Youth justice service is warned it must improve

Southend-on-Sea City Council oversees the city's youth justice service

A service that helps children stay away from criminality has been warned it must improve.

Inspectors found Southend-on-Sea's Youth Justice Service had a "lack of clarity" on how to manage children's risks in south Essex.

It came despite overwhelming praise from HM Inspectorate of Probation for how "enthusiastic" and motivated staff were.

Laurie Burton, cabinet member for children, young people and SEND at Southend-on-Sea City Council, said the authority was "committed to improving the service".

The service works with children aged 10 to 17 who have gotten into trouble, or almost did, with the law.

A report published on Tuesday outlined how case managers demonstrated an understanding of children's life experiences and factored in their individual learning needs.

However, it said past behaviours and convictions were not consistently used to analyse the risk of potential harm presented by children with court disposals and it rated the service as "requires improvement".

Contingency planning to address escalating concerns about the safety of other people were not "sufficiently detailed", the report added.

Chief Inspector of Probation, Martin Jones, said: "The management board need to better understand the needs of the children known to the service, particularly those who are care experienced or are over-represented in the system."

Mr Jones added that staff "understand their children well" and have a "child-centred approach".

Ms Burton believed the report highlighted "our strengths" as well as areas that could be improved.

"While we acknowledge that there are some things we need to work on, we are confident that we can improve them quickly, building upon the strengths identified in the inspection and the commitment of our team," she added.