Issue - meetings

Report of the Cabinet Member for Communities

In 2017 the Cabinet requested a review of the Staffordshire Youth Offending Service (SYOS) to reflect both the changing landscape of the Youth Justice System and the decreasing caseloads. A reduction in staff was identified, with formal consultation with Unions from 25 July 2018. Subsequently all job descriptions were reviewed and evaluated to ensure they met the needs of Staffordshire’s children, families and communities. Members received details of the revised staff structure, which had removed a layer of management and reduced the overall management posts. The revised structure included Senior Practitioners (Youth Justice), Social Workers (Youth Justice) and Practitioners (Youth Justice) who would continue to perform the same roles and responsibilities, following small changes to the job descriptions and person specifications.  The number of social worker posts would be retained (reflecting the complexity of the children accessing this service). Practitioner and senior practitioner posts had been reduced.

The changes also enabled the SYOS to achieve its agreed contribution to the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) of £300,000 savings in 2018/18 and a further £100,000 in 2018/19. This was in addition to the £100,00 reduction in 2016/17.

The new structure was due to be implemented on 15 March 2019 and Members heard that when compared with other YOS, Staffordshire still had some flexibility within the system and that case loads should remain manageable. The changes would be reviewed in September 2019 to ensure that the new structure was effective.

Members asked for a brief description of the role of each individual job title within the YOS structure. A brief overview was given but Member’s asked that a note be forwarded to them after the meeting for future reference.

RESOLVED: That:

a)    the actions completed to achieve the MTFS savings be noted;

b)    the reasons for the YOS review be understood;

c)    a briefing note identifying the role of each job title post within the new YOS structure be forwarded to Members for their reference; and

d)    details of the outcome of the September 2019 review be brought to the select Committee’s December 2019 meeting.