and young people who were in secure or custodial establishments.
• The restorative justice team had developed a range of projects to provide opportunities for non-direct work for the benefit of the community. · O
• Oldham YOS had a dedicated victim inclusion officer who used a variety of methods to promote the engagement of victims. This included an introductory session which explained the services on offer.
• Head of Oldham Youth Offending Service, Penny Sharland commented ‘‘I am delighted that the Inspectorate has recognised the contribution the Youth Offending Service has made to reducing youth crime and preventing young people from committing anti-social behaviour. We have achieved a lot in three years and there is still more to do. I think the Inspectorate recognised our excellent work with the victims of youth crime and the ways in which we use restorative justice approaches to bring home the consequences of their crimes to young people. I want to commend my staff and volunteers for their hard work. It has clearly paid off with Oldham receiving a more positive inspection result than our neighbours in Bury and Tameside’