Rotherham Council's youth offending team 'requires improvement' according to prison inspectors

Rotherham Youth Offending Team was inspected by the Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons under the service’s new ‘small YOT’ framework in September 2020.

Three of the 12 standards were deemed to be ‘inadequate’, including organisational delivery, court, and out-of-court disposals.

Rotherham YOT works with children aged 10 to 17 who are serving court sentences, or who have received cautions or community resolutions, and currently has 94 youngsters using its service, 10 of which are looked after children.

However, the report following the inspection found that the quality of work undertaken with repeat offenders was ‘outstanding.’

It also praised the ‘child-centred’ staff for prioritising youngsters and their families, and the service’s commitment to addressing the ‘disproportionate’ number of black, Asian and minority ethnic children known to the service.

Councillor Gordon Watson told a meeting of Rotherham Council’s improving lives select commission: “We were all disappointed with the outcome of requires improvement, but we accept the findings and recommendations, and we’re keen to make the necessary improvements as fast as we can.”

David McWilliams, chair of the Rotherham YAT board told the meeting: “We were a little bit of a guinea pig – there had been three pilots of inspections, and Rotherham was one of two local authorities that were selected to be inspected under the new inspection framework.

“We’ve started to have some really good representation from teachers, and deputies from secondary schools attending on the board, looking at the specific needs of young people in terms of educational outcomes.”

Emma Ellis, service manager of the YOT, added: “The issues that the inspectors found in the case a that they saw were very clearly about recording. So it was about how information was recorded on case files.

“They were very confident in the risk management processes that we have in place.”

Marc Baker, HMIP’s director of operations, thanked the team for their patience during the inspection, and added that staff are “motivated and engage well with the children under their supervision”.

Mr Baker said: “I recognise that parts of this report make for difficult reading – our hope is that our findings and recommendations pinpoint the issues and improve the lives of children under the supervision of Rotherham YOT.”

However, Mr Baker stated that the report outlines an ‘unsatisfactory level of performance’, and that “the team needs to do much more in terms of their leadership, service provision, and joint working”.

“It is also a concern that areas of their work – such as assessments of children who are serving court sentences or being dealt with outside the court system – were rated as ‘inadequate’,” he said.

“The issue here is that children who may pose a high risk of harm to the public are not be being properly assessed, or their needs provided for.”

HMIP made five recommendations to improve the service, one of which is that the management board “better understands the health, education, training and employment provision required for each child known to them”.

In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a digital subscription or buying a paper. We stand together. Nancy Fielder, editor.