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Leicester City Children and Young People’s Justice Service (CYPJS) rated as ‘Requires improvement’

Published:

Leicester City Children and Young People’s Justice Service (CYPJS) 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: “While we found many aspects of positive practice at Leicester City CYPJS, work to keep children and the community safe across assessing, planning, and delivery of services needed to improve.”

Practitioners prioritised developing and maintaining effective working relationships with parents and carers and were attuned and responsive to issues affecting the child’s ability to achieve positive change. However, practitioners did not always use information about children’s past behaviours and convictions when considering their potential risk to the community. Inspectors found examples of missed opportunities to consider the victims’ views, consider restorative justice and keep potential and actual victims safe. 

Practitioners had a strong understanding of children’s strengths and aspirations, and collaborated with children to ensure their opinions were used in planning activity. The importance of education, training, and employment opportunities was recognised, and there was evidence of a range of staff and external agencies advocating for children to ensure the provision met their needs.

Mr Jones continued: “Service leaders acknowledged they need to prioritise the oversight and organisational structure relating to work with victims and, to their credit, were passionate and committed to improving their offer. I hope the recommendations made during this inspection help Leicester City CYPJS continue to develop further.”

The Inspectorate’s report makes eight recommendations. Three are for Leicester City CYPJS, including to improve assessing, planning, and delivery to ensure consistent and high-quality activity keeps children and communities safe. Five recommendations are for Leicester City youth justice management board, including to review the structure of victim work within the service.

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 24 June 2025 at 00.01.
  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 March 2025.
  8. For media enquiries, please contact Head of Communications: media@hmiprobation.gov.uk