waltham forest yos strategic plan 2019 -20 · the development of a youth and family resilience...

Waltham Forest YOS Strategic Plan 2019 -20

Waltham Forest YOS 2019-20 Priorities

1. Foreword

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2. Waltham Forest YOS 2019-20 Priorities

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3. Resourcing, Value for Money and Risks

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4. Structures and Governance

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5. Partnership Arrangements

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6. Performance Management

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7. Outcomes against the 3 National Indicators:

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I. Reducing First Time Entrants

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II. Reducing Reoffending

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III. Reducing the Use of Custody

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8. Outcomes against Local Priority Areas:

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I. Effective Safeguarding

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II. Use of Restorative Justice

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III. The Violence Reduction Partnership P16

9. Feedback from Service Users

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10. Management Board Signatures

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Appendix A – Waltham Forest YOS Budget Plan Appendix A1 – YJB grant breakdown

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Appendix B – Waltham Forest YOS Staffing Appendix B1 – Governance Structure Apprndix B2 – Glossary or terms

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2019-20 Youth Justice Strategic Plan Page 4

Welcome to the 2019-2020 Waltham Forest Youth Justice Strategic Plan which provides an overview of the Youth Offending Service in Waltham Forest and sets out details of performance over the past year and our priorities for the forthcoming year. In Waltham Forest we continue to work together with key partners; the Police, Children’s Services, Health Services, Probation, Community Safety and both voluntary and private sector providers, to deliver high quality and effective services to children, young people, their families, the victims of offending and the wider community. The Youth Offending Service has a key role to play by:

Helping to prevent offending and diverting young people away from the criminal justice system, where appropriate.

Reducing reoffending and the use of custody

Playing a pivotal role in the delivery of the new Violence Reduction Partnership

Contributing to multi-agency public protection and safeguarding

Adopting a whole family approach

Improving the life chances of children in our borough.

There have been significant challenges for Waltham Forest Youth Offending Service in the last year. The continued rise in youth violence has been felt by the whole of London, and in Waltham Forest this increase in violence, aligned with the increase in possession of weapons has had a devastating impact on the lives of some of our young people and their families. We are determined to tackle this violence and exploitation by adopting a public health approach to improve the life chances of our young people and ensuring this is the central priority of our strategic partnership. Of note 2018/2019:

Waltham Forest Youth Offending Service have provided additional resources in the form of two new adolescent at risk workers following the publication and recommendations of the London South Bank University study into the current profile of gang activity within the borough.

The implementation of the Adolescent Safeguarding practice guidance took place, which assisted with and promoted contextual safeguarding within practitioners work.

Waltham Forest Youth Offending Service has played a pivotal role in the initial development stages of the boroughs new Violence Reduction Partnership (VRP), which is aiming to deliver a public health approach to collectively reduce violence in the borough.

The London Borough of Waltham Forest’s strategy to improve the life chances for young people was informed by Young People known to the YOS and has renewed the focus on children out of the mainstream provision. The partnership contributions will largely remain the same in 2019-20. The YOS Management Board and Service will prioritise frontline services as we acknowledge that this is the foundation of quality interventions. It is a credit to the staff that the quality of practice continues to be high as reflected in the last 2 HMIP inspections and the recent OFSTED inspection of Children’s Services, which rated us as “good” with “outstanding” in leadership. In 2019-20 the main YOS priorities will include:

Continuing to focus on the National and Local Indicators including seeking to address the increase in knife offences.

The development of a youth and family resilience service, which will provide responses to children struggling in education because of issues of attendance, behaviour and exclusion (currently the BACME service) and Youth Offending and Gangs Prevention team under a single management structure. Playing a pivotal role in the delivery of a public health approach to collectively reduce violence in the borough by embedding the VRP.As always, the Management Board is extremely grateful for the skill and dedication of our youth offending service team and partners in supporting children and young people who are offending and at risk of offending in Waltham Forest. On behalf of the Management Board I am pleased to present the Youth Justice Strategic Plan for


2019-20. Cllr Grace Williams, Chair of Waltham Forest YOS Management Board and Cabinet Member for Children, Young

People and Families

The following priorities have been identified by the YOS Partnership for the next 12 months:

1. Development of a new Youth and Family Resilience (YFR) Service to enable coordinated responses to children struggling in education because of issues of attendance, behaviour and exclusion (currently the BACME service), Youth Offending and Gangs Prevention team under an aligned management structure. This service will have functional links to the Early Help and Children Social Care service to ensure alignment in practice and approach to adolescent safeguarding. This Youth and Family Resilience Service would continue to focus on whole-family,clinically-led and trauma-informed practice and would seek to develop more integrated service delivery, in line with the relational and contextual imperatives of the Safeguarding Adolescents Practice Guidance. It is anticipated that the new Youth and Family Resilience Service will therefore provide a one-stop shop for children and young people who often have multiple and over-lapping needs.

2. Ensuring that there continues to be clear mechanisms to enable the voice of children and young people to be integral to service delivery within the YOS to ultimately improve the life chances of children in our borough. Continue also to embed Waltham Forest’s commitment to “Children First, offenders second” culture, managed through a “trauma-informed” and contextual safeguarding approach to understanding youth crime.

3. Ensure reducing reoffending underpins all of the operational and strategic work of the YOS, whilst maintaining a strong drive on reducing first time entrants into the youth offending service and reducing the number of young people entering custody. Tackling knife crime in addition to implementing a public health approach to collectively reduce violence in the borough through the violence reduction partnership will be instrumental in this priority.

4. Embed the continued focus on screening/assessing young people in Police custody to determine whether they require support with any emotional mental health or social needs by mobilising the new Mental Health First Aid Training programme.

5. Strengthen our Out Of Court Disposal (OOCD) process and introduce a robust scrutiny mechanism to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the OOCD panel process. To also achieve demonstrable improvements in Restorative Justice delivery and outcomes.

6. Embedding our multi-agency working to focus on achieving a whole family approach to understanding and responding to the complex needs of the young people with whom the partnership are working. This will include a specific focus on all areas of exploitation e.g. child criminal exploitation, child sexual exploitation, children missing from education, radicalisation and gang affected children that cross geographical areas.

7. Given the correlation between Persistent Absence (PA) and exclusions from school with risk of offending and being exploited, a specific focus on improving

school / post 16 attendance and reducing exclusion rates for our YOS cohort. This should be facilitated by the implementation of the new YFR Service above.


FIRST TIME ENTRANTS: The rate of young people entering the youth justice system has reduced by 103 (20%) compared to the same period last year. This figure represents a return to similar levels seen in periods to Sept 15 and 16 following a relatively steep increase to Sept 17. Whilst there has been a significant improvement from the same period 16/17 this is a higher rate than both London and our YOS family averages, which are 306 and 360 respectively. There continues to be a focus on the whole family approach and partnership with the Police to consult on cases to ensure that where appropriate, children and young people receive Out Of Court (OOC) Disposals. This includes Community Resolution disposals which are unpinned by restorative justice principles. Priorities for 2019-20: Implementation of a new OOC policy and action plan will be implemented in 19/20. Also the introduction of a new YFR Service will support identifying children at risk in order to intervene earlier to prevent offending taking place.

REOFFENDING RATES: LBWF’s reoffending rate in 16/17 remained the same as 15/16 at 45%. This figure of 45% is in line with London average, which is also 45%. When looking at our YOS family we are slightly above the average of 43%. As we are aware knife crime in the borough is a cause for concern. A recent Ministry Of Justice (MOJ) report published in June 2018 “Examining the Educational Background of Young Knife Possession Offenders” found that of those knife possession offenders who offended prior to the end of KS4, approximately 85% have had at least one fixed period exclusion from school at some point. 83% of knife possession offenders were persistently absent from school in at least one of the 5 academic years from 2008/09 to 2012/13. Priorities for 2019-20: The YOS is committed to reducing the overall numbers of young people reoffending. A core element of this is ensuring that young people are fully engaged and attending full time education, training or employment (ETE). Therefore the introduction of the new YFR Service will be pivotal in 19/20 as will the Violence Reduction Partnership, in delivering a public health approach to collectively reducing violence in the borough.

RATES OF CUSTODY: HM Inspectorate of Prisons Children in Custody 2017–18 report found that they could not classify any STC or YOI as safe enough to hold children. Given these increased risks posed by children going into custody, Waltham Forest has been working tirelessly to increase our performance in this area.

Oct 14 - Sep15

Oct 15 - Sep16

Oct 16 - Sep17

Oct 17 - Sep18

Series1 447 374 522 419

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

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Waltham Forest FTE Rate Per 100,000

Apr 13 - Mar14

Apr 14 - Mar15

Apr 15 - Mar16

Apr 16 - Mar17

Series1 47% 48% 45% 45%

44%44%45%45%46%46%47%47%48%48%49%

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Waltham Forest Reoffending Rate


Waltham Forest has seen a significant decrease in the use of custody from 1.09 per 1,000 of population in 2017 to 0.40 per 1,000 of population in 2018, reflecting a 75% reduction. This has been an impressive performance in light of the generally increasing custody rates and places our performance above London averages of 0.51 and YOS family average of 0.73. It should be noted, however that as the numbers are relatively small. 16/17 = 28 and 17/18 =16 Small changes can skew performance. There was an increase in the number of young people who were remanded from 16/17 =10 and 17/18 =26

The YOS continues to take a number of steps to reduce the need for custodial sentences. Firstly via a proactive and positive relationship with Court staff, a dedicated bail and remand worker, who supports us being able to demonstrate young people’s ability to comply with robust orders in the community. Finally Waltham Forest has a specialist team of practitioners who provide a rigorous ISS programme, which is well regarded by the Courts Priorities for 2019-29: In 2019-20 the YOS will continue to focus on the racial disparity in the custodial cohort. This will be a core element of the YOS action plan along with addressing the correlation with low attendance and engagement with ETE and offending and the high numbers of excluded children who are also disproportionality represented.

Future Risks to Delivery First Time Entrants

Waltham Forest remains committed to reducing the number of First Time Entrants, as evidenced in this year’s figures and our plans to introduce a new family and resilience service to intervene earlier in emerging risks. However, the increase in serious youth violence is likely to continue to increase the FTE rate in Waltham Forest.

The changing threshold for out of court disposals is a risk to FTE numbers also and the local partnership must remain committed to informal restorative solutions to emerging problematic behaviour.

Investment in the continuation of the Government’s Troubled Families programme or successor has not been agreed Reoffending Rates

Whilst the number of young people subject to statutory orders has significantly reduced over recent years the current cohort invariably have very complex risks and needs. With the increase in serious youth violence there is a risk that this will directly impact on reoffending rates.

Investment in the continuation of the Government’s Troubled Families programme or successor has not been agreed Rates of Custody

Although Waltham Forest has low numbers of young people in custody, small fluctuations can cause large percentage increases. With the changes to the offensive weapons legislation, which has emphasises on custodial sentences this may result in further increases in the custody rate.

Investment in the continuation of the Government’s Troubled Families programme or successor has not been agreed

Jan 15 - Dec 15 Jan 16 - Dec 16 Jan 17 - Dec 17 Jan 18 -Dec 18

Series1 0.91 0.90 1.09 0.40

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Waltham Forest Custody Per 1,000 Population

Resourcing, Value for Money and Risks

YOS Partnership contributions are essential to the effective running of the multi-agency Youth Offending Service.

Partner Contributions 2018 -2019 Staffing Costs (£) Payments in Kind (£) Other Delegated Funds (£) Total (£) Police 100,000 100,000

Police Crime Commissioner 58,500 58,500

Probation 45,000 45,000

Health 45,000 45,000

Local Authority 500,141 500,141

YJB Youth Justice Grant 409,700 409,700

Other 180,000 180,000

TOTAL 190,000 0 1,148,341 1,388,341

Budgetary Summary for 2018-19 The YOS Partnership will fund the Youth Offending Service for 2019/2020 as detailed above, with the changes summarised as follows:

Funding from the Police, Health and Probation will remains the same this

year.

Contribution from Troubled Families and Community Safety also remains

the same.

The Youth Justice Board grant is yet to be confirmed for 2019/2020.

Assuming however, that the grant remains consistent, the breakdown of

expenditure can be found in Appendix A. See Appendix B for details of

staffing within the YOS.

There has been additional allocation of funding from Waltham Forest Local

Authority in relation to the Gang’s Prevention Programme. 2 X Adolescent

at risk officers have been appointed.

In total the overall budget for 2019/20 is £1,388,300

The YOS Demonstrating Value for Money The YOS was able to stay within budget during 2018/19. Waltham Forest has adopted a range of partnership initiatives to ensure the YOS can demonstrate value for money. These include the following:-

The Early Help Division’s commitment to intervene at the earliest available opportunity, to reduce the likelihood of escalation into high cost acute services in the future.

The borough has and will be utilising a number of accredited and evidence based programmes such as Functional Family Therapy (FFT) which have a research proven cost benefit ratio.

Risks

There is limited scope to respond to any unexpected financial demands.

Waltham Forest currently ranks as the 35th most deprived borough in the Country and the GLA predicts the population of 5-15 years olds in the borough will exceed both London and National projections by increasing 9%. Clearly if this increase materialises then the additional pressure on services in Waltham Forest including the YOS will need to be managed accordingly.

Structures and Governance

The Youth Justice Service sits within the Youth Crime and Gangs sub-board of the Community Safety Partnership, known locally as “Safety Net”. Youth Crime and Gangs assumes the statutory role of the YOT Management Board. The YOT Management Board is the strategic partnership body that oversees the local delivery of responsibilities under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 for Youth Justice Services. The YOT Management Board is responsible for the governance of the service and monitors and challenges the functions and performance of the YOS, this part of the meeting is chaired by Cabinet Member, Cllr Grace Williams.

What the Board does to ensure effective governance: The YOT Management Board is chaired by the

cabinet member for Children and Young People to ensure the most rigorous of oversight of service delivery.

The Board convenes quarterly, enabling the close monitoring of YOS performance against both National and Local Indicators.

Oversees the effective delivery of YOS by monitoring the implementation of the annual Youth Justice Strategic Plan and action plan.

Diligently monitors the YOS annual spending against the forecasted budget to ensure that all core YOS services are delivered on budget and in accordance with the Youth Justice Board’s grant conditions.

Ensures that membership of the board is at an appropriately senior level with statutory partners in regular attendance.

Key Outcomes for 2019-2020: Ensure the YOS 2019-20 Youth Justice Strategic Plan

is fully implemented as agreed.

Specifically in relation to :-

A 2% reduction in First Time Entrants into the Criminal Justice System.

Re-offending rates for young offenders to be no more than 40%.

Attendance rates in ETE to be at least 90%.

Use of custody to be reduced and bed nights to be reduced by 4% on 18-19 figures.

80% of YOS cases reviewed in QA to be rated as ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’.

80% of practitioners who receive training to report an increased understanding and competence in safeguarding especially in relation to contextual safeguarding and restorative practices.

Implementation of the new Youth and Family Resilience Service.

Key Outcomes for 2019-2020: The new Out Of Court Disposal (OOCD) policy

and process to be fully implemented and scrutinised for effectiveness.

An increase of Restorative interventions delivered across the partnership to reduce the number of LAC young people receiving a formal criminal sanction.

Fewer children and young people persistently absent from ETE and being excluded.

Fewer children and young people involved/ exploited by the drug market either locally or in county lines scenarios.

Prevent children and young people from becoming involved in gang related violence and or radicalisation. This will include safeguarding victims of gang violence.

Interventions with young people to take place in a whole family context.

Contribute to broader safeguarding agendas specifically Criminal Exploitation, CSE, and CME.

Partnership Arrangements

Effective and integrated partnership arrangements sit at the heart of Waltham Forest YOS Effectiveness

Waltham Forest YOS values the benefits achieved by effective and integrated partnership arrangements. This is evident in the embedded multiagency working at the heart of YOS operational and strategic delivery. The partnership working includes but is not exclusive to the following:-

Safeguarding –This year we will refresh the joint protocol between Children’s Social Care and the YOS. In addition there is membership from Early Help senior management on the Safeguarding Children board.

Looked After Children – YOS report to the Corporate Parenting Board and operationally attend LAC meetings as necessary. There is also a specific LAC/ YOS post which focuses on the needs of the LAC cohort.

CSE – There is Early Help senior management representation at the Adolescent and Risk Strategic Group, which provides direction for the CSE agenda in the borough.

MASE - YOS representation at the MASE meetings in order to contribute to information sharing regarding young people at risk and or perpetrating sexual exploitation.

PREVENT – There is an operational representative from the YOS that works directly with those delivering the Prevent agenda and Early Help senior management co-chair the Prevent Steering group.

MARAC – Following the reduction in age to 16, YOS also now attend MARAC operational meetings, when young people known to the service are being discussed.

MAPPA – The level 3 Mappa chair is a member of the YOS Management Board. In addition to this there is YOS management representation at MAPPA level 2 meetings where young people from the YOS are being discussed. This YOS representative also undertakes the “Mappa Lead Role”.

IOM – YOS senior management representation at this group.

Troubled Families – There is representation within the Early Help Partnership Board which oversee the work of the Troubled families programme.

Gangs Programme – Senior YOS management co-chair the Gangs Operational Group (Bronze Group) and there is senior management representation from the YOS at the Strategic Gang’s meetings. Finally a senior management representative sits on the Youth Crime and gangs board, which has overall responsibility for the gang’s programme.

CAMHS and Substance Misuse – The newly commissioned service now oversee both the CAMHS and substance misuse service. There is a strong strategic partnership between CAMHS and substance misuse services through dedicated co-located mental health professionals. There is Early Help representation on the Health and Well-being Board.

Education – There is a new joint protocol in progress with the Behaviour, attendance and Children Missing Education (BACME) service to ensure joined up working to address the high levels of persistent absence and exclusions in the borough given the strong correlation with this and offending behaviour. A BACME representative now also sits on the YOS led High Risk Panels and Bronze Groups to ensure joined up working.

Performance Management

What are we doing well in Waltham Forest? The YOS was subject to a successful Short Quality Screening Inspection by Her

Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) in March 2015 and the report was

published on 11th May 2015. This inspection reported the following: - “Waltham Forest YOS is part of an ‘Early Help’ Division which brings together different voluntary and statutory partners to tackle youth offending in a comprehensive way within the borough. During this inspection we found that this approach is working very well despite the challenging local environment which included significant issues of gang affiliation and serious offending. We saw clear evidence of partners such as the police, children’s services, child and adolescent mental health services and education collaborating to deliver effective interventions. Overall, we found the performance of the YOS to be very creditable”.

In 2017, a thematic inspection into Public Protection identified key strengths in the management of high risk cases with particular reference to our specialist health, gangs and Harmful Sexual Behaviour input.

More recently an Ofsted inspection of children’s services in Waltham Forest has found that the standard is ‘Good’ overall, with an ‘Outstanding’ rating for the impact of senior leaders and managers. Specifically in Early Help it describes a highly skilled staff group that is not only absolutely committed to supporting vulnerable families- but also one that has a demonstrably positive impact for families.

Quality Assurance meetings take place on a monthly basis and performance outcomes are reported directly into the YOS Management Board, which sits within the Youth Crime and Gangs Board.

Waltham Forest’s has adopted a learning culture, with the ethos to innovate, reflect and review within the Youth Offending Service. This is complemented by the group clinical supervision that staff access.

What are our key areas for improvement in 2019-20

Themed quality assurance processes to be embedded, ensuring practitioners are fully supported in developing their assessment, planning and intervention skills.

Embedding practice in the following areas: Motivational Interviewing, contextual safeguarding, the Resilience Curriculum, Mental Health First Aid and desistence theory.

The new Out Of Court Disposal (OOCD) policy and process to be fully implemented and scrutinised for effectiveness

Waltham Forst YOS Youth

Justice Plan

Priority areas 2019/2020

Performance and Quality Monitoring

Innovate, Reflect and

Review

Changes to Practice

Outcomes Against the 3 National Indicators: – 1. Reducing First Time Entrants

What are we doing well in Waltham Forest?

There are a number of initiatives being undertaken in Waltham Forest in order to further reduce the number of first time entrants coming into the Youth Justice System. These include the following:-

Increasing the use of Restorative Justice (RJ) as a preventative tool in the borough. This includes deploying RJ interventions in a variety of setting to a wide range of professional to embed the RJ policy framework.

The Intensive Adolescent Service Team (IAST) sits within the Waltham Forest YOS structure. The IAST work with young people aged 11 and up to 18 and their families. The aim of the team is to reduce family breakdown by addressing escalating difficulties in the family that could lead to the child/young person becoming Looked After.

Two new Adolescent at Risk (AAR) workers have also been employed in 18/19 to try and reduce first time entrants into the system.

Waltham Forest YOS have also been working closely with the Family Functional Therapy (FFT) team. FFT is a short-term, high quality evidence based treatment model that works with families where there is a young person (10 to 17 years old) presenting with significant emotional, social and/or behavioural difficulties. This is a whole family intervention and its core philosophy is based on a respectful way, a non-judgmental attitude and a strength based approach. Again this intervention is utilised as a means to prevent young people coming into the youth justice system.

The YOS continues to ensure that the voice of young people is clearly reflected within service delivery. One of the mechanism for increasing children and young people’s voice in the service is via the participation group Voices in Partnership. This group has taken part in forums such as the Life Chances Commission and MOPAC peer advisory group.


The development of a new youth and family resilience service, which will aim to intervene earlier to ensure children do not enter the criminal justice system.

Implementation of the new Out Of Court Disposal (OOCD) policy and procedures to ensure, where appropriate, children are diverted.

Embedding a more streamlined process for gang related cases in alignment with the MASH and DRM processes.

Establishing an outcome framework to evidence the demonstrable positive impact of the new Adolescent At Risk (AAR) workers

Embedding the adolescent risk safeguarding training for all staff

Outcomes Against the 3 National Indicators: – 2. Reducing Reoffending


Waltham Forest YOS, along with its partners, are committed to continuing to develop interventions, which directly tackle the risk factors linked to young people offending. Examples this year include:- Commissioning a number of new services, which are directly informed by the Waltham Forest Council commissioned London South Bank University study, which reviewed current gang activity in the borough. It was identified that some approaches required further investment and development. This included a particular focus on:

‘Following the money’ through enhanced financial investigation to combat organised criminal networks that exploit children through county lines and utilising modern slavery legislation,

Development of community mobilisation to enable children and young people to access support within their own communities including expanding training and employment opportunities,

Addressing the relationship between social media and gang activity. In addition to the evidence based accredited programmes, Waltham Forest YOS also deliver a number of targeted offending behaviour programmes including a weapons awareness programme; a general offending behaviour programme and a cultural diversity group. In partnership with a voluntary organisation, the YOS also runs a bike programme. Waltham Forest YOS continuously monitors the makeup of the young people who access the service. In conjunction to the monitoring there are also monthly multiagency high risk panels to monitor the risk factors of those most likely to re-offend and or cause

serious harm. Waltham Forest YOS has core team of practitioners who are AIMS trained to address in partnership with the Harmful Sexual Behaviour borough co-ordinator the needs of young people who have exhibited Harmful Sexual Behaviour.


Embed the new commissioned services, which include mentoring; detached outreach; Ask me gangs programme; and Abianda’s review of our response to girls and gangs in the borough.

Enhance the impact of the Live Tracker for reoffending, combining this with live tracker data for attendance at school

Further monitor and evaluate the reoffending of young people to enhance our understanding of the factors leading to reoffending and to ensure we are developing effective interventions that reduce this risk.

Mobilise the agreed action plan 19/20, which has been underpinned by the learning from the London South Bank University review on gang activity in the borough.

Embedding staff training on trauma, contextual safeguarding and mental health first aid in order to support children and young people with some of the underpinning factors linked to re-offending.

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=pictures+of+young+offenders&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=W206aw5zNXJbBM&tbnid=rvnaiB6RDmRlhM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/advice/factfile_az/crime_young_offenders&ei=byg_UYLINKLZ0QW_m4CwCg&bvm=bv.43287494,d.ZGU&psig=AFQjCNEcZsoj68LPJacW9_jmN3XKyNN1cQ&ust=1363179885487987

Outcomes Against the 3 National Indicators: – 3. Reducing the Use of Custody

What are we doing well in Waltham Forest Whilst Waltham Forest has seen a decrease in custody levels, we remain committed

to reducing the number of young people entering custody further and have consequently applied the following:-

There has been an increase in the numbers of remanded young people. A reducing custody action plan has been implemented, which will continue to monitor and review these levels.

A plan to liaise with the Courts and the corresponding YOS’ that share Stratford Youth Court has been undertaken. This has culminated with a member of the Court service now being part of the YOT Management board.

Following the one recommendation from Waltham Forest’s SQS, the YOS has now implemented a new system to ensure information is received in a timelier manner when Court Duty Officers are not in Court.

Waltham Forest has a dedicated team of ISS practitioners, who collect young people on a bus to attend appointments (due to travelling in the borough with gang issues), which facilitates increased compliance with ISS.

All PSR’s with an ‘all options’ indication from the Court are discussed in management meetings and where applicable high risk panels.

Waltham Forest has a dedicated bail and remand worker, who ensures that robust bail packages are offered to the court when remanded young people have a bail application.


Themed QA audit to be completed on those children receiving a custodial sentence.

YOS Management Team to continue to convene Custody Panels on pre-sentence reports where custody is likely prior to sentence.

Continue parent/carer consultation meetings to ensure closer

working with parent/carers to increase sentence compliance

from their children.

Ensuring that the intervention provided are culturally sensitive

to the needs of our young people and their families. This will

be facilitated by staff attending unconscious bias training.

Review national research around the ethnic disproportionality of those receiving custodial outcomes to identify best practice.

Outcomes Against 3 Local Priority Areas: 1. Effective Safeguarding

What are we doing well in Waltham Forest? The SQS Inspection found positive safeguarding practices at Waltham Forest YOS.

“Staff recognised that many of the children and young people known to them are vulnerable to harm themselves and work in partnership to safeguard them”. Waltham Forest has implemented a new practice guidance for safeguarding adolescents as there has been increased recognition that historically safeguarding focus has not fully taken into account the risks of harm adolescents experience outside of the family home.

The YOS plays a key role in the Board priority of Adolescent Safefguarding and our partnership response to Child Criminal Exploitation

More recently an Ofsted inspection of children’s services in Waltham Forest has found that the standard is ‘Good’ overall, with an ‘Outstanding’ rating for the impact of senior leaders and managers. Specifically in Early Help, which the YOS sits, it describes a highly skilled staff group that is not only absolutely committed to supporting vulnerable families- but also one that has a demonstrably positive impact for families.

The YOS are part of the Early Help division and have successfully contributed to the Troubled Families Payment by Results (PBR) outcomes 57 outcomes last financial year 57.

The Families Directorate continued to operate a “Single Front Door’ (MASH) which is a single point of contact for all referrals coming into Children’s Social Care and Early Help. The MASH now operates a Daily Risk Management Meeting (DRMM) which the YOS contributes to also. Finally all referrals for our Bronze panels are processed through MASH.

A joint protocol with social care is in place to manage the interface and practice for children and young people subject to remand and clear guidelines and policies in place for children in care subject to community and custodial sentences. This is further supported by a LAC senior practitioner role within the YOS.

The Youth Offending Service is co-located with the Prevent Team and the YOS have access to the on-going programme of training for Prevent related issues.

Children and Social Care (CSC) attend the YOS’ high risk panels conversely the YOS caseworkers will always attend those meetings arranged by CSC. Also strong relationships with the NPS have resulted in MAPPA eligible cases being safeguarded.


Develop good practice guidance for YOS Officers working with Out of Area Children Looked After. Continue to work with the Police and local accommodation providers in order to support Restorative practice, diverting vulnerable young people from the criminal justice system where appropriate.

Focus on “Children in Police Custody”

Ensure the new QA processes sufficiently examine the joined up working with the YOS, Children and Social Care and other partners to safeguard young people. Embedding contextual safeguarding within the assessment process

Evaluate the implementation of the safeguarding of adolescence guidance and contextual safeguarding within practitioners work.

Outcomes Against 3 Local Priority Areas: – 2. Use of Restorative Justice


Over 200 members of staff have been trained in RJ over the last few years across a variety of departments including:- Youth Justice, Police, Schools, Children and Social Care, Housing, Neighbourhoods, Community Safety, Anti-Social behaviour teams, Care Homes and a number of corporate organisations. Waltham Forest RJ work within care homes has been recognised as good practice by the Howard League.

The YOS have dedicated RJ Police Officers and RJ is explored for all Youth Crime. Contact is made with the victim for Referral Orders, YRO’s, DTO’s, YCC and Youth Cautions and the offer to meet with the offender is made in all circumstances. The YOS also offer ‘Alternative Restorative Practice’ i.e. shuttle mediation when face to face meeting is declined.

RJ interventions have also been delivered with support from corporate venues and school staff. The later involved RJ intervention on the impact on the whole school community by a child bringing a knife onto school property. This intervention proved very powerful for the child involved.

There were 40 RJ interventions conducted last year

The dedicated RJ Police officers are also working closely within care homes to prevent placement breakdowns by using Restorative Practice.

Waltham Forest YOS has recruited new referral order panel members to assist in the facilitation of the Panel.

Finally the YOS continue to deliver a range of RJ projects including litter picking in local parks; growing vegetables which are sold to staff (with the proceeds donated to victim support) and a number of restoration projects to name but a few.

Safeguarding indicator – Child Criminal Exploitation and use of national referral mechanism


To review YOS policies in line with the Restorative Justice Council’s best practice guidance, as part of working to achieve the RJ Quality Mark.

Evaluate the effectiveness of restorative justice interventions for both victims and young people, identifying potential developments to improve services.

Embed restorative justice principles throughout all Early Intervention services, increasing the effectiveness of these programmes for both victims and offenders.

Establish mechanisms for victim’s to nominate RJ projects



In November 2018 the Chief Executive and Leader of the Council launched a Public Health approach to tackle violent crime in the London Borough of Waltham Forest.

The Waltham Forest public health approach is different to traditional enforcement-led approaches to tackling violence. Enforcement is still crucial, but complemented by a focus on the causes of violence, to prevent it occurring and spreading.

Our public health approach does this through four strands: 1. Curtail violent acts at source, pursuing perpetrators and enforcing action 2. Treat those who have been exposed to violence to control the spread 3. Support those susceptible to violence due to their exposure to risk factors 4. Strengthen community resilience through a universal approach

The Youth Offending Service has adopted a critical leadership role in the first three strands of the violence reduction partnership, which has included the following:

Curtail Strand - The YOS have been instrumental in working with partners to: Reduce ASB and violent crime in certain hotspot areas of the borough; Disruption of gang activity through supporting the Police with injunctions against gang members and also working with the Police and Children and Social Care Services to tackle ‘cuckooing’ in relation to gangs

Treat Strand - The YOS deliver a plethora of interventions, which include whole family, trauma informed, gang exit work for young people in addition to providing Specialist advocacy for victims of gang violence.

Support Strand – The new adolescent at risk workers have been instrumental in supporting those adolescents vulnerable to being recruited into gangs and or offending. The YOS have also been pivotal in working with the borough’s Fair Access Panel to identify those children who are at risk of exclusion and would benefit from Community mentors. Parenting support is also provided by the YOS.

Violence Reduction Partnership (VRP) What are our key areas for improvement in 2019-20

To play a pivotal role in the delivery of the Violence Reduction Partnership.

To deliver and or support delivery of the pledges from the curtail, treat and support strands.

Establishing the trauma recovery pathway through CAMHS commissioning and the development of the Youth and Family Resilience Service

Enhance safeguarding pathway for children involved in criminal exploitation

Strengthen

communities

Support

vulnerable

Treat

exposure

Curtail violent acts

Feedback and Participation of Service Users

What are we doing well in Waltham Forest? Waltham Forest employs a dedicated participation worker to ensure the feedback

and participation of service users is central to the work of the YOS. Voices in Partnership (VIP) meetings take place weekly to enable young people to express their views and provide feedback.

Young people have subsequently felt supported to offer their views and feedback of the YOS in a variety of settings including: - To councillors of the Local Authority; To the Home Office for consultation on drug dealing, gangs and running County Lines; to the YOT Management Board. This group of young people have also been involved in the Borough’s Life Chances Commission and the Borough’s new Violence Reduction Partnership (VRP) and more recently at business networking events.

In partnership with Diverse voices the VIP have also designed and delivered a drama based peer group work programme on healthy relationships and employability.

The VIP young people sits on recruitment interview panels and formulating their own questions. For larger recruitment drives the VIP have their own separate panel which they chair and formulate questions for.

The YOS also facilitate parent and carer consultations groups’ bi annually to ensure parent’s views are considered and their feedback can be received.

Following feedback from young people regarding the longer term benefits, or lack thereof, from reparation activities within the YOS, the VIP group have now undertaken the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.

Under the VRP we now have Young Advisors which are integral to this project: Dajana Melaj and Jhanzab Khan. Dajana co-chaired the VRP and has attended breifings at MOPAC meetings.


Parent/carer consultation meetings now in place. To ensure working

with parent/carers to increase sentence compliance from their

children.

Continue to embed a peer mentor scheme with young people who have now left the YOS and have achieved positive outcomes.

Continue to expand the opportunities available for the VIP group in 2019/2020 to ensure their continued commitment to influencing the services of the YOS and Local Authority as a whole.

Consider ways to increase the participation of victims in service development.

Roll out of the new feedback survey which will ensure that the voice of service users is embedded into future service delivery. This will be focused on :

Young people

Parents and carers

Victims

Ensuring that VIP have input on both local and regional forums in relation to young people and the criminal justice system.

Management Board Signatures

Name and Role Signature

Chair of YOS Management Board - Cllr Grace Williams

Co – Chair Patsy Wollaston (NPS Assistant Chief Officer)

Appendix A – Waltham Forest YOS Budget Plan

YOS YJB grant expenditure

YJB Grant

Expenditure

Salaries

358,100

Total Salaries

358,100

Supplies & Services

Hire Of Transport

8200

Interpreting Fees

3,600

Educational Fees

12,000

Mobile Phone Costs

4,600

Computer Software

5,100

Activities & Events

18,100

Total Supplies and Services

51,600

Total Expenditure

409,700

Income Youth Justice Board Youth Justice Board

(409,700)

Total Income

(409,700)

Appendix B – YOS structure embedded within the Early Help Division’s services for

adolescents

Head of YOS

Francis Offiah

GANGS POLICE OFFICER

Richard Graham

LIASION AND DIVERSION OFFICER

Marie Daniel

OPERATIONAL MANAGEREric Aryee

OPERATIONAL MANAGER

Patrick Sewakiryanga

OPERATIONAL MANAGER Eric Aryee

REPARATION CO-ORDINATOR

Flora Dlamina

SESSIONAL WORKER

Steve Clements

SECONDED PROBATION OFFICER

Darshna Chudasama

Senior PRAC COURT/LAC LEAD

Althea Mills

YJO

Sarah Kounnis

Senior PRAC Referral Order Lead

Renate Irvine

YJO

Maxine Jones

YJO

Emmanuel Ayeusi

STUDENT SOCIAL WORKERS

Solomon Mukiibi

Patricia Warui


OPERATIONAL MANAGER

Patrick Sewakiryanga

IAST PRACTITIONERS

Katherine Kenieer

Joan Barker

Sherika Lerr

Senior PRAC ISS Lead

Patricia Myers

YJO

Diana Galloway

ISS Practitioner

Steve Thomas

SESSIONAL WORKERS

Ali Younis

Stephen Thomas

Steven Clements

YJO/HSB Part time

Krishna Ridley

Senior Practitioner FPT practitioner/Adolescent

at Risk Lead

Francis Pearce

FPT practitioner /AARs

Devon Dixon

Theresa Westover

AAR

McClean Hector

Mariam Majjuma

SECONDED/PARTNERSHIP STAFF

Police Officers – Steve Kirby, Tracy Vingoe RJ Officer - Ian Simmons CAMHS Officer – Martin Smith HSB Co-ordinator – Tracey Goddard Education – Jasmina Sula


Appendix B1 – Governance Structure 2018/19

Dual reporting to LSCB Executive and the

Adolescent Risk sub-group

SafetyNet Executive

Chair: Borough Commander

Business Management Group Chair: Alastair Macorkindale, Head of Community Safety,

LBWF

Cross cutting group -

VAWG Partnership Board

Chair: Amana Gordon,

Assistant Director,

Safeguarding and Family

Support, LBWF

Gangs and Youth Violence

Subgroup (YOS Management

Board)

Co-Chair: Patsy Woolastont,

Assistant Chief Officer, NPS

Co-Chair: Cllr Grace Williams,

Lead Cabinet Member for

Children and Young People

Anti-Social Behaviour

Subgroup

Co-Chair:Waheed Khan,

Superintendent Operations, MPS

Co-Chair: Jarlath Griffin,

Director of Neighbourhoods,

LBWF

Prevent Steering Group

Co-Chair: Daniel Phelps,

Divisional Director Early Help,

LBWF

Co-Chair: Richard Tucker,

Borough Commander, MPS


Appendix B2 – Glossary of terms 2019/20

Appendix B1 – Governance Structure 2018

ASB/CBO Antisocial behaviour/criminal behaviour order. A civil order to manage anti-social behaviour

Asset A structured assessment tool based on research and developed by the Youth Justice Board looking at the child or young person’s offence, personal circumstances, attitudes and beliefs which have contributed to their offending behaviour

Asset-plus Replaced Asset in 2016 as the standard youth justice assessment tool

CAMHS

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services: part of the National Health Service, providing specialist mental health and behavioural services to children and young people up to at least 16 years of age

CARag Case assessment rules and guidance

Case manager The practitioner who holds lead responsibility for manging the case of a young person under YOT supervision

CIW Care Inspectorate Wales

CJS Criminal justice system. Includes any or all of the agencies involved in upholding and implementing the law – police, courts, youth offending teams, probation and prisons

CQC

Care Quality Commission


CRC

Community rehabilitation company: 21 such companies were set up in June 2014 to manage most offenders who present a medium or low risk of harm

CSPPI

Community safeguarding and public protection incidents. Notifications and reviews when a child or young person has committed a serious offence while subject to YOT supervision, or has been a victim of a serious incident

Desistance The cessation of offending or antisocial behaviour

DTO Detention and training order: a custodial sentence for young people

Estyn HM Inspectorate for Education and Training in Wales

ETE Education, training and employment: work to improve an individual’s learning, and to increase their employment prospects

First-time entrant

Young people who have offended for the first time and received a formal outcome, either a caution or a sentence of the court

HIW

Health Inspectorate Wales

HMICFRS

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services

HMI Probation Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation


Interventions;

constructive and restrictive interventions

Work with an individual that is designed to change their offending behaviour and/or to support public protection.

A constructive intervention is where the primary purpose is to reduce the likelihood of reoffending.

A restrictive intervention is where the primary purpose is to keep to a minimum the individual’s risk of harm to others.

For example: with a sex offender, a constructive intervention might be to put them through an accredited sex offender programme; a restrictive intervention (to minimise their risk of harm) might be to monitor regularly and meticulously their accommodation, employment and the places they frequent, imposing and enforcing clear restrictions as appropriate to each case.

NB. Both types of intervention are important

Intervention plan

The programme of work drawn up by the case manager in collaboration with the young person under supervision outlining what will be done while subject to supervision

IOM Integrated Offender Management

ISS Intensive surveillance and supervision: this intervention is attached to the start of some orders and licences and provides initially at least 25-hours programme contact, including a substantial proportion of employment, training and education

Likelihood of reoffending

See also constructive interventions

LSCB Local safeguarding children board: set up in each local authority (as a result of the Children Act 2004) to coordinate and ensure the effectiveness of the multiagency work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in that locality


MAPPA Multi-agency public protection arrangements: where probation, police, prison and other agencies work together locally to manage offenders who pose a higher risk of harm to others

NPS National Probation Service: a single national service that came into being in June 2014. Its role is to deliver services to courts and to manage specific groups of offenders, including those presenting a high risk of harm

National Standards for youth justice

Issued by the Youth Justice Board, outlining the minimum levels of timescales and contact levels for key tasks in the youth justice system

Ofsted

Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills: the inspectorate for those services in England (for Wales, see Estyn)

Out-of-court disposal

The resolution of a normally low-level offence, where it is not in the public interest to prosecute, through a community resolution or similar, youth caution or youth conditional caution

PSR Pre-sentence report: for a court

Referral order An order by the court for young people who plead guilty to the offence. They are referred to a community meeting managed by volunteers who draw up a contract to make amends and reduce the risk of further offending

RMP Risk management plan: a plan to minimise the individual’s risk of

harm

Risk of harm to others See also restrictive interventions


‘Risk of harm to others work’, or

‘Risk of harm work’

This is the term generally used by HMI Probation to describe work to protect the public, primarily using restrictive interventions, to keep to a minimum the individual’s opportunity to behave in a way that is a risk of harm to others

RoSH Risk of serious harm: a term used in Asset-plus to assess the risk and probability of an action with a serious consequence taking place. Risk of serious harm is assessed as low, medium, high or very high

Safeguarding The ability to demonstrate that all reasonable action has been taken to keep to a minimum the risk of a child or young person coming to harm

Safety and wellbeing

The term used in Asset-plus which replaced vulnerability in the previous Asset; cases are assessed for their level of safety and wellbeing with the same categorisations used as risk of serious harm, that is low, medium, high or very high

Scaled approach The means by which YOTs determine the frequency of contact with a child or young person, based on their RoSH and likelihood of reoffending

SIFA Screening interview for adolescents: YJB-approved mental health screening tool for specialist workers

SQIFA Screening questionnaire interview for adolescents: YJB-approved mental health screening tool for YOT workers

YJB Youth Justice Board for England and Wales

YOI Young offenders institution: a Prison Service institution for children and young people remanded in custody


or sentenced to custody

YOIS+ Youth offending information system: one of the two electronic case management systems for youth offending work currently in use in England and Wales

YOS/YOT/YJS Youth offending service/youth offending team/youth justice service; these are common titles for the bodies commonly referred to as YOTs

YRO

The youth rehabilitation order is a generic community sentence used with children and young people who offend

waltham forest yos strategic plan 2019 -20 · the development of a youth and family resilience...

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