Youth justice inspection – Glossary of terms
Updated 02 February 2026
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ABC
Acceptable behaviour contract: a voluntary agreement between a child (10-17 years inclusive) and the local authority/police where the child agrees not to be involved in certain anti-social acts.
ACE
Adverse childhood experiences: potentially traumatic events that can have negative, lasting effects on health and wellbeing.
AD(H)D
Attention deficit (hyperactivity) disorder is a behavioural disorder that includes symptoms such as inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness.
ALN (Wales)
Additional Learning Needs. The Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 created the Additional Learning Needs Code for Wales 2021 (the ALN Code) and Regulations made under the Act. The ALN Act replaces the terms ‘special educational needs (SEN)’ and ‘learning difficulties and/or disabilities (LDD)’ with ‘additional learning needs (ALN)’.
AIM2 and AIM3
Assessment, Intervention and Moving on: an assessment framework and procedures to assist professionals in working with children who have committed a sexual assault or harmful sexual behaviour. AIM3 is the more recent version
ASB
Anti-social behaviour
ASD/ASC
Autism (autistic) spectrum disorder (clinical term) or autistic spectrum condition: a neurodevelopmental difference which affects the way a person communicates, behaves, makes sense of the world, interacts with others, and how information is processed. There are many different terms used to describe autism. Current consensus appears to be the use of the term’s ‘autism’ and ‘on the spectrum’ rather than ASD. Please also see ND below.
AssetPlus
Assessment and planning framework tool developed by the Youth Justice Board for work with children who have offended, or are at risk of offending, that reflects research and understanding of what works with children.
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BSS
Bail support and supervision: aimed at children who are at risk of remand to custody or local authority accommodation. It provides an opportunity to stay in the community, in a programme tailored to manage risk and the safety of the child, and to avoid further offending.
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CAMHS
Child and adolescent mental health services: NHS provision for children who are experiencing mental health difficulties.
CAWN
Child abduction warning notice: a tool used by the police to prevent contact by adults with children whom they place at risk of criminal or sexual exploitation.
CASP
Wales) Care and Support Plan. A plan to support children assessed by the local authority as having care and support needs.
CBO
Criminal behaviour order: this is available on conviction for any criminal offence in a criminal court. CBOs include prohibitions to stop anti-social behaviour.
CCE
Child criminal exploitation: when a child or young person is encouraged, forced or manipulated to take part in criminal activity for something in return, for example presents, drugs, alcohol or emotional attention.
Care experienced child
A child who has been in the care of the local authority for more than 24 hours is known as a care experienced child.
Case formulation
Case formulation is a process developed in clinical psychology and counselling to develop a comprehensive understanding of an individual’s presenting problems. In a youth justice context, it serves as a tool for making sense of a child’s experiences, turning the partnership’s varying assessment and analysis pieces into a single narrative that informs intervention choices.
Child gravity matrix (CGM)
A tool developed by the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) to support effective decision-making and promote consistency across different force areas. It should always be referenced in pre-court decision making processes.
CIN
Child in need: the status given to a child who is deemed to need support by the local authority to promote or safeguard their welfare, but who does not meet the criteria for child protection.
CME
Child missing education.
Constructive resettlement
A framework for children in custody centred around supporting their identity development, moving from pro-offending to pro social.
Contextual safeguarding
An approach to safeguarding that considers a child’s experience of harm outside the home – for example, with peers, in schools and in neighbourhoods.
County lines
The illegal movement of drugs around the UK, often involving the exploitation of children or vulnerable adults to hold and move the drugs.
Court disposals
A sentence imposed by the court. Examples of youth court disposals are referral orders, youth rehabilitation orders and detention and training orders.
CP
Child protection: children assessed by the local authority as being at risk of serious harm are given support through a structured process, including a multi-agency child protection plan, to manage and reduce the risks to their safety and wellbeing.
CR
Community resolution: an out-of-court resolution, used mostly in low-level offences. They involve an informal agreement, including the victim’s views, about how the offence should be resolved. Community resolution is a generic term; in practice, many different local terms are used to mean the same thing.
CSC
Children’s social care: these are found in each local authority/county council area to protect and support the safety and wellbeing of children with heightened individual needs and/or at risk of harm from others or themselves.
CSE
Child sexual exploitation: a type of child abuse, occurring when a child or young person is encouraged, forced or manipulated to take part in sexual activity for something in return, for example presents, drugs, alcohol or emotional attention.
CSP
Community Safety Partnerships were introduced by Section 6 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and bring together local partners to formulate and implement strategies to tackle crime, disorder and antisocial behaviour.
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Desistance
The cessation of offending or other antisocial behaviour.
Diversion
Diversion is where children with a linked offence receive an alternative outcome that does not result in a criminal record and avoids escalation into the formal youth justice system.
DTO
Detention and training order: a custodial sentence for a child. The length is specified by the court, and the child is placed in either a secure children’s home (SCH), secure training centre (STC), at the secure school (Oasis Restore) or in a young offender institution (YOI). The detention and training order will have both custodial and community elements, when the child or young person will be released on a Notice of Supervision.
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ECM (England and Wales)
Enhanced case management: ECM is a relational psychosocial approach underpinned by the trauma recovery model (TRM).
EH
Early help: targeted support provided through a local authority to help children (and their families) address emerging issues and help prevent their escalation to ‘at risk’.
EHCNA
Education, health, and care needs assessment: A comprehensive assessment of a child’s education, health or care needs to understand any special educational needs and what additional support is required. Undertaken by a local authority (Children and Families Act 2014).
EHCP
Education, health, and care plan: a plan outlining the education, health and social care needs of a child with special educational needs and/or a disability.
EHE
Elective Home Education: a term used to describe a choice by parents to provide education for their children at home instead of sending them to school full-time.
Electronic monitoring
Also known as ‘tagging’. It is used in England and Wales to monitor curfews and conditions of a court ordered community or custodial sentence. Sometimes a GPS location-based tag is used.
Enforcement
Measures taken by the YJS in response to a child not engaging or complying with the actions specified as part of a community sentence or licence.
EOTAS
Education other than at school: Children who receive their education away from a mainstream school setting.
ETE
Education, training and employment: the service provided to improve learning, and to increase future employment prospects.
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FCAMHS
Forensic child and adolescent mental health services. Designed to provide consultation regarding young people that cause great concern, specifically in relation to risk and offending behaviour.
FTE
First-time entrant: A child who receives a statutory criminal justice outcome (youth caution, youth conditional caution or conviction) for the first time.
FTE
Full-time equivalent: often used in the context of staff roles and resourcing. Not to be mistaken with first time entrant above.
Front door
The local authority point of contact for those concerned about the welfare of a child (see MASH below). It responds to safeguarding queries and referrals, deciding if and how to investigate and intervene to keep a child safe.
FFT
Functional family therapy: a family-based therapy for children between 11-18 years, that supports the reduction of disruptive communication patterns and focuses on positive interactions, effective supervision and boundary setting.
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Good Lives model
A strengths-based practice framework. It is used in assessing to identify an individual’s strengths, needs, and goals, and how these are contributing to offending or can support desistance and positive change.
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HM Inspectorate of Probation
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation.
HSB
Harmful sexual behaviour: developmentally inappropriate sexual behaviour by children, which is harmful to another child or adult and/or to the child, themselves.
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IDP (Wales)
Individual development plan: A statutory plan identifying how to support children’s additional learning needs.
IRO
Independent reviewing officer: IROs protect children’s interests throughout the care planning process. They chair and quality assure the care planning and review process for each care experienced child and will make sure a child’s wishes and feelings are given full consideration and that agreed actions are completed.
ISS
Intensive supervision and surveillance: a rigorous alternative to custody for the children who commit the most frequent or serious offences. Can also be used for children who receive court bail and need additional support to prevent remand to youth detention accommodation (YDA).
IT
Information technology: the use of systems, particularly computers and telecommunications equipment, to store, retrieve and share information
IYSS
Integrated youth support services: where the YJS is part of a wider team that includes, for example, the youth service, health, ETE, and substance misuse services.
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JAC
Junior attendance centre: children can be ordered by the court to attend for a specific number of hours within a specified period to participate in interventions to support their desistance and enhance their wellbeing.
JDMP
Joint decision-making panels: multi agency meetings co-ordinated by YJSs and the police to decide on the suitability of out-of-court resolutions for children who have offended.
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KCPO
Knife crime prevention orders are civil orders aimed at preventing knife crime. They can be issued against children aged 12 or over if the court considers on the balance of probabilities that the child has carried a knife (or other bladed article) at least two times; and that the order is necessary to prevent further incidents and protect the public.
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LA
Local Authority: local government area to which YJSs are normally geographically aligned. Sometimes services are aligned to more than one LA area.
L and D
Liaison and diversion services provide specialist mental health assessment at an early stage for children who have come into contact with the criminal justice system, usually in court or a police station.
LCJB
Local criminal justice boards bring together criminal justice leaders within a police force area to maintain oversight of the system and promote a collaborative approach to addressing challenges.
LCT
Leaving care team.
Local Prevention Partnerships
Multi agency partnerships used to identify young people who could be drawn into violence and intervene, with targeted activity.
Looked after child
Under the Children Act (1989), a child is legally defined as ‘looked after’ by a local authority if they:
- get accommodation from the local authority for a continuous period of more than 24 hours
- are subject to a care order (to put the child into the care of the local authority)
- are subject to a placement order (to put the child up for adoption)
- are subject to remand, either remand to the care of the local authority or to youth detention accommodation.
More commonly we may see this referred to as a ‘child looked after’ or ‘cared for’ child and we should avoid using the term LAC.
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MACE
Multi-agency child exploitation: the framework that describes arrangements for responding to children who are vulnerable to exploitation, including child sexual exploitation, missing from home, criminal exploitation, modern slavery and trafficking.
MAPPA
Multi-agency public protection arrangements: where probation, police, prison and other agencies work together locally to manage those who have offended who pose the highest risk of harm to others. Level 1 is single-agency management, where the risks posed by the person who has offended can be managed by the agency responsible for their supervision or case management. Levels 2 and 3 require active multi-agency management.
MARAC
Multi-agency risk assessment conference: set up in police areas to consider the safety needs of victims of domestic abuse where the risk to them is assessed as serious. Normally a single event, although a victim can be referred for discussion after a new incident.
MASH
Multi-agency safeguarding hub: these act as the first point of contact for new safeguarding concerns or enquiries. They usually include representatives from the local authority (adult and children social care services), police, probation, health and other bodies. Sometimes referred to MASA (multi agency safeguarding arrangements).
MET
Missing, exploited and trafficked: a term sometimes referred to in local partnerships covering all aspects of child exploitation.
MFH
Missing from home.
MOPAC
The Mayor’s Office for policing and crime. The office through which the Mayor of London oversees policing and community safety.
MST
Multi-systemic therapy: an intensive, home-based intervention, providing a whole family approach to understanding and reducing a child’s offending and anti-social behaviours.
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NEET
Not in education, employment or training.
ND
Neurodiversity: a framework for understanding the natural variation in brain functioning which can lead to individual’s thinking, learning, processing and responding in a different way to neurotypical functioning. It includes autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, dysgraphia and Tourette’s syndrome.
NRM
National referral mechanism: the national framework for identifying and referring potential victims of modern slavery in order to gain help to support and protect them.
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ODD
Oppositional defiance disorder: a form of conduct disorder with children displaying an established pattern of argumentative and defiant behaviour towards adults responsible for their care.
OOCR
Out-of-court resolution: the resolution of a normally low-level offence, where it is not in the public interest to prosecute, through a community resolution, youth caution or youth conditional caution.
OPCC
Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner
Outcome 20
A police outcome code where there has been little police investigation and no formal police action, but where the case was passed to another body or agency (i.e. children’s social care, school) to progress when necessary.
Outcome 21
A police outcome code, indicating it is likely a crime has been committed but further investigation or formal action is not in the public interest, often used where a child has produced indecent images.
Outcome 22 (Deferred Caution)
A Home Office administration code that the police use. In this case a formal decision to issue a youth caution is delayed allowing the child to complete specified conditions.
Outcome 22 (Deferred Prosecution)
A Home Office administration code that the police use. In this case the ‘deferred prosecution’ condition means that prosecution is paused while the child undertakes agreed activities for a specified period
Outcome 22 (NFA)
A Home Office administration code that the police use. In this case it is used when the police decide not to pursue a formal charge or caution.
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PACE
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984) sets out the powers of the police in England and Wales and codes of practice for these powers.
PACE Bed
Section 38(6) of PACE places a duty on the police to transfer children who have been refused bail to local authority accommodation rather than keeping them in the police station overnight. Available accommodation is referred to a PACE beds or Section 38 beds.
PAD Tool or PDAT
Prevention and Diversion Assessment Tool mandated for use by the YJB for all Youth Justice Services working with children subject to prevention and diversion disposals to ensure consistency in assessment and planning.
Personalised
An approach where services are tailored to the needs of individuals, giving people as much choice and control as possible over the support they receive. We use this term to include diversity factors.
PNC
Police national computer: the information management system used by the police across the UK to facilitate investigations and share information.
Prevent Duty
The Prevent duty requires specified agencies such as education, health, local authorities, police and criminal justice agencies to help prevent the risk of people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. As outlined in Part 1 of Schedule 6 to the Counterterrorism and Security Act 2015 (CTSA 2015).
Prevention
Support and intervention with children (and their parents/carers) who may be displaying behaviours which may indicate underlying needs or vulnerability. In practice this involves a tiered approach of early and targeted prevention prior to committing an offence.
Protected characteristics
Defined by the Equality Act (2010) as age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity.
PRU
Pupil referral unit: this provides education (and heightened support) to children unable to attend mainstream education provision.
PSR
Pre-sentence report: report prepared by the YJS to assist with sentencing in court. PSRs provide analysis on the child’s circumstances, the index offence, likelihood of reoffending and how to achieve safety.
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Referral Order
A community sentence imposed by the criminal court, underpinned by the principles of restoration, reparation and reintegration. Given where the child pleads guilty to an imprisonable offence.
Reoffending rate
Defined by the Ministry of Justice as the percentage of individuals given a caution or court conviction within one year of an offence or during a further six-month period (to allow time for cases to progress through the courts), as indicated by data on the PNC
Reparation
Involves children taking practical steps to make amends for the harm caused, either directly to the victim or through community work.
Restorative justice
A planned and supported process which brings victims of crime into contact with the child responsible, enabling everyone affected by a particular incident to play a part in repairing the harm and finding a positive way forward. This could be undertaken by a variety of methods including letters of explanation, shuttle mediation or include face to face meetings.
RoH
Risk of harm – see RoSH below
RoSH
Risk of Serious Harm: the term used in AssetPlus. All cases are classified as presenting a low, medium, high or very high risk of serious harm to others. HM Inspectorate of Probation uses this term when referring to the classification system but uses the broader term ‘risk of harm’ when referring to the analysis which should take place to determine the classification level. This helps to clarify the distinction between the probability of an event occurring and the impact/severity of the event. The term ‘Risk of Serious Harm’ only incorporates ‘serious’ impact, whereas using ‘risk of harm’ enables necessary attention to be given to children whose behaviour is likely to have a lower impact and/or is less harmful.
ROTH
Risk outside the home. As part of contextual safeguarding arrangements, some local authorities utilise focussed ‘ROTH meetings’ in addition to other statutory safeguarding meetings to ensure a welfare-based approach to planning for young people affected by extra-familial harm. Can also sometimes be referred to ‘harm outside the home’ (HOTH).
ROTL
Release on temporary licence (ROTL) is a valuable tool to support resettlement. ROTL is an opportunity for children to leave the secure setting for a specific reason before release on licence to serve the community element of their sentence.
RLAA
Remanded to the local authority accommodation: local authorities have a duty to approve or find appropriate accommodation for children remanded by the criminal court (before conviction or sentence) to local authority accommodation.
RYDA
Remand into youth detention accommodation refers to facilities where children over the age of 10 are sent when they are charged with an offence and have been refused bail.
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Safeguarding
Safeguarding is a wider term than child protection and involves promoting a child’s health and development and ensuring that their overall welfare needs are met.
Safety and wellbeing
AssetPlus replaced the assessment of vulnerability with a holistic outlook on a child’s safety and wellbeing concerns. It is defined as ‘…those outcomes where the young person’s safety and well-being may be compromised through their own behaviour, personal circumstances or because of the acts/omissions of others’ (AssetPlus Guidance, 2016).
SCP
Safeguarding children partnerships are statutory framework for safeguarding partners to make arrangements to work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of local children.
SALN
Speech and language needs.
SALT
Speech and language therapist.
SCH
Secure children’s home: a small local authority unit that provides a secure and supportive environment for children between 10-14 years, detained for welfare reasons or by order of the criminal court.
Section 17
of the Children Act (1989): provisions for local authorities to promote and safeguard the welfare of children and promote the upbringing of children by their families. Provision of services for ‘children in need’, sometimes called ‘CIN’.
Section 20
of the Children Act (1989): a local authority must provide accommodation for a child in need and is used when a child cannot live with their parents. Section 20 applies where there is voluntary agreement between the child’s carers, the local authority and where possible, the child, to find alternative provision. There is no statutory limit on how long a child can be accommodated under this section.
Section 21 (Wales)
of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 outlines the duty placed on the local authority to assess whether a child has care and support needs.
Section 47
of the Children Act (1989): when a local authority receives information indicating that a child in its area is in need of protection, suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, it has a duty to investigate if action is needed to promote or safeguard their welfare.
Section 76 (Wales)
of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 ensures that children in Wales who cannot be looked after by their parents are provided with accommodation by the local authority.
Secure School
Custodial establishment that provides enhanced educational and rehabilitation services to children in a therapeutic environment.
SEND
Special educational needs and disabilities.
Serious Youth Violence (SYV)
Any offence of most serious violence or weapon enabled crime, where the victim is aged 1-19 (i.e. murder, manslaughter, rape, wounding with intent and causing grievous bodily harm).
Serious Violence Duty
The Serious Violence Duty requires specified authorities in England and Wales to work together to prevent and reduce serious violence.
SLCN
Speech, language and communication needs, sometimes broadened to include neuro-disability needs.
Social Graces
Social GGRRAAACCEEESSS (John Burnham, 1993) is an acronym (gender, geography, race, religion, age, ability, appearance, culture, class, education, employment, ethnicity, spirituality, sexuality, and sexual orientation) and tool used to describe aspects of personal and social identity which afford people different levels of power and privilege.
SOS
Signs of safety: a strengths-based framework for working with vulnerable children. SOS provides a solution-focused range of tools for assessment, planning and intervention that highlight the strengths as well as the difficulties facing families.
STC
Secure training centre: this accommodation provides a controlled living environment for children between 10-18 years who have been detained on remand or who have been sentenced to custody by the criminal court.
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TAF/C
Team around the family/child: this is a multi-disciplinary team of practitioners working in an integrated way to support the wellbeing of a child or children in a family.
Transitional Safeguarding
An approach that supports young people as they transition from childhood to adulthood, ensuring their safety and well-being during this critical period.
Trauma-informed practice (TIP)
An approach to working with children that recognises the impact of trauma and their lived experience (see ACE above) and provides a tailored, specialist response that builds on their strengths and avoids reinforcing the trauma. The trauma recovery model (TRM) is also a model that is used, particularly in Wales.
Turnaround
Turnaround is a youth early intervention programme led by the Ministry of Justice.
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Vicarious trauma
The term used to explain how others may be affected when they are exposed to the trauma of others indirectly. This may include staff when they engage empathetically with children who have experienced traumatic incidents.
VRU
Violence Reduction Units: Collaborative localised partnerships bringing together police, local government, health providers, community leaders and other organisations such as YJSs to address violent crime.
Vulnerable adolescents
Some adolescents are vulnerable to seriously adverse, avoidable outcomes such as physical or mental harm (including exploitation), leading to entry to the care system; contact with the youth justice system; periods of not being in education, employment or training (NEET); or severe mental health difficulties. Some YJSs are located within delivery models targeting this cohort of children.
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YC
Youth caution: a caution accepted by a child following admission to an offence where it is not considered to be in the public interest to prosecute the child.
YCC
Youth conditional caution: as for a youth caution, but with conditions attached that the child is required to comply with for up to three months from delivery. Non-compliance may result in the child being prosecuted for the original offence.
YJAF
Youth Justice Application Framework. An online platform for use exclusively by youth justice services and the Secure Estate to communicate effectively (including sharing AssetPlus, case diary entries etc) and download formal documents and templates.
YJB
Youth Justice Board: a government body responsible for monitoring and advising ministers on the effectiveness of the youth justice systems.
YOI
Youth offender institution: custodial setting for individuals aged 15-21, detained on remand or sentenced to custody by the criminal court.
YOT/YOS
Youth Offending Team is the term used in the Crime and Disorder Act (1998) to describe a multi-agency team that aims to reduce youth offending. YOTs are known locally by many titles, such as youth justice service (YJS), youth offending service (YOS), and other generic titles that may illustrate their wider role in the local area in delivering services for children.
YOT/YOS/YJS Management Board
The YOT/YOS/YJS Management Board holds the YJS to account to ensure it achieves the primary aim of preventing offending by children. It is sometimes known locally by a different name, for example, Youth Justice Partnership Board (YJPB) or Youth Justice Executive Board.
YRO
Youth rehabilitation order: a community sentence imposed by the criminal court, which may include one or more requirements (e.g. supervision or an activity requirement).