Youth Offending Services in Milton Keynes receive Good rating

The Youth Offending Service (YOS) for Milton Keynes has received a Good rating.

The service was inspected and rated as part of a four-year programme with three recommendations made to improve the service.

The Milton Keynes Youth Offending Team (YOT) was assessed across three broad areas of its work including arrangements for organisational delivery of the service, the quality of work done with children sentenced by the courts, and the quality of out-of-court disposal work.

Overall, Milton Keynes YOT was rated as ‘Good' despite the inspection coinciding with significant changes to management and leadership.

The report stated: "As a result of our inspection findings, we have made three recommendations that we believe, if implemented, will have a positive impact on the quality of youth offending services in Milton Keynes.

"This will improve the lives of the children in contact with youth offending services, and better protect the public.

The Milton Keynes Youth Offending Team should:

1. Review the way in which victims of crime are contacted and supported so that their expressed wishes are respected and that planning to keep them safe is effective. The Milton Keynes management board should:

2. Provide safe and confidential premises for children and staff to meet and undertake necessary work. The National Probation Service should:

3. Recruit a probation officer to be deployed in the youth offending service.

The report also stated the management board had a clear and shared vision for children, but a more detailed understanding of how the YOT works would assist with decision making for the future.

It further stated work with children who are subject to court orders was sound, based on good, insightful assessments, clear planning and access to a wide range of support and interventions. Changes in the child’s life, offending and risk to others were identified quickly and responded to effectively.

One area of concern however was that work was sometimes undermined by the lack of safe and confidential spaces to work with children.

The report descries how out-of-court disposal work focuses on diverting children from involvement with criminal justice services at the earliest possible stage and helping them desist from offending.

A wide range of support is used to support children and give them better chances to achieve and attain. The service is prepared to develop and use different approaches to support children who are trying to deal with some significant negative life experiences.

However, planning to protect victims was inadequate, it found. The approach to victims is underdeveloped and does not always respect their expressed wishes or put their safety on an equal footing with the safety of the child.

Youth offending teams (YOTs) supervise 10–18 year olds who have been sentenced by a court, or who have come to the attention of the police because of their offending behaviour but have not been charged