Islington’s Youth Justice Service hailed ‘Outstanding’ in landmark turnaround

The ‘Outstanding’ rating from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) marks a complete turnaround for the YJS, which was placed in special measures in 2014. Since then, the service has developed a host of innovative schemes and ways of working – often developing them in collaboration with direct input from children and families with lived experience – to:

• drive down the number of under-18s entering the justice system in the first place, with the rate more than halved between 2016 and 2023;
• dramatically reduce the proportion of children who reoffend after they enter the youth justice system, from one of the highest rates in the country to one of the lowest;
• support children with issues including substance and alcohol misuse, physical and mental ill-health;
• improve children’s prospects by supporting them to continue their education, find training or a job;
• develop a “comprehensive anti-racist strategy” to address the over-representation of particular groups of children in the justice system – an effect known as ‘disproportionality’;
• ensure strong links with partner organisations including police, the probation service, education institutions and health providers
• develop an effective restorative justice programme to support victims.

The report’s score of 34 out of 36 for the YJS is the best result in London to date and the third-highest in all of England and Wales.

Cllr Michelline Safi-Ngongo, Islington’s Executive Member for Children, Young People and Families, said: “The work of our Youth Justice Service is critical to our mission to make Islington a more equal place, using innovation and research alongside early intervention and prevention tactics to support children and families, many of whom are among the most vulnerable in the borough.

“Working with them to help them and others stay on the right path means fewer victims of crime and fewer children ending up in the youth justice system in the first place. Innovative research with children, families and partner organisations has identified underlying issues that have also helped us to take appropriate action and provide the right support at the right time – including around education, employment, mental and physical health – to nip issues in the bud. All this means we’re able to tackle inequalities and help all our children and families to thrive. I’m extremely proud to be able to say we are among the very best at this in the country.”

Curtis Ashton, Director of Young Islington, added: “This report is a ringing endorsement of our dedicated and highly-motivated team, who work in close partnership with various agencies to provide strong, innovative and effective support for our young people.

“Together, we have improved the lives and the futures of hundreds of often vulnerable children and families in Islington. To be in the top three Youth Justice Services in England and Wales is testament to the hard work and innovation that has led to those outcomes. The report is proof that we are turning our ambition for a more equal Islington into reality.”

In his foreword, Martin Jones CBE, Chief Inspector of Probation for HMIP, praises the “tenacious and innovative approach” of the service as well as its “knowledgeable and passionate” senior leaders. He notes that children supported by the YJS have “access a wide range of services and specialist provision to meet their needs,” including an “impressive” health offer giving them “quick access to key services, such as speech and language therapy and physical and mental health services”.

The report also hails the service’s “genuine commitment to understanding the lived experience of children, parents, and carers and using this to shape service delivery and improve outcomes for children”. One example of this work is ensuring that peer advocates – children with lived experience of the youth justice system – contribute directly to the training of new police recruits.

Extensive research and consultation with children, parents and other stakeholders has also fostered “a detailed understanding of disproportionality in the local area”. The innovative research is leading the way in understanding the interactions between varied and complex factors that help explain why children from some backgrounds are over-represented in the youth justice system – the first step to unpicking and tackling the problem.

Notes to editor

HMIP inspectors assessed Islington Council’s Youth Justice Service over a week-long visit in May 2024.

The full report is available on the HMIP website.