Buckinghamshire Youth Justice Strategic Plan 2026 to 2029
Section 4: Focus areas
This section sets out the work Buckinghamshire Youth Justice Service has undertaken during 2025/26 to improve outcomes for children, young people and their families. It also outlines the key priorities and actions planned for the year ahead.
Our focus areas reflect local need, national priorities and feedback from children, families, partners and stakeholders. For each area, we summarise what we have done, and what we will do next.
The focus areas are:
- Knife Possession
- Prevention and Diversion
- Delivering Projects in the Community
- Serious Violence, Exploitation and Contextual Safeguarding
- Policing and Detention in Police Custody
- Custodial Remand, Custody and Constructive Resettlement
- Working with Families
- Workforce and Board Development
- Auditing
Together, these areas support our ambition to prevent offending, reduce reoffending, safeguard children, and help young people achieve positive futures.
What have we done in 2025/26
- Delivered a diversion project (Act Now) for 88 children arriving in police custody for weapon and violence offences, engaging with those suspected of these offences at the earliest opportunity. These children would not have been offered intervention at this stage without the project. Following a review of Act Now, which Buckinghamshire YJST contributed to, funding for this project has been extended for another 12 months through the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.
- Provided a briefing for Partnership Board and YJST staff on the new Knife Possession guidance and the changes to practice this will entail.
- Took part in a Thames Valley Out of Court Scrutiny Panel with partners to review the appropriateness of decision-making around children committing knife offences. Learning from this showed evidence of the Police Child Gravity Matrix being applied in the right way and alongside Child First principles.
What will we do next
- Track children who receive outcomes under the new Knife Possession guidance to identify where there may be diversionary opportunities for future children
- Expand the Act Now offer for children to include those arrested for Affray offences
- Lead on the new Focused Diversion Programme by recruiting a dedicated worker to engage those at risk of violent offending/knife possession
- Develop interventions based on supporting the safety of children when in the community, recognising that this is often the reason a child carries a knife.
What have we done in 2025/26
- Supported 38 children on Turnaround interventions, offering support at an earlier stage and diverting children from the youth justice system. Turnaround is an early intervention programme led nationally by the Ministry of Justice, aimed at engaging those on the cusp of offending.
- Delivered a diversion project (Act Now) for 88 children arriving in police custody for weapon and violence offences
- A partnership THINKSMART event led by the Community Youth Support Team was delivered to over 50 children looked after in Buckinghamshire, focusing on harm reduction
- A Bucks Council Youth Summit took place, bringing together 164 children to participate in discussions around identity, community engagement, and social and emotional health
- Building on the success from 2024/25, the Underpass Graffiti project has continued. This provides opportunities for children to positively shape the spaces that they and their community spend time in.
- 185 children identified as at risk of entering the youth justice system, being excluded from school or being exploited have been supported to access the Breakout programme. Activities include bushcraft, street first aid, problem-solving, teamwork, and canoeing.
What will we do next
- Collaborate with the Buckinghamshire Participation Team to co-design the 2027 Youth Summit, ensuring youth justice is a key part of the agenda
- Deliver Restorative Justice workshops to any new Buckinghamshire Council children’s homes and explore a refresher training programme
- Identify innovative practice in other local authority areas relating to preventing school exclusions and use this to drive developments in Buckinghamshire
- Evaluate the impact of the Turnaround and Act Now projects to support the identification of sustained future funding
What have we done in 2025/26
- Delivered a Sports Activities and Transformative Holiday Programme (SATH) during the summer of 2025, in partnership with Thames Valley Police, the Youth Service and the drug and alcohol service. 9 children were engaged, taking part in mentoring, games, sports and sessions designed to build connection, confidence and community. The Programme concluded with a football game between the children, Police Officers and YJST staff. The experiences led to new friendships, a sense of belonging within their community and opportunities to try new activities.
- Increased children’s sense of community by identifying reparation placements that have enabled opportunities for longer-term work experience. 2 children have gone on to gain employment thanks to the skills they have gained through reparation. 5 have gone on to take part in work experience as a direct result of their placement, and 1 has been offered a level 1 football coaching course.
- Trained 28 children in Peer Mediation across years 5 and 6 in 4 different primary schools, supporting them in building restorative skills to resolve low-level conflicts and preventing the need for intervention from a teacher
What will we do next
- Provide opportunities for members of the team to visit reparation placements to support the children in understanding what indirect reparation can look like
- Empower the YP4All and Persons Harmed participation group to identify and lead on projects that support the wider community
- Explore accrediting activities children complete in the community (e.g. the ASDAN awards)
- Develop the role of community volunteers in facilitating indirect reparation placements, increasing the value of this for both the child and the community.
What have we done in 2025/26
- Completed 6 serious incident notifications for the Youth Justice Board relating to 6 different children. From these notifications, 2 Learning Reviews were conducted to support wider learning for the service.
- Supported the bid for the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) devolved decision-making. This was not successful.
- Developed a process to enable children to be part of meetings where their safety is discussed, and plans are identified
- Meetings with all practitioners are now taking place on a regular basis to discuss exploitation concerns. These are facilitated by one of two lead practitioners with enhanced knowledge of exploitation. This has increased opportunities for earlier intervention where concerns have been identified.
- Children are encouraged to identify a safe person and place as part of their assessment, allowing the intervention to be shaped to meet their needs
- Shared data relating to Serious Youth Violence over the last 3 years with the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership Serious Youth Violence Task and Finish group.
What will we do next
- Develop a partnership approach to conducting learning reviews for all serious incident notifications, regardless of whether the child has been previously known to the YJST
- Contribute to the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership Serious Youth Violence Task and Finish group, applying any learning from this
- Explore expanding the Missing and Exploitation Hub to support a whole extra-familial harm approach to working with children and their families
- Apply the learning from the external evaluation of the Risk Outside the Home panels
- Identify multi-agency audit opportunities to increase understanding of children who commit serious violent offences.
What have we done in 2025/26
- Delivered refresher training to all front-line workers, managers, volunteers and the Children’s Social Care Out of Hours on acting as an Appropriate Adult in a police station, ensuring children in custody receive the right support
- Maintained oversight of children held overnight in local police stations via the Children in Custody Data Review meeting, which is attended by the Service Manager
- Completed an audit of children taken directly to court from police custody. This showed a positive reduction in numbers compared with a previous audit conducted in 2024/25.
- Developed restorative interventions in collaboration with the Road Traffic Officers for children involved in driving offences
- Launched Youth Deferred Prosecutions in partnership across Thames Valley, supporting children to access robust out-of-court interventions which result in No Further Action
- Introduced a process to speak with the child and their family prior to the Joint Decision-Making Panel to identify unmet need at an earlier opportunity
- Supported the Police in capturing the voice of the person harmed prior to the Joint Decision-Making Panel to ensure this is considered as part of any decision-making.
What will we do next
- Track the impact of the new Thames Valley Police Out of Court Resolutions guidance in terms of outcomes for children. This went live in March 2026.
- Identify training for practitioners on the drivers behind children carrying knives, to ensure robust interventions are in place under the Knife Possession guidance
- Deliver a workshop for staff on children diverted from court under Section 10, focusing on timely assessments and appropriate outcomes
- Maintain oversight of children taken directly to court from police custody to identify any ongoing learning
- Build closer links with solicitors within Buckinghamshire to raise awareness of the service’s response to Out of Court Resolutions
- Our children tell us that they want to see better relationships with police in their local community. The YJST will work alongside the police and children to identify ways to achieve this.
What have we done in 2025/26
- Reviewed every remand to Youth Detention Accommodation, custodial sentence and remand to local authority accommodation decision with the Partnership Board to identify any learning
- Relaunched the Magistrates’ feedback form to gather feedback on report writing and proposals
- Monitored the number of Pre Sentence Reports where the outcome has not matched the proposal. For 2025/26 this figure was 8.7%, with 2 children receiving a different outcome to the YJST recommendation.
- Ensured the views of the person harmed are represented at every Custody panel, where proposals are discussed for sentencing
- Collaborated with the Victim Contact Scheme to ensure access to long-term support for persons harmed where appropriate
- Been proactive in providing interpreter support to children in custody where the establishment has been unable to meet this need, allowing them to take part in discussions and decisions regarding their care.
What will we do next
- Enhance existing links with the judiciary to ensure the best outcomes for children, particularly where there is data to show disproportionality
- Maintain quarterly oversight of Pre-Sentence Report outcomes and feedback from magistrates/judges to review the quality of recommendations to the court
- Collaborate with children who have recent experience of custodial settings to improve our resettlement offer.
What have we done in 2025/26
- Relaunched Restorative Family Meetings, supporting families to feel empowered to move forward restoratively from any challenges being experienced and to create their own plan for this. Feedback has been positive.
- Offered the Talking Teens parenting group to all parents/carers supported by the service. This has included an additional session around online safety.
- Gathered feedback on the experiences of parents/carers working with the YJST to improve the service being offered
- Provided guidance to practitioners on conversations with families about their cultural experiences and how they would like the service to engage with them
- Trained a member of staff as a CEOP ambassador (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) who delivers sessions to parents on online safety.
What will we do next
- Identify training for practitioners on working with families
- Audit children’s records to evaluate the impact of conversations around cultural experiences for families
- Explore options for enhancing current feedback opportunities for parents and carers.
- Develop partnership support plans to ensure that siblings of children open to the YJST are receiving appropriate help.
What have we done in 2025/26
- Delivered training to staff on working with children and families where English may not be their first language
- Held a workshop for staff to support their understanding of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, following an increase in children from this group open to the service
- Taken a whole service approach to working with persons and communities harmed. This has included training for practitioners on how to deliver an individualised service that supports safety and promotes restorative approaches, and the development of policies and processes to embed this.
- All front-line workers, managers, volunteers and the Children’s Social Care Out of Hours Service have received refresher training on acting as an Appropriate Adult in a police station, ensuring children receive the right support
- Supported ongoing professional development in relation to Child First, reflecting on how this model can be applied whilst balancing this with keeping communities safe
- Delivered a workshop to increase staff confidence when working with children who are transitioning to adult services
- Provided training by the seconded Speech and Language Therapist around Communication profiles and how these can be used to support children
- Commissioned Anti-Racism training for the Partnership Board
- Completed joint audits with members of the Partnership Board to increase their understanding of key areas of practice such as Health, Working with Persons Harmed and Education.
What will we do next
- Evaluate the impact of training on working with girls
- Monitor the redesigned Partnership Board Disproportionality Plan to measure impact on outcomes for children
- Transform the service for children and persons/communities harmed by moving from collaboration to co-production
- Analyse offence data to better understand the demographics of children committing violent offences
- Deliver training to front-line workers on balancing the Child First approach with protecting communities
- Children have told us that they would like other agencies to involve them in decisions made about them. The YJST will share learning from experiences of co-production to support the development of this across the partnership.
What have we done in 2025/26
- Buckinghamshire YJST has completed 7 management audits on areas of practice which include: assessment of safety; exit planning; education pathways; children being involved in joint decision-making; persons and communities harmed; disproportionate outcomes for children held in police custody; and girls known to the service. Every audit has led to positive changes in practice. Some examples of this are: creating a new and more robust approach to exit planning for children; strengthening pathway plans to ensure all children in Year 11 have a completed joint plan; introducing consistent management oversight for persons/communities harmed; and commissioning training around working with girls.
- 3 audits were completed in partnership with Board members. These included: emotional health outcomes for children; impact on education of exclusions; and persons and communities harmed. These audits have also led to changes in practice, including individual child learning and the introduction of a QR code to increase feedback opportunities for persons harmed.
- Practitioners took part in a peer-led case audit, with a focus on taking a holistic view of the intervention to support wider service learning.
What will we do next
- Increase opportunities for staff development through peer audits
- Monitor the impact of the new Knife Possession guidance and the Thames Valley Police Out of Court Resolution guidance through audit activity
- Identify ways to increase Partnership engagement in audit activity.