Voice of the child

Voice and feedback

In setting up the voice of children, parents, and staff are one of seven core priorities. The service made a clear commitment in the 2021-22 plan. Notable progress against this priority saw creating of a service Voice and Consultation Strategy. It was launched to coincide with this year’s plan (appendix 3).

This strategy places the voice of all at the centre of practice. It underpins the commitment of the service to child first practice principles. The voice of the child is used to shape and influence delivery at a strategic level. In accepting that hearing voice must make sure a process of assessing feedback. We then using it to inform change.

This year, the YJS have undertaken a programme of consultation with children, parents, staff and board members. They have the basis of seeking a further, incremental increase in quality of the Youth Justice Plan. Adding thematic focus group formats further enhanced our insight. It shows us what challenges need to be addressed in the plan. The full consultation is outlined in the Barnsley Youth Justice Service 2022-23 Stakeholder consultation programme document. This is provided as appendix 3, and consisted of surveys with children and parents. It also had thematic focus groups with children, parents, and the workforce, and focus groups with board members.

Survey

As outlined in the consultation document, results of the survey were very positive. This was in terms of their experience of service delivery and of the warmth of staff group.

The survey was designed to also seek insight of the lived experience of children. It showed that the challenges of children were linked to:

• bullying and fear of violence
• lack of opportunity and community resource
• impact of mental health and drugs

Focus group (thematic)

The desire to further understand the challenges faced by our children fed into our thematic focus group. We found the group able to reflect on fears and challenges. These were related to working with the service and their communities. Children told us that they were concerned about and experiencing anxiety and poor emotional wellbeing. They said that they also had a fear of violence and harm in their communities. However, the group also gave positive feedback during the focus group. It was in relation to help received to no longer use drugs. They also said they built better emotional regulation/management and their ability to avoid further new violent incidents.

It's evident from this consultation that key themes emerged relating to violence, wellbeing and opportunity. These are reflected in this year’s plan and provide clear evidence the partnership truly values the voice of children.

Parent and carer voice

The partnership accepts that parents and carers are partners in the delivery of work for their children. As such we make sure in every case every effort is made to build rapport. We try to empower them to feel they can co-own agreed plans. Our voice and consultation practice places them at the centre. We also conducted a survey and focus group. This was with a cohort of parents and carers with service experience.

Again, the richness of this process is captured in the stakeholder consultation document. However, both the survey and focus group sessions offered crucial insight. We could use this to help shape this year’s plan, the key themes being:

• frustration with the partnership service and numbers of professionals who become involved with families
• positive reflection of the service received from the service
• fears for their children that aligned to the voice expressed by children

Both children’s and parent/carer consultations have shaped our priorities for this year. It shows how vital this work has been.

There are multiple methods and processes that make sure the voice of the child is heard in the context outlined above:

Method used to obtain voice

• All 'face-to-face' contact (recorded as a case entry) including one-to-one sessions, reparation and group work.
• Case audit (including DIP sample).
• Assessment processes: both OOCD and court processes have clear functions for obtaining and recording voice.
• Planning and review processes: voice provided as third party, or directly, ie referral order panel.
• consultation programme: structured 12-month rolling programme of engagement to ensure voice is heard and shapes service improvement and delivery.
• Collaboration on recruitment: a child subject to a court order was supported to be a crucial part of the recruitment of two youth justice practitioners.

Where voice is heard

• Our strategic board - the Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour Board: voice is provided via formal report and presentation formats and is used to drive debate and review at a strategic level.
• Our continuous service and improvement plan: learning from the review of the voice form actions.
• Our work with children and families: changes to delivery at a service and case level are made as a result of voice obtained: the development of bespoke, needs-led group provision; evolving methods of communication.

Outcomes achieved

• Stronger relationships between service users and professionals.
• Improved service delivery.
• Increase in partnership collaboration and strategic change.

Staff and board consultation

Several thematic workshop events were held with staff and board members. It builds on the voice and reflection obtained from children, parents and carers. It further ‘tests out’ the hypothesis on what this year’s YJ Plan needed to address.

Workshops covered the following issues, and detailed reflection is found in the consultation document (appendix 3). Crucially, these processes link the voice of all stakeholders. It makes sure the initial voice obtained from service users is used to shape services. This includes development and delivery. Consideration was also given to advocacy and intervention and the challenges in shaping services in the post-COVID context. Board members considered how we can all work to reduce violent offending in children. We can address diversity in relation to SEN(D).

Both processes were highly productive in engaging stakeholders in creative and reflective discussion. Each workshop was managed so to produce useful outcomes and solutions. They could be then fed into the YJ Plan preparation process.

Overall, this process was demanding, but crucial. It made sure our revised service priorities for this year reflect the voice of all involved. As outlined in section 8, this year’s priorities are proof of the commitment of the service. It shows their teamwork and that consultation and evaluation processes are valued. It shows they aren't completed as a tokenistic exercise.

Moving forward, the service voice and consultation strategy will have completed a full 12-month cycle, and it is expected this will further ensure the seamless use of voice across all strategic and operational development.

Progress on our previous plan

The 2021-22 Youth Justice Plan comprised of seven core priorities:

1. Delivering better outcomes for children through effective leadership and management.
2. Practice is collaborative, outcomes focused and achieves positive change.
3. Transitions support successful outcomes.
4. Victims are heard and harm is addressed.
5. Children in secure accommodation can effectively resettle and change their lives for the better.
6. Children, families and partners needs are met at court.
7. The voice of all is heard and shapes services.

With these priorities aligned to the continuous service improvement plan, progress is continuous. There has been a vital effort made to drive each priority area.

CSIP priority area	Number of actions completed
Delivering better outcomes for children through effective leadership and management​	16
Practice is collaborative, outcomes focussed and achieves positive change	20
Transitions support successful outcomes	3
Victims are heard and harm is addressed	6
Children in secure accommodation can effectively resettle and change their lives for the better	2
Children, families, and partners needs are met at court	4
The voice of all is heard and shapes services	4
Total number of formal actions completed	55

This figure marks a significant body of work and it's driven primarily by the YJS management team. It's even more of an achievement when accepts these actions don't include wider improvement, or audit and self-evaluation activity. It personifies our core values and resolve to make Barnsley YJS a high performing service. We want our community to be proud of it.

Progress against CSIP (and thus the plan) was reported into YCASBB at each board. The creation of the Youth Justice Improvement Group has a further layer of partnership scrutiny.

Performance and priorities

Performance and outcomes

Barnsley continues to evaluate performance against the following key indicators:

• first-time entrant (FTE) rate
• re-offending rate
• use of custody rate

National, regional and statistical neighbour data has been sourced from the official Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data for benchmarking. This data is historical, due to the determining criteria for each indicator. There are figures relating to the service cohort. This is from around 20 to 24 months prior to their release by the MoJ.

In accepting the real-time lag in this data, the service also has in place the YJB 'live tracker'. This means more up-to-date details can offer added insight into our performance evaluation. This data will not be confirmed by the Ministry of Justice for a further year. It covers a cohort ending 17 months later than the official tracker:

• The rate per 100,000 for first time entrants (FTEs) has seen an increase of 11.8% when compared to the same period last year. In Q4 20/21 we reported a rate per 100,000 of 143 compared to a rate of 159 in Q4 21/22. Benchmarking data has also shown an increase and whilst we're being marginally outperformed by both the national figure (156) and statistical neighbours (141) figure, we're still reporting better than the regional figure of 189.
• In terms of first time entrants (FTEs), Barnsley has achieved large reductions over the last four years reducing from a rate per 100,000 of 379 in 2018 to a rate of 159 in Q4 2021/22. When comparing the rate to similar YJS areas, over the last calendar year, we have the 3rd lowest rate in our comparator group.
• 13 young people are in the re-offending cohort as per the official data, of which four reoffended, committing five further offences between them. This gives a binary rate of 30.8% and a frequency rate of 0.38 which indicates Barnsley are still performing better than the regional (34.3%), national (33.8%) and statistical neighbours (37.1%).
• The custody rate for Barnsley has been stable over the previous year with only one young person in the cohort. The custody rate remains at 0.04, which is the same position that we were in as of Q4 in 20/21.

Barnsley are in the top 30% of all Youth Justice Services nationally and have the lowest rates of custody. This is when compared to our comparator areas. We are outperforming the national (0.08), regional (0.12) and statistical neighbours (0.08) figure.

In 2021-22, the service has undergone significant improvements in their use of data over the previous year. They can now collect and analyse live cohort to track a young person’s journey through the system. This empowers the service to access data at will to understand and track the live cohort. It enables the service to assess current performance, based on a vastly improved data set.

There has been analysis of the live local cohort between January 2022 and 31 March 2022. It shows that of the 114 young people in the Youth Justice System, only seven of them entered as first time entrants (6.1%). Two people (1.8%) were in the re-offending cohort. Both figures indicate that decreases have been seen since the official Ministry of Justice data release. It should be made clear that this is local and unofficial data. We'll need to wait and see if it's brought out in the official data for this cohort. It will not be released by the Ministry of Justice until March 2023.

Crucially, this live cohort data set also includes the work completed by service in relation to out-of-court disposals. The local trend is for this cohort to account 70-80% of overall casework. This means it's crucial that the service can evidence externally that the 'key indicator' data in isolation presents an inaccurate reflection. This is of both the landscape of children involved in behaviours of concern. It's also of the work being undertaken by the service. This is related to engaging and diverting children from the criminal justice system.

A report is available each quarter (the Q4 report to our Youth Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour Board (YCASBB) is included as an appendix 4). It includes data to support with the monitoring of disproportion, ethnicity and diversity. It also highlights performance across the following areas:

• age and gender
• offence and outcome detail
• offence area
• education and special educational needs assessments
• missing person, child criminal and child sexual exploitation
• children's social care

This rich data set has allowed the partnership to drill down and take on several key actions. They both drive improvement and show a more detailed investigation of data deemed to be of interest. Three examples of such work are:

1. In reviewing the Q2 data, the service manager identified a seeming uneven number of children (68%) subject to a Referral Order outcome. An audit was completed and the results were presented to board in January 2022.
   • Results:
     • For 32 children the outcome received was wholly appropriate.
     • For six children there was some potential that an out of court disposal (OOCD) could have been considered
     • Six children gave no comment interviews - this currently ends their ability to receive an OOCD.
     • There were no children for which it was assessed there should have been an alternative outcome.
   • Reflection: It is reassuring to see that children in the significant majority of cases were entering the criminal justice system at the appropriate point (based on the details of the case). There's some concern however that six children have been precluded from potentially being considered for an OOCD due to their 'no comment' position - it is considered highly likely that in each case this will have happened as a result of advice from their solicitor. Our view is that this is not appropriate, and potentially propels a child along the criminal justice system.
   • Actions:
     • Further task of identifying solicitors who advocated for the relevant children. Consider if a pattern, ie predominantly one solicitor.
     • Seek to engage and educate the solicitor on the impact that the no comment interview
       is having on a child’s option relating to eventual outcome.
2. Review of the Q4 report presented to YCASBB on 23 May 2022 has identified an issue of disproportion relating to the prevalence of the live cohort having identified special educational need diagnosis (SEND). A figure of 36.8% is a significant increase on Q3 and significantly higher than local and national comparisons with the wider population and as a result this is to be addressed as part of a wider 'annual priority' focused on education.
3. Review of the Q4 report presented to YCASBB on 23 May 2022 allowed the management team to note the gender statistic points to the case recording system only reports on two gender options. In line with wider work done in service to drive the agenda re diversity and inclusion, an action has been undertaken to address this for Q1 2022-23.

Each example provides clear evidence that Barnsley YJS is now routinely triangulating performance data. It has qualitative and analytical action and the oversight and scrutiny of our board. This places us in a strong position as we continue to strive for the incremental improvement. This will make sure we achieve stated aims.

Education in focus

Our increased capability in terms of data allows the service to gain an understanding of the education status of our cohort. We use this as a basis to inform action.

The annual data is shown in appendix 5. Key headlines from this are those children within the Youth Justice system are more likely to:

• have received a permanent exclusion from school
• have been suspended from school (short terms exclusion)
• be placed on reduced provision
• have been electively home educated

Victim engagement, restorative interventions and reparation activity

This area of service delivery continues to be commissioned to Remedi. This is part of a regional contract (with Sheffield acting as lead local authority). Delivery has continued to be strong, with some improvement against 2021-22.

Restorative outcomes

Measure	Total completed	+/- on 2021/22
Number of victims contacted	96	+14
Number of indirect RJ undertaken	58	+2
Number of direct RJ undertaken	24	+9

Reparation

Good progress has been made in increasing both the children engaged in reparation activity, and the total hours completed. Set in the context of COVID recovery, this reflects increased ability to again access the full 'Reparation Portfolio' (see appendix 6) of activities. It also highlights the importance placed by the service on giving children the chance to repair harm and gain valuable experience in positive activity.

As has been highlighted, we've effectively blended reparation activity and the desire to illicit the voice and lived experience of children. We've increased our understanding of how we should shape our delivery. The most notable example is the ‘what matters to me’ art project.

Measure	Total completed	+/- on 2021/22
Number of hours completed	839	+276
Number of children engaged	60	+9

Service priorities

In 2021, the Youth Justice Service agreed with our YCASBB board to merge the Youth Justice Plan with the service Self-Evaluation Framework (SEF) document. We'll align it with the service Continuous Service Improvement Plan. This was achieved by making sure the seven priority areas identified in the 21-22 YJ plan document also show the seven priority areas of the CSIP. This triangulation makes sure:

• a single, coherent approach to identifying and achieving set priorities
• ongoing and continuous progress was/is achieved against the set priorities
• consistent oversight and scrutiny of service progress against the priorities through routine update to YCASBB and the YJIG function

We remain committed to this model, as it makes sure that the service drives a constant agenda of performance. This is against thematic priorities that cannot be 'solved' but rather reflect the reality of service delivery. Our practice and performance adapts to anticipate and respond to the fluid challenges faced. The Youth Justice Improvement Group (YJIG) is a review function for service management and YCASBB members, and makes sure:

• all priority areas are co-owned between service and board
• there is consistent generation and review of actions against the CSIP

For the 2022-23 period, we continue to drive performance against seven key areas. Maintaining these seven priorities makes sure it is reflective of the service delivery model. It will also support continuous service improvement journey. However, the underpinning objectives that drive each priority have evolved. This reflects the service using the triangulation model to address thematic issues. These are included within the priority framework.

• Priority 1: Delivering better outcomes for children through effective leadership and management.
• Priority 2: Practice is collaborative, outcomes focused and achieves positive change.
• Priority 3: Transitions support successful outcomes.
• Priority 4: Victims are heard and harm is addressed.
• Priority 5: Children in secure accommodation can effectively resettle and change their lives for the better.
• Priority 6: Children, families, and partners needs are met at court.
• Priority 7: The voice of all is heard and shapes services.

New annual priorities

Our process of self-evaluation and consultation in preparation for this year’s plan has enabled additional annual priorities to be identified. Crucial to this has been the resolve of the service to use our rich data. It's set as the starting point for qualitative evaluation and then we test this against the data we got in our consultation practice.

These four annual priorities will be addressed within the CSIP. It will be subject to review in line with the triangulation model.

Priority 1: Improve the education outcomes for children subject to youth justice disposals and address uneven numbers of children entering service with SEND.

Objectives:

• Work with partnership to develop a coherent strategy to address absence from school; inclusion and low motivation to engage as factors that contribute to (re)offending.
• Improve service capability to directly intervene via recruitment of ETE mentor.
• Use live performance data as basis for targeted collaboration with individual schools.
• Ensure voice of child and family is heard, using advocacy-intervention approach.

Priority 2: Address youth violence in Barnsley in a coordinated, partnership approach.

Objectives:

• Align YJS strategies to VRU Barnsley Violence Reduction Plan to ensure a robust, partnership strategy is in place to address instances of youth violence across borough.
• Support local VRU lead to review their violence reduction plan in respect of children.
• Develop escalated partnership audit and review process in response to 'red flag' cases in order to drive a lessons learned approach.
• Work with partners to develop a comprehensive portfolio of interventions to address both the symptoms and drivers to violence; that understands the specific 'culture of violence' in Barnsley.
• Place the voice of children and victims at the centre of all work.

Priority 3: Develop and launch a revised group and drop-in offer that encompasses areas
identified through performance analysis as priorities and voiced priority themes
from children and parents/carers.

Objectives:

• Develop (through consultation) a group provision offer that provides children (and parents carers) with access to interventions across the spectrum of need (ie wellbeing, health, diversity-led issues, gender-specific sessions, addressing drivers to dysfunctional behaviours).
• Recruit small team of sessional workers to support group development and delivery.
• Launch provision and ensure all children have access to services on a needs-led basis.
• Develop and launch second stage that reflects the resource of the proposed core location, that maximises the opportunity to create a 'safe and inspiring space' for children.
• Engage in a working group to develop additional group provision of parents and carers (based on success of consultation session).

Priority 4: Launch the new YJS core location (co-located with leaving care service).

Objectives:

• Collaborate with children, families and staff to ensure the vision for the location is what is needed and wanted by all, ie safe, inspiring, holistic, equipped to meet service and service-user need.
• Be a key partner in the planning process.
• Advocate for the vision of the location as determined by the consultation.
• Launch location with service user involvement at the heart of the plan.

Evidence-based practice and innovation

The service continues to drive innovation and ensure practice development is, wherever possible, rooted in a clear evidence base. We recognise the importance of working in the centre-ground within child first and the risk management duty. We as a service are confident we can make sure that children are engaged and supported. This is doesn't undermine our skilled ability to lead the partnership in managing complex risk. Key developments include:

Diversity

A task and finish process was created to drive improvement in this area. This is a response to the findings of our service self-assessment against HMIP. Tasks completed:

• mapping and consultation exercise with the service.
• We are now considering diversity within the APIR cycle with more consistency. and have launched guidance documents to reinforce this. The YP self-assessment has been amended and agreed at the briefing after consultation within the service.
• Revision of policies found to require additional reference to diversity and disproportion.
• Launch of The Wrap staff bulletin to ensure consistent engagement and education on issues of diversity and inclusion.

Innovation in Court work – reviewing PSR template

It's driven by multi-agency work in our Youth Justice Improvement Group (YJIG) process. It was recognized the long-standing PSR template format and wasn't reflective of a child first approach to practice. We took an action to the regional court-user group meeting to propose a review. This was positively received and an agreement reached for Barnsley YJS to Lead on a ‘task and finish group’ to create a revised template for consideration by the user group. This is a vital outcome for children. It further improves the likelihood children receive the right sentences. It should reduce the risk of custody.

Community Resolution Screening Clinic

Developed in response to increasing volume of referrals from police

• Community Resolutions were previously a commissioned area of work and we have brought this area of work back in Service as of the 1st of April 2022.
• We have developed a Screening Clinic approach to this work based on a review of the commissioned work that indicated that several professionals across the partnership were already supporting these children and their families.
• The clinic model reviews all referrals made by the Police where children have been issued with a Community Resolution.

We now identify children at risk of reoffending at the earliest point. We avoid duplication of services so that children and families are accessing the most appropriate level of support

This approach considers:

• The child’s history of offending.
• Involvement of other partners with child/family (and can these partners delivery any identified interventions?).
• Efficacy of any multi-agency Plan in place to address behaviours and manage risks.
• Feedback from child and parent having explained our YJS offer is voluntary.

The Wrap

The Wrap took the built the concept of the ‘staff bulletin’ and transformed it into a vital method of communication. There's a tool to explore key evidence-based practice. It shows sector-relevant issues and stimulates staff culture.

Notably, this has allowed the service to share and review both YJB National Standards and Case Management Guidance. This is doe over a number of editions.

The advocacy-intervention model

This locally developed model was a response to the need to work positively with the staff group. It helps them understand the importance of a ‘cultural change’. It's needed as increasing numbers of children enter the service via shorter, voluntary disposals. This model clarifies that ‘good plans’ and ‘successful outcomes’ can and should consist of activity whereby the YJS advocates with or on behalf of the child/family. It makes sure they receive (or are transitioned to receive) the right intervention by the professional or service. It also makes sure they're best positioned to achieve success.

Complex Risk Planning Meeting (CRPM)

This revised planning function was devised in response to a need to have a better ‘check and challenge’ mechanism. This is in relation to our partnership plans to manage and reduce risk. Led by YJS, but multi-agency in design, it gives much needed accountability. This supports the practitioners who manages our most complex cases.

Graduated response and minimum standards for specialist interventions

Barnsley YJS accepts that emotional health and wellbeing should be within the ethos of the service. The graduated response has been built to help the service to recognise if the children and young people require universal, targeted or specialist support. This will help them meet their emotional health and wellbeing needs.

It aims to help the YJS to implement a holistic and joined up approach, which will ensure timely and appropriate intervention. We're looking to replicate this process for other specialist areas to enable a tiered response for each.

Minimum standards statement: This provides guidance and consistency to case managers and other professionals. This is in terms of timeframes, intervention length, and closure process for the areas of work.

This is intended to help case managers and other professionals to understand the methods used by the specialists. This is in terms of the APIR Cycle and to explain the assessments used. It includes interventions, measurement tools and transitions to onward services.

Girls on the Agenda: Developing specific approaches to work with girls and young women

The service recognises the need to engage girls and young women with a bespoke approach. A first stage task and finish process has been completed. A progress report was provided to YCASBB in May 2022. The scheduled launch of our strategy is September 2022.

Consultation on group provision

In response we need to be more flexible in our delivery as we move towards a new Service location. A formal group consultation with children, families, practitioners, and partner agencies is to be completed.

The aim is:

• to make sure that our group offer reflects our service priorities. It will be child centred and is accessible for all our service users.
• to offer a wide range of activities that can inspire, build skills, confidence and ensure that children continue to desist from offending behaviour in the future.
• We will be running the consultation between July and August 2022. We will be delivering several pilot activities over the summer period and involving practitioners and partners in delivery.

Looking forward

Our service priorities for 2022-23 will act as the main driver to our ongoing trajectory of improvement. We now have a better ability to analyse our live data. The rigorous self-evaluation approach our voice participation strategy means we'll respond to emerging themes decisively. This process has already shown a number of areas that are either at the planning or consultation stage.

Reducing violence

As part of this work we have identified a need to review our approach to:

• knife and weapon enabled offending
• football violence
• teen to parent violence

Progress against each of these areas will be referenced in the work we undertake with Barnsley VRU. It will also be in our own revitalisation of group provision (annual priority iii).

Service delivery - new core location

During the national lockdown our core location building was sold in March 2020. A site has been identified for our new shared space with children leaving care. It's in line with our ethos of collaboration across all stakeholders. Growing this space in terms of vision has included children, staff and board. We're very excited that we can build a bespoke and holistic space for children and families. It will include space for:

• arts and creative expression
• wellbeing and nurture
• practical self-care and development of independent living skills
• a safe space for one-to-one and group delivery

Trailblazer education pilot - local secondary academy

As a direct outcome from our increased ability to analyse our live performance data, a local secondary academy has agreed to build a 'trailblazer pilot project'. It's focused on the engagement and management of the cohort of children involved with YJS. It also includes those at imminent risk of criminality and exploitation. Reviewing the cohort of children open to YJS from their school it was concluded:

• that there are potential gaps in communication between services having considered the cohort of relevant children
• a high proportion of the cohort are linked to YJS for low-level, voluntary out of court interventions (community resolution, diversion)
• there is skill and existing relationships with children held in provision to lead on low-level, diversionary interventions
• for complex cases there remains a clear opportunity for more aligned working and coherent 'step-down'

All parties agreed there was an exciting chance to work together in a more structured way. This was especially with children who could be dealt with restoratively. We agreed that a pilot should now be developed. If successful, it's hoped this could be shared borough wide as model of effective practice. It should be adopted more widely across secondary schools.