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‘Innovative and ambitious’ support found at Sandwell Youth Justice Service, rated ‘Good’ following inspection

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Sandwell Youth Justice Service (YJS) 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: “Leaders and practitioners were innovative and ambitious in supporting children to achieve positive change and we found an impressive commitment to ensuring the voices of children, parents and carers were central to shaping service delivery.”

Inspectors found that planning to achieve positive change and to keep children and communities safe was impressive and supported by effective partnership working arrangements, while effective multi-agency planning forums promoted coordinated responses to exploitation, youth violence and extra-familial harm.

Assessing effectively identified children’s strengths, protective factors and opportunities for positive change. However, while the YJS had access to a wide range of information, this was not always brought together and analysed sufficiently to provide a holistic understanding of the factors affecting the safety of children and the community.

The report also noted the strong strategic leadership provided by the YJS Partnership Board in responding to both the opportunities and challenges facing the service. This was critical given the increasing number of children requiring support, the complexity of their circumstances, and the challenges associated with youth violence and exploitation.

Mr Jones continued, “Work with victims was a notable strength. Practitioners and managers demonstrated genuine care and commitment to supporting victims, and the YJS, partnership board and commissioned service had worked collaboratively and at pace to develop a high-quality service.”

The Inspectorate’s report makes five recommendations. Three are for Sandwell YJS, including to strengthen the quality and consistency of management oversight so that it effectively drives improvements in the quality of assessing activity to achieve safety for the child and the community.

Two recommendations are for Sandwell Youth Justice Partnership Board, including to continue to challenge the Probation Service to ensure it provides the appropriate secondment provision to the YJS, and to continue to monitor and respond to the increased demand on YJS services.

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 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 report is available on the HM Inspectorate of Probation website on xx Month 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 July 2026.
  8. For media enquiries; please contact Head of Communications: media@hmiprobation.gov.uk