Resettlement provision for children and young ... - Ministry of Justice

Introduction
Resettlement is one of the main tests against which the Inspectorate judges the health of a
prison. This thematic review, commissioned by the Youth Justice Board, examines
accommodation and education, training and employment (ETE) resettlement provision for
sentenced young men aged 15 to 18 in young offender institutions. It reports on the work
carried out in custody to prepare young people for release, using survey data as well as indepth
interviews with 61 sentenced young men, their case supervisors and follow-up
information on what happened to them on release. The heads of resettlement and learning and
skills in each institution provide an establishment perspective.
Ensuring that young people have suitable and sustainable accommodation and ETE on
release from custody is a vital first step to reduce reoffending and enable young people to
successfully reintegrate into the community. This is no small task – in our sample of 61 young
men more than eight out of 10 (84%) had an accommodation and/or ETE need identified. In
our survey almost half of young men said they were under 14 when they were last at school
and 86% said they had been excluded at some point.
All establishments had a strategy to drive forward resettlement work but in most cases these
did not involve external agencies and had not been informed by a recent needs analysis of the
population. The training planning process should be central to coordinating work to address
young people’s individual needs, with targets set for a young person’s time in custody and
plans for their release. We found from our fieldwork that several establishment case
supervisors, who oversaw the training plan, had a good knowledge of the young people in their
caseload. Most young men reported that training plan targets had been discussed with them,
although less than two-thirds in our case sample knew what their targets were and only half
said they had had a say in the targets set for them – this then had a real impact on whether
they tried to achieve them.
In custody, the range and quality of education and training provision was generally satisfactory
and it was clear that, where possible, a young person’s preferences had been taken into
account when allocating them to ETE. Most, although not all, young men said they were
involved in some form of ETE at the time of interview and three-quarters said they had
received or were working towards a qualification – 62% thought that these would be useful on
release. Although it could often have been better tied to resettlement planning, at several
establishments the use of release on temporary licence (ROTL) was improving, with some
good quality work placements on offer.
Case supervisors realised the importance of accommodation and ETE in resettlement work
and reported that these issues were considered from the point of a young person’s arrival in
custody. However, training planning targets often placed the onus only on the young person
and did not specify what resources would be put in place or how they would be helped to
achieve them. The main focus was on how they spent their time in custody and there were few
long-term targets aimed at those responsible for ensuring plans were in place for their release.
Establishments reported that this was the responsibility of youth offending teams (or social
workers for looked after children). At the Heron unit at Feltham young people also had a
resettlement broker who was involved in resettlement planning while young people were in
custody, but who also offered intensive support to them for at least six months following
release.
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