ISSP Management Guidance
ISSP Management Guidance was first published and sent out to programmes in August 2005. Additional copies can be downloaded from our publications area.
It is accompanied by a set of of tools and templates, which can be downloaded from our tools and templates page.
As we are moving towards the implementation of the Youth Rehabilitation Order (YRO), when new guidance will be produced to support the delivery of intensive supervision and surveillance alongside the YRO, hard copies of the guidance are no longer available.
In August 2008, the pre and post-court operational guidance in ISSP Management Guidance was updated to reflect minor amendments to ISSP.
Click to download the updated sections [647.9Kb PDF; opens in new window]. The pages can be inserted into your current copy of ISSP Management Guidance, replacing the sections “Operational Guidance: Pre ISSP” and “Operational Guidance: On ISSP”.
If you have any queries relating to ISSP guidance, contact Sue Walker on 07879 061186 or email susan.walker@yjb.gov.uk.
Arrangements for ISSP from 1 April 2007
Following the consultation on the future of ISSP, the arrangements for ISSP as from 1 April 2007 are now available. Click to download and view the document [146Kb Word document, opens in new window].
ISSP and the Community Rehabilitation Order
Click to read a letter from Diana Luchford [35Kb PDF, opens in new window]], head of the Youth Justice and Children's Unit at the Home Office, confirming that the facility to sentence 16 and 17-year-olds to Community Rehabilitation Orders and Community Punishment and Rehabilitation Orders is expected to remain in place until the Youth Rehabilitation Order is introduced.
Given this, the YJB has taken advice on how ISSP can legally be delivered as part of a Community Rehabilitation Order - the main point of contention being that the CRO includes only 60 days of activities. The Home Office has taken the view that ISSP can be attached to a Community Rehabilitation Order and run as other ISSPs – i.e. a six month order with three months high intensity supervision, and three months low. They point out that there is a difference between activities and supervision and that the YOT should differentiate between the two and ensure that 60 days of activities is not exceeded.
- Examples of supervision would be meetings with YOT officer, one to one work, mentoring, family work.
- Examples of activities would be sports, dancing, cooking etc.
ISSP as part of a Community Rehabilitation Order should therefore run for the full 6 months at the same levels of intensity and should not be shortened in any way.
Click to read the Home Office's position [15Kb PDF, opens in new window] in more detail.
For further details please contact Mary Wyman at the YJB.
Alternative monitoring guidance
Click to download Guidance for Electronic Monitoring Service Providers in Respect of Alternative Monitoring [38Kb PDF, opens in new window].
This guidance was produced by NOMs in September 2005 in light of the YJB-commissioned inquiry by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation into the supervision of Peter Williams. Williams was convicted of a murder committed while he was temporarily subject to alternative monitoring (formerly known as Random Alternative Monitoring, or RAMs) checks. The guidance sets out the procedures that must be followed by the providers of electronic monitoring services when alternative monitoring is necessary.
Background
ISSP was devised following evidence that suggested 3% of young offenders were responsible for 25% of all youth crime. In response to this, since 2001, the YJB has invested approximately £80 million to establish ISSP across England and Wales as the most robust alternative to custody for prolific and serious young offenders.
ISSP is available 365 days a year and is designed to:
- ensure that the young person makes recompense for his or her offences
- address the underlying causes of the offending
- put in place structures that will allow the young person to avoid offending in future
- manage the risks posed by the young person to the community
- stabilise what is often a very chaotic lifestyle
- reintegrate the young person into the community, particularly through activities that can be continued when supervision by the scheme has ended
- help the young person to lead an independent life free of offending.
ISSP can be a condition of bail, a Supervision Order, Community Rehabilitation Order, or the community portion of a custodial sentence (Detention and Training Order or Section 90/91). It is not a court order.
The National Standards for Youth Justice Services has guidelines for ISSP on page 65.
Research
Click to order or download the summary of the report into the 12-month ISSP pilot. The full report is also available to order in hard copy for £7.50. The research was a small-scale study of 106 young offenders from October 2004 to September 2005.
In 2003 the YJB commissioned Oxford University to assess whether ISSP achieved its stated aims, in particular the effect it had on the offending of the young people on the programme.
The interim report was published in September 2004. Click to download either the full interim report or a summary of its findings.
The final report was published in October 2005. Again, click to download either the full version of the final report or a summary.