Youth justice service inadequate, inspectors rule

Inspectors have found "significant weaknesses" in the care of children in the justice system.

Bradford Youth Justice Service received an "inadequate" rating after an inspection from His Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation, which made nine recommendations to improve the service.

Bradford Youth Justice Service (YJS) works with children and young people aged 10 to 17 who have broken the law, or are at risk of doing so, and is run by the Bradford Children and Families Trust.

Charlotte Ramsden, chief executive of the trust, described the report as "disappointing" and said the organisation was taking the findings "seriously".

The report said while staff were committed to supporting children they faced excessive workloads, high levels of sickness absence and vacancies, and inconsistency in practice.

Recommendations included improving the quality and depth of assessing, planning, and delivery work to keep children and communities safe.

Chief inspector of probation, Martin Jones, said inspectors, who visited in June and in August, said they were not confident the YJS was able to keep children and communities safe.

He said a "whole-system response from all partners" was needed to improve the service.

"Risks to children and others were not analysed consistently, responsive planning was weak, and management oversight was significantly variable, leaving too many children with unmet safety and wellbeing needs," he said.

"Inspectors found significant weaknesses in the ability of the YJS to keep children and communities safe, and that governance and partnership arrangements had not provided sufficient oversight or challenge to drive improvements in frontline practice. This required urgent attention."

The trust said work was under way to improve multi-agency working, quality assurance, analysis and management oversight.

It said it was also investing in staffing and workforce development.

"We are determined to learn from these findings, work at pace with all our statutory partners and deliver the changes needed to strengthen practice, keep children safe, reduce re-offending and create safer communities," said Ramsden.

"Our partners have given us statements of commitment that give us confidence in our collective ability to deliver our plan."

Bradford YJS is made up of representatives from agencies including the police, Probation Service, Bradford Children and Families Trust, Bradford District Care Trust and the education sector.

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