Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) were introduced by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to coordinate the provision of youth justice services in their local authority areas. There is a Youth Offending Team or Youth Offending Service in every local authority in England and Wales. Leicestershire Youth Offending Service (YOS) is responsible for the delivery of youth justice services for Leicestershire and Rutland.

Youth Offending Teams are multi-disciplinary teams including representatives from the statutory partners, i.e. the Police, Probation, Children and Young People’s Service (Education and Specialist Services) and Health, and from other key services, such as Connexions, accommodation and substance misuse.

The Youth Offending Service works to prevent offending and re-offending and has a key role in making our communities safe. Young people who are at risk of offending or who have offended are assessed using the Youth Justice Board’s assessment tools (ONSET and ASSET) which identify the specific problems that make the young person offend as well as measuring the risk they pose to others. The Youth Offending Service then identifies and provides multi-disciplinary interventions to address the needs of the young person with the intention of preventing offending or re-offending.

The Youth Justice Board (www.yjb.gov.uk) oversees the youth justice system in England and Wales and monitors the nationally-set performance indicators for Youth Offending Teams. Local performance is overseen by the Youth Offending Service Management Board which comprises the statutory partners along with the Courts, Connexions, District representation and the voluntary sector.

Leicestershire Youth Offending Service’s plans for achieving reductions in offending and re-offending are outlined in the Youth Justice Strategic Plan 2011-2012 (PDF Document). Leicestershire Youth Offending Service consists of:

The Service Structure (PDF) of Leicestershire Youth Offending Service is attached.

The Youth Offending Service works in partnership with many services and organisations, including the district councils, see the Partnership page for the full list and links.