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Buckinghamshire Youth Justice Support Team “committed to achieving positive change” and rated ‘Good’ following inspection 

Published:

Buckinghamshire Youth Justice Support Team (YJST) has received an overall rating of ‘Good’ following an inspection of work with children and victims by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation.

Chief Inspector of Probation, Martin Jones, said: “Buckinghamshire YJST was a well-led partnership that placed children at the centre of its work. We saw an environment where children felt listened to, respected and valued by skilled and dedicated practitioners”.  

Inspectors found that assessing activity was generally thorough and informed by partnership working, drawing on information from education, children’s social care and the police. They were impressed by the range of activities available to children to meet their diverse needs, and saw strong education support, access to specialist health provision, and a clear focus on tackling barriers to inclusion. 

There were, however, areas where the YJST needed to develop further, including inconsistencies in the assessing, planning and delivery of work to keep children and others safe. In some instances, the YJST did not fully analyse all harm-related behaviour, and activity to address emerging concerns was not always sufficiently responsive. Management oversight of victim work also required strengthening, victim safety needed greater prominence, and the partnership needed to make better use of data to understand local needs and drive improvement. 

The Inspectorate’s report makes four recommendations, which provide a clear framework to support the YJST in building on its many strengths. Two are for Buckinghamshire YJST, including to ensure work with victims is of a consistently high-quality, and to ensure practice to keep children and communities safe is of a consistently high quality. Two recommendations are for Buckinghamshire Youth Justice Management Board, including that they work with Thames Valley Police to improve the gathering and sharing of protected characteristics of victims of youth crime, and develop reporting and analysis of victim data to give strategic leaders and operational staff a comprehensive understanding of the profile of victims. 

Notes to editor  

  1. Inspections of work with children and victims is one of two separate types of youth justice inspection undertaken by the Inspectorate.  
  2. In this inspection we have inspected and rated work against our standards in domain two, and the victims’ standard. For more information, visit our website: Youth Justice Services – HM Inspectorate of Probation 
  3. This service works with children aged 10 to 17. The YJST 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 report is available on the HM Inspectorate of Probation website on 01 September 2026. 
  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 June 2026. 
  8. For media enquiries; please contact Head of Communications: media@hmiprobation.gov.uk