As part of the Youth Justice: The Scaled Approach project, the National Standards for Youth Justice Services have been revised.
Click to download the revised National Standards for Youth Justice Services.
Ministers approved the revised national standards on 26 November ready for the implementation of the Scaled Approach and YRO on 30 November. Please remember that inevitably you will need to manage the transition between the old and new versions of the national standards as young people on existing orders complete their obligations. The revised National Standards contain information on this that will guide you.
The national standards set the minimum requirements - or ‘must dos’ - that youth justice services should adhere to. They are not intended to provide detail about why or how to undertake a particular task, but to establish the minimum expectations of staff and managers in the youth justice system. The revised national standards will be used in conjunction with the revised Key Elements of Effective Practice and the Case Management Guidance, to provide the detail on how and what to deliver.
The national standards revision was subject to a consultation process in early 2008. The final revision was based on the feedback received during this consultaion [205Kb PDF; opens in new window].
Pilot of revised national standards
We worked with four YOTs to pilot different approaches to developing a scaled approach to intervention with children and young people. They are:
- Neath Port Talbot
- Shropshire Telford and Wrekin
- Suffolk
- Wessex.
As part of this pilot, the YJB approved specific departures from existing national standards and required regular data from pilot YOTs to monitor levels of compliance. We also worked with the YOTs involved to explain the scope and purpose of the pilot to local courts, YOT management boards and local criminal justice boards. Click to see what was learnt from the pilots [102Kb PDF; opens in new window].
National Standards audit 2010/11
The return of data for the first annual audit of the new National Standards, relating to the October-December 2010 period, is due on 31 January 2011. The audit is significantly slimmed down from previous years, and will relate only to NS 8.24, which addresses contacts to support the Scaled Approach, NS 8.18, addressing compliance and enforcement to support public protection and safeguarding, and NS 8.37, addressing Referral Order panel timeliness.
The data must be returned via web-forms on Youth Justice MIS [opens in new window]. The aim over time is to perform this audit using case-level data in Youth Justice MIS, thus reducing the burden on YOTs. However, as the quality of the relevant case-level data is not yet at a sufficient level, web-form submission will be necessary for 2010/11 only. Counting rules have been drafted and shared with software suppliers with the aim that local reporting can be made available to YOTs by 1 November, and these can be viewed on the counting rules page.