Council has tonight (22 January 2025) received an update on Knowsley’s Youth Justice Service and Partnership being successful in attaining the Youth Justice SEND (Special Educational Needs and / or Disabilities) Quality Lead status with a “Child First Commendation”.
This quality award has been developed by the Association of Youth Offending Team Managers for practice with children in the youth justice system with SEND.
This latest award supports a range of Children’s Services that have been highlighted as good including Ofsted highlighting the Council’s family (early) help model; the muti-agency safeguarding hub; children missing and at risk of exploitation; and fostering in their recent inspection.
The Youth Justice SEND Quality Award recognises consistently high levels of good practice and strengths in partnership working to help children who have SEND and are involved in offending or anti-social behaviour. It is awarded to teams who provide evidence to show how they are improving outcomes for children.
Children can become involved in offending for many different reasons. This could include emotional and mental health needs, learning and behavioural difficulties, suffering trauma, substance misuse and educational disadvantage.
The Knowsley Youth Justice Service aims to address the causes swiftly to help children move away from offending and contribute positively to their communities.
Knowsley Youth Justice Service initially achieved this status in 2019. Following the positive outcome of the His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation inspection in January 2023 and the significant progress made over the last two years in terms of embedding trauma-informed practice (understanding the true causes of crime), the service applied again in 2024 and was successful.
The feedback highlighted that “practice is driven by a pervading culture of inter-service co-operation, mutual accountability and well embedded trauma informed practice.”
The “Child First Commendation” element of the Award reflects the partnership’s commitment to early intervention and the Council’s investment in establishing a new Prevention service, with the report stating that “the service supports children beyond the statutory cohort that are at risk of offending, reoffending and exploitation, including children with significant Education and SEND profiles. This initiative is proving to be very effective: early successes include 97% of children successfully engaged with the service, 95% of children do not go on to reoffend; and 87% of children have been prevented from escalating to more intensive and costly service interventions.”
Cllr David Lonergan, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, said “Across the country, there are only 18 of the 135 Youth Justice Services in England that currently have Youth Justice SEND Quality Lead status.
“I’m delighted that Knowsley is one of the 18 to have achieved this prestigious award. This is a great testament to the positive and targeted work being delivered by our Youth Justice Service.
“We work closely with our partners to ensure that children and young people who need help and support are identified at an early stage and are offered the chance to turn their life around.
“We will also continue to build on the strengths that have been highlighted in our recent Ofsted inspection and share and embed this best practice in other areas of the support and services we provided to our children and families.”