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‘Work to achieve positive change’ taking place at Darlington YPE&JS, rated ‘Requires improvement’

Published:

Darlington Young People’s Engagement and Justice Service (YPE&JS) has received an overall rating of ‘Requires improvement’ following an inspection of youth justice work with children and victims (IYJWCV) by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation.

Chief Inspector of Probation, Martin Jones, said: “We found some strong work to achieve positive change for children at Darlington YPE&JS, and practitioners worked hard to capture the views of children and identify their strengths. However, we did find some deficits in practice, which has resulted in the overall rating of ‘Requires improvement’.”

Work with victims was a strength and practitioners took a responsive, individualised approach to victim work, with ongoing support based on victim’s needs rather than being time limited. Despite the strong work to achieve positive change for children, assessment and planning to keep the child and community safe needed to improve, with inspectors finding some inconsistency in multi-agency planning activity required to manage potential or actual concerns to the community.

Children had access to positive activities and targeted interventions through partner agencies to address attitudes and interactions, and practitioners were also confident in recognising and supporting children with neurodiverse needs. However, work was needed to ensure the impact of children’s protected characteristics or diversity needs were acknowledged.  

Mr Jones continued: “While the team at Darlington YPE&JS will be disappointed with the outcome of this inspection, there was much they should be proud of. I trust our recommendations will assist the leadership and management board in sharpening their focus to improve service delivery.”

The Inspectorate’s report makes seven recommendations. Three are for Darlington YPE&JS, including to improve assessing and planning to keep children and communities safe, and four are for Darlington YPE&JS management board, including to prioritise the strategic oversight of work with victims to make sure there is regular monitoring, analysis and evaluation in this area of work.

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. 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.
  3. The Inspectorate uses a four-point scale: ‘Outstanding’, ‘Good’, ‘Requires improvement’ and ‘Inadequate’, rating specific aspects of each service and giving an overall rating.
  4. 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).
  5. The report is available on the HM Inspectorate of Probation website on 04 November 2025.
  6. HM Inspectorate of Probation is the independent inspector of youth justice and probation services across England and Wales.
  7. Fieldwork for this inspection took place in August 2025.
  8. For media enquiries, please contact Head of Communications: media@hmiprobation.gov.uk