Gains assurance that robust arrangements are in place to keep vulnerable people safe regardless of their age.
The Bracknell Forest Youth Justice Team was moved under the Early Help and Communities Service within the People Directorate as of 1 April 2024.
The Head of Service for Youth Justice and Community Safety is managed by the Assistant Director of Early Help and Communities. The Head of Service and Assistant Director are both members of the Youth Justice Management Board.
The Board meets bi-monthly and has an Independent Chair. The agenda scrutinises a broad range of soft and hard data from both the Youth Justice Team and from partners including:
- performance
- budget
- safeguarding
- staffing
- contributions from partner agencies to children at risk of offending across Bracknell Forest
The Youth Justice Management Board (YJMB) is a sub-group of the Bracknell Forest Community Safety Partnership and reports directly into the quarterly Performance Group which considers progress against performance indicators as well as the annual Youth Justice Plan. It also shares barriers or challenges which the Community Safety Partnership Steering Group may be able to support with. The position within the sub-group structure is reflected below:
Sub-group structure and shared membership
- Community Safety Partnership
- Serious Violence and Exploitation Strategic group (shared membership with the YJMB)
- Combatting Drugs local partnership (shared membership with the YJMB)
- Youth Justice Management Board
- Town Centre Partnership problem solving group (shared membership with the YJMB)
- Partnership problem solving group
- Prevent steering group (shared membership with the YJMB)
- Domestic abuse executive
Bracknell Forest boards
The Youth Justice Management Board has robust relationships with other partnerships where youth justice is intrinsically linked.
A memorandum of understanding has been drawn up between these partnerships which insures joint working on areas of common priority. These are outlined below:
Bracknell Forest Safeguarding Board
Health and wellbeing board
Improves the health and wellbeing of their local population and reduce health inequalities.
Children and young people's partnership
Supports collaborative working that improves health and social care outcomes for children and young people.
Community Safety Partnership
Addresses crime and disorder reduction at borough level by creating the community safety plan.
Board membership
This year’s Youth Justice Plan report consists of direct contributions from members of the Board about strategic vision and context for the coming year. Board membership is outlined below:
| Agency representing |
|---|
| Independent Chair |
| Assistant Director: Early Help and Communities, Bracknell Forest Council |
| Assistant Director, Children’s Services, Bracknell Forest Council |
| Head of Service, Youth Justice and Community Safety, Bracknell Forest Council |
| Head of Service, Life Chances, Bracknell Forest Council |
| Operational Manager: Youth Justice Team, Bracknell Forest Council |
| Head of Early Help, Bracknell Forest Council |
| Assistant Director: Education and Learning, Bracknell Forest Council |
| Deputy Head of Drug and Alcohol Service, Bracknell Forest Council |
| Senior Probation Officer, National Probation Service, Thames Valley |
| CAMHS Services Manager, National Health Service |
| Frimley Health Integrated Care Board, National Health Service |
| Deputy Local Police Area Commander, Bracknell and Wokingham, Thames Valley Police |
| Detective Inspector, Youth Justice, Thames Valley Police |
| Judiciary Representative (member of the Youth Bench) |
| Youth Justice Board |
While the Youth Justice Team engages with the community and voluntary sector, for example Young Carers and SAFE!, it is exploring education and employment mentoring opportunities in 2024 to 2027. The Youth Justice Management Board will also be seeking representation from Bracknell Forest’s community and voluntary sector.
The Youth Justice Team’s interests and contributions are represented through the following strategic and operational multi-agency groups, where the Operational Manager, Head of Service or Assistant Director attends or chairs:
- Community Safety Partnership (CSP)
- Bracknell Forest Safeguarding Board (BFSB)
- Children and Young People’s Partnership
- Bracknell Youth Justice Management Board
- Bracknell Youth Justice Data Task and Finish Group
- Serious Violence and Exploitation Strategic Sub-Group of the CSP
- Serious Adult Violence and Exploitation (SAVE)
- Bracknell Children and Young People Education Welfare and Mental Health Network Meeting
- Early Help Partnership Meeting
- Youth Justice Team Risk Focus Meeting
- Missing and Child Exploitation (MACE)
- Channel Panel
- MAPPA (Multi-agency public protection arrangements)
- Partnership Problem-Solving Sub-Group of the CSP
The 9 youth justice teams in the Thames Valley area share the same police force, probation area, criminal justice board, multi-agency public protection arrangements and court and tribunal service. Therefore, the youth justice operational and strategic managers co-operate and act on each other’s behalf at regional meetings including opportunities to offer peer-scrutiny and quality assurance activity at the following fora:
- Release Under Investigation Scrutiny Panel
- South-East Police and Children Board
- Out of Court Disposal Scrutiny Panel
- Children in Custody Working Group
The collective representation at these meetings, and the quarterly meeting of all the youth justice managers and Youth Justice Board representatives across the South-East, means that there is a reciprocal arrangement for scrutiny, challenge and support with our neighbouring authorities across the youth justice sector.
In accordance with the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, the Youth Justice Team consists of multi-disciplinary staff including:
- 1 full time equivalent (FTE) Operational Manager
- 1 FTE Senior Practitioner
- 0.7 FTE Case Manager
- 0.6 FTE Education, Training and Employment Worker
- 0.68 FTE Restorative Justice Co-ordinator
- 1 FTE Prevention Case Worker
- 0.7 FTE Prevention Case Worker and Parenting Worker
- 1 FTE Business Administrator
- 0.2 FTE Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Worker
- 0.2 FTE Speech and Language Therapist
- 0.2 FTE Physical Health Worker
- 0.5 FTE Police Officer
- 0.5 FTE Probation Officer
The team is currently supported with additional CAMHS worker capacity in response to an increase in demand. A student art therapist also recently completed her placement within the team. The vacant Youth Justice Police Officer post has successfully been filled since September 2023 and provides an effective link between the Police and the Youth Justice Team.
The Youth Justice Team is working at Stage 4 in the National Partnership Framework for England, meaning that probation provide full reimbursement to the local authority for an operational temporary staff member. This post is filled by a qualified social worker who has a specific job description and role profile with links to probation colleagues to fulfil the requirements.