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Blackpool Youth Justice Service “committed to improving” following inspection

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Chief Inspector of Probation, Martin Jones, said: “Blackpool YJS staff and managers were committed to achieving positive outcomes for children, their families, and victims; and practitioners worked alongside children to ensure their opinions and voices were heard. However, there were some missed opportunities to consider the views of victims, and assessing work to keep the child and community safe required strengthening.”

Inspectors found strong work in the planning and delivery of services to achieve positive change. Delivery was trauma-informed and child-centred, with practitioners giving high priority to developing and maintaining strong working relationships with children. Barriers to engagement were promptly recognised and work was repositioned when necessary.

However, assessing activity to keep the child and the community safe at Blackpool YJS needed to be strengthened. While practitioners recognised children’s risks of exploitation and displayed an understanding of contextual safeguarding, they did not always consider children’s previous behaviours which could impact upon their safety, or the safety of others.

Mr Jones continued: “Positively, leaders acknowledged the need to prioritise the strategic oversight of work with victims and understood the importance of high-quality victim provision. The practitioners and managers were committed to improving their offer and I look forward to seeing them progress.”

The Inspectorate’s report makes six recommendations. Two recommendations are for Blackpool YJS, including to improve the analysis and quality of assessing to ensure consistent and high-quality activity to keep children and communities safe. Four recommendations are for the Blackpool youth justice executive board, including to understand the over-representation of care-experienced children known to the YJS, and undertake activity to prevent them coming into the criminal justice system unnecessarily.

ENDS 

Notes to editor 

  1. Inspections of youth justice work with children and victims (IYJWCV) is one of two separate types of youth justice inspection undertaken by the Inspectorate.
  2. In this inspection we have inspected and rated work with children and victims in Blackpool Youth Justice Service across two broad areas: the quality of work done with children working with the YJS and the quality of work done with victims.
  3. This service works with children aged 10 to 17. The YJS supervise children with complex needs and some in the care of the local authority.
  4. The Inspectorate uses a four-point scale: ‘Outstanding’, ‘Good’, ‘Requires improvement’ and ‘Inadequate’, rating specific aspects of each service and giving an overall rating.
  5. The inspection looked at standards of organisational delivery (leadership, staffing and facilities), their management of children serving court sentences (court disposals) and children serving cautions or community sentences (out-of-court disposals).
  6. The report is available on the HM Inspectorate of Probation website on 19 August 2025 at 00.01.
  7. HM Inspectorate of Probation is the independent inspector of youth justice and probation services across England and Wales.
  8. Fieldwork for this inspection took place in June 2025.
  9. For media enquiries, please contact Head of Communications: media@hmiprobation.gov.uk