Ceredigion County Council said it remains committed to improvement in its youth justice services after a damning inspection report found last year that services have “systemic shortcomings” with “significant concerns” over whether it can keep children and victims safe.

Ceredigion Youth Justice and Prevention Service (YJPS) received an overall rating of ‘Inadequate’ following an inspection by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation in November last year.

It was the first ‘Inadequate’ rating given to a Youth Justice Service since July 2020.

Chief Inspector of Probation, Martin Jones CBE said the inspection of Ceredigion services “observed systemic insufficiencies in all levels of service delivery and the concerning findings from this inspection require immediate attention.”

The report found that “the vulnerabilities and complex needs of children in the youth justice arena are overlooked and the profile and identity of the service have become lost within the local authority and statutory partnership arrangements.”

Inspectors raised concerns over the “assessing, planning, and delivery of work to promote desistance and to keep children and other people safe.”

A lack of data and information collected by the service also created a “barrier to analysis and evaluation activity”.

“The voices and views of children, parents or carers, and victims are not effectively incorporated into setting and reviewing the vision and strategy,” the report said.

The report also found that in over half the cases inspected, “victims’ needs and safety had been overlooked.”

The delivery of services to keep children and others safe was sufficient in just one out of nine cases inspected, inspectors found.

Mr Jones said that in Ceredigion the inspection found “significant concerns with governance and leadership, staffing arrangements, partnerships and services, and information and facilities.”

In response to the report, Ceredigion County Council formed an action plan overseen by a management board in a bid to improve services.

A report put before the council’s governance and audit committee on 18 June said the “outcome of the HMIP Inspection was fully recognised and acknowledged” and that the “issues identified have been addressed with swift action taken to make improvements to the service.”

“The progress will continue until the optimum quality of service is achieved,” the report said.

“Whilst it is the responsibility of the Local Authority to ensure governance is robust, it is also the responsibility of our partners to effectively participate.

“Prior to the inspection this was not always the case and partners now know they will be held to account.

“The inspection did not consider that several of our services are working very effectively outside the scope of the inspection criteria, so were not rated.

“This effectiveness accounts for the very small number of children entering the statutory youth justice arena due to the good quality preventive work.

“We have invited HMIP back to Ceredigion to show the distance we have travelled since the inspection and demonstrate our commitment to improvement.

“We will continue to improve practice and serve the best interests of the young people and their families and the wider community.”