Skip to content
Company Logo
Working with Young People Under Orders

Working with Young People Under Orders

Scope of this chapter

YOUTH JUSTICE STANDARD

Every young person or child that enters the YJT system will have the opportunity for a health review/assessment by the YJT specialist Health advisor.

Related guidance

1. Introduction

For information about the structure of the Youth Justice Team, see The Youth Justice Team Procedure, Structure of the Youth Justice Team.

For information about the Orders and Sentences which mandate working with young people in trouble with the law, see Overview of Orders. For information about the Youth Justice Standards which govern timeframes for working with young people, see Standards for Youth Justice Team.

2. Roles of Youth Justice Team Staff

The YJT officers and probation officers undertake the specialist youth justice work within the team and act as allocated workers for all cases. Non youth justice specialist staff do not act as allocated workers and do not undertake core youth justice activities. All staff assess young people and are able to signpost them to other services as required. The probation officer has specific responsibility for working with young people over 16 years of age.

The workload of allocated workers is comprised of:

  • Court duty;
  • Informal bail support;
  • Preparation of Social Enquiry Reports;
  • Assessment through the use of ASSET;
  • Case management of Supervision Orders and Community Service Orders;
  • Remands to secure accommodation;
  • Custodial sentences;
  • Specialist work such as assessment and intervention with adolescent sex offenders and fire-setters.

A specialist Health advisor, police officer and a careers advisor are based within or linked to the YJT. As specialists within the service, their role is to focus on the assessment, service delivery and liaison with other agencies in relation to their particular specialism. For example, if the health advisor assesses the need for a further mental health assessment, they will make the referral.

YOUTH JUSTICE STANDARD

Every young person or child that enters the YJT system will have the opportunity for a health review/assessment by the YJT specialist Health advisor.

The involvement of specialist staff with an individual case is triggered by referral from the responsible officer/report writer or police officer working on a final warning case. Contacts with specialist staff are counted as a formal contact and so must be recorded on the electronic case management system.

Restorative work and mediation are conducted by various team members.

3. Case Management

The YJT staff use a case management approach to working with young people under orders. Case management is a collaborative process of assessment, planning, facilitation and advocacy for options and services to meet an individual’s needs through communication and available resources to promote cost-effective quality outcomes.
 
Planning and delivering interventions in the community should be the focus of YJT work in relation to preventing offending by children and young people. The YJT and partner agencies should ensure that structures, processes and services are able to respond effectively to the risks and needs of children and young people.
 
Children and young people within the youth justice system can be subject to a range of orders and requirements, depending on the nature of their offending, their level of risk and other factors such as their age. The order or requirement that a young person is subject to, along with their level of risk, will determine which agencies will be involved, as well as the range and type of interventions appropriate for them.
 
The YJT allocated worker should be the practitioner who has an overview of the longer-term aim of preventing offending and should know what interventions, services and plans are in place for the child/young person as well as how they are progressing in relation to them. The case manager should facilitate communication between different services/professionals, between the child/young person and their parents/carers. Specifically, the allocated worker should undertake the following functions:
  • Assessment;
  • Targeting;
  • Intervention planning;
  • Management of risk;
  • Co-ordinating services;
  • Engagement and motivation;
  • Enabling and enforcing compliance;
  • Review and evaluation.

A crucial element in planning and delivering interventions in the community is a structured, effective and defensible approach to managing the risks presented by children and young people. 

For more information see Orders and Sentences Procedure and Assessment and Planning Procedure.

Last Updated: June 25, 2024

v7