West Northants Cabinet approve Youth Justice Plan

West Northamptonshire Council’s Cabinet has approved a two-year plan for Youth Justice in Northamptonshire.

The Youth Offending Service (YOS) is a statutory multi agency service, which has a responsibility to prevent offending and reoffending by those aged under 18 years who are resident in Northamptonshire. Under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 there is a statutory requirement to publish an annual Youth Justice Plan which must provide specified information about the local provision of youth justice services.

The plan covers 2023 to 2024 and sets out how, through the delivery of a range of services and interventions, the YOS will work hard to ensure that children and young people are kept out of the formal criminal justice system.

The plan also sets out the direction and strategy of youth justice services, describing how quality services will be provided to ensure positive outcomes for children and improvements in performance indicators, in particular: reducing first time entrants to the youth justice system:

• reducing the use of custody
• reducing reoffending rates
• locally agreed performance indicators that evidence positive outcomes for children

The areas of work for the YOS are laid out in legislation, government policy and national guidance and are developed in partnership with key local strategic boards including the Community Safety Executive; Children Trust Board; Local Safeguarding Children’s Board and Northamptonshire’s North and East Criminal Justice Board.

These indicators are identified under three key priority areas:

• Early Help & Prevention.
• Recognising and responding to child exploitation and serious youth violence.
• Tackling disproportionality in the criminal justice system.

In West Northamptonshire we take pride in our Youth Justice Team and the highly valuable work they do to ensure that our children and young people avoid custodial sentences.

It is one of the Council’s top priorities to deliver the best outcomes for children and young people and ensure they lead fulfilling, healthy and safe lives, and we are happy to have been able to approve the Youth Justice Plan for 2023/2024.Cllr Fiona Baker, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education at West Northamptonshire Council