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

Five young people were due to report to their YOT or IRS worker on release who
would then try to arrange a placement. This meant that they had no ETE arranged for
when they were released.
Eleven young people had no plans in place and case supervisors were not sure what
they would do on release.
It was not clear from the case files if any plans were in place for four young people,
and case supervisors were not available to interview. One young person said that he
hoped to return to education and that his YOT case manager was working to set up a
place; another said he already had a place confirmed at college; and one wanted to
get a job rather than return to education.
6.30 Case supervisors reported that YOT case managers generally led on making ETE
arrangements. As with accommodation, some case supervisors sought regular updates on the
progress being made in ETE arrangements, while others said that they would wait until the
young person’s final review in order to find out what arrangements were in place.
6.31 Heads of learning and skills and case supervisors were both asked whether they felt there
were any barriers to meeting the ETE needs of young people in custody and on release.
Across establishments they cited barriers such as:
a lack of employment, vocational training and apprenticeship opportunities both within
establishments and in the community
difficulties establishing and maintaining links with external employers
uncertainty surrounding the IAG service due to the loss of funding – one
establishment relied on these workers to contact colleges and to arrange placements,
and felt that they would not be able to maintain this work without them
difficulties in recruiting and retaining education staff
insufficient time for young people on short sentences to gain any accreditation or to
plan adequately for placements on release
often having to wait until accommodation was sorted out (which could be very close to
release) before being able to make ETE plans
gaps between when young people were released and the start date of courses they
wanted to attend
difficulties in getting young people out on ROTL (see Section 7) in time to attend
course or work interviews.
6.32 Even when arrangements were in place they did not always start immediately on release and,
in several cases, it was likely that young people would be attending courses offered by YOTs
to fill the gap before their preferred course began.
‘I leave prison on Friday and start my course on the Monday. My YOT case manager
arranged a place for me.’
‘I have to wait 2/3 weeks as the course starts in August. The course will be for five
days a week, but I'm not sure how long it will last for. I also wanted to do plumbing,
but that was not available and I’m happy to do bricks.’
6.33 On release, most establishments reported that they provided young people with the certificates
they had gained while in custody. One establishment also gave young people their individual
learning plans, and another created a work diary for young people who took part in ROTL work
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