Youth offending teams (YOTs) are signalling their readiness to take on the biggest change in their working practice since their creation over a decade ago.
Above: Young person and their YOT worker filling out an Asset form. The Scaled Approach will improve the opportunities for targeting the right resources to the right young people. Posed by models.
Reports received by the Youth Justice Board (YJB) indicate that YOTs are on schedule and working hard locally in preparation for the implementation of the Scaled Approach, now only two months away.
The Scaled Approach is a new approach that matches the intensity of YOTs’ work with young people who have offended to their likelihood of reoffending and risk of serious harm to others.
The model was developed by the YJB in partnership with YOTs and following external consultation. It supports the Government's new Youth Rehabilitation Order (YRO) and both will be introduced in November 2009.
Over 4,000 YOT staff are now being trained online to ensure that the Scaled Approach is successfully deployed.
87 per cent believed they had the right support from the YJB to get the Scaled Approach successfully up and running in line with the YRO.
Around 500 YOT staff are receiving support in the YJB’s two-day briefing events on the changes, and what they mean in practice.
Both IT suppliers (CACI and Careworks) for the systems that help YOTs and the YJB make better use of the data they already hold, have now provided the YJB with letters of intent. This provides further assurance that the necessary changes to IT will be delivered to YOTs.
Frances Done, Chair of the YJB, said:
“There are great strides being made to prepare YOTs for the implementation of the Scaled Approach. With well attended briefing events and over 4000 YOT staff now being trained online, more staff than ever are now aware of the changes, and what they mean in practice. Crucially, 87% now believe that they have the right support from the YJB to get the Scaled Approach successfully up and running in line with the Government’s new Youth Rehabilitation Order.”
Mary Duff, Chair of the Youth Courts Committee at the Magistrates Association, said:
"Magistrates have welcomed the informative briefings from their local YOTs over recent months and appreciate the Scaled Approach's potential to encourage wiser use of YOT resources. This new way of working will challenge YOTs to ensure that the Scaled Approach and their risk assessment produces realistic recommendations for sentencers that are also in line with offence seriousness. This is a real opportunity to improve the quality of assessments and a good relationship between youth court magistrates and YOTs are essential."
Mike Thomas, Chair of the Association of YOT Managers, said:
“It is only right that resources are targeted at those who most need them and this is the basic principle behind the Scaled Approach. It underlines how important the assessment process is in targeting appropriate levels of intervention. The training provided by the YJB has been very well received. The challenge now is to put it into practice and ensure that young people and their families - together with the courts - fully understand the new process.”
Ends.
Notes to editors
- The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (YJB) oversees the youth justice system in England and Wales. We work to prevent offending and reoffending by children and young people under the age of 18, and to ensure that custody for them is safe, secure, and addresses the causes of their offending behaviour.
- Specifically, we advise the Secretaries of State for Justice and for Children, Schools and Families on the operation of, and standards for, the youth justice system; monitor the performance of the youth justice system; purchase places for, and place, children and young people remanded or sentenced to custody; identify and promote effective practice; make grants to local authorities or other bodies to support the development of effective practice; commission research and publish information.
- The survey of YOTs asking them about the anticipated benefits from the Scaled Approach was conducted online in July 2009. 97% of YOTs responded.
- Wiring Up Youth Justice was developed by the Youth Justice Board in 2006/07 and started a year later as a three year programme to deliver change within the youth justice system using information and communications technology (ICT). In particular, the programme has focussed on improving information-sharing, ensuring that a variety of different bodies – including youth offending teams (YOTs), the secure estate, the police and private providers – can exchange information about young people securely, accurately and efficiently. For further information, please visit: www.wiringupyouthjustice.info
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