Content

Introduction from Chief Inspector of Probation
About this guide
Who is this guide for
How should it be used?
A note on inspections
What children tell us about their experience of youth justice practice
The aim of the youth justice system and legislative framework

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Introduction from Chief Inspector of Probation

Over the past two years, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation has inspected over 2,250 individual cases against our standards for effective youth justice work. Based on that extensive dataset and individual feedback from our team of inspectors, we now have very good evidence of what the effective delivery of those quality standards looks like in practice, which we are keen to share with youth justice services.

This guide is designed for youth justice practitioners and those who support their development.

The capacity to be reflective, learn from experience and look for ways to improve are key qualities of good youth justice practitioners. This guide shares examples found by inspectors that illustrate what effective practice with court-ordered cases looks like against our standards and key questions. We want to show where inspectors observe work delivered well through engaging with children and families and supporting them to change their behaviour so that there is a reduced likelihood of children committing further crime. The practice examples for this effective practice guide have been drawn from a wide range of inspected cases to demonstrate how they apply across the whole youth justice caseload.

Our effective practice guides are designed for use within a wider framework of guidance, quality management, oversight and evaluation of services, practice and performance. We hope they will encourage a continuous process of evaluation and improvement to take place.

Justin Russell
HM Chief Inspector of Probation

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About this guide

HM Inspectorate of Probation is committed to promoting effective practice across youth justice services so that work with children and families has as much impact as possible. We have collated examples of case management practice for this effective practice guide. We have illustrated these so that the reader is clear why they meet our researched-based inspection standards, and we have added a section to prompt the reader to apply the learning in each case.

We believe that identifying effective practice is crucial in developing and improving practitioners’ understanding about what inspectors look for in youth justice practice.

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Who is it for?

This is a digital handbook, accessible in short modules, for practitioners who manage post-court cases in the youth justice system. The modules describe the features of effective practice in assessment, planning, implementation and delivery of interventions, and reviewing.

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How should it be used?

This handbook can be used for evidence-based self-assessment, practice development and quality assurance. It can also be used as part of a service’s preparation for inspection, for action-planning after inspection or for general learning and training. Services can benchmark their own practice against inspection requirements using our published standards.

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A note on inspections

HM Inspectorate Probation’s youth standards for case management, which underpin this effective practice guide, were designed to provide a single, shared view of good-quality services. They apply equally across the whole Youth Offending Team (YOT) caseload, regardless of organisational structures.

Since the start of the current inspection programme, which began in the summer of 2018, HM Inspectorate of Probation has inspected over 2,250 YOT cases (1,900 of which had a practitioner present). We inspect a sample of cases that commenced their supervision six months previously. It is important to recognise that our inspection case examples focus on work undertaken within this six-month period only.

The four standards for inspection of case management follow the ASPIRE model, focusing on the quality of assessment, planning, implementation and review.

Within each standard, we assess the work to address desistance, to keep children safe and to keep other people safe. For the purpose of this practice guide, we have organised our findings and examples to demonstrate what good looks like for each of these areas of work.

HM Inspectorate of Probation ensures that inspectors inspect consistently. Inspectors assess the quality of YOT work by following our ‘Probation inspection domain two Case Assessment Rules and Guidance’ (2019).

The rules and guidance are based on international and national youth justice practice and research, and are designed to set high standards to assess quality. We recognise that there is no ‘one size fits all’. Practice needs to be tailored to the individual circumstances of the child and their family, relying on the local services and opportunities that are available.

Our key principle is that we inspect the quality of work overall. We do not require YOTs to use any specific assessment or planning tool, but instead judge the quality of case management as a whole.

This guide has been designed to support and encourage youth justice practitioners to develop their skills and enhance their effectiveness by providing case illustrations that demonstrate effective practice. The examples have been gathered from a range of inspection records from our YOT inspections during 2018-2020 (pre-Covid-19). They have been combined and presented in a way that will help practitioners to understand what effective practice looks like against our published standards and key questions.

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What children tell us about their experience of youth justice practice

We consulted with a number of children who had previously been subject to YOT supervision. We wanted to seek and understand their perspective on effective practice. Here is some of what they told us.

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The aim of the youth justice system and legislative framework

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